TOKYO -- A match during the top-level Meijin shogi ranking tournament on Dec. 13 came to an unusual end when 40-year-old Akira Watanabe resigned because of leg pain.

Watanabe, who holds a ninth-dan ranking, told his 30-year-old eighth-dan opponent Shota Chida that he couldn't continue the 83rd Meijn Tournament Class A ranking match at Shogi Hall in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward after leg pain that he was suffering worsened.

Watanabe injured his knee while playing futsal just ahead of summer this year, and he plans to undergo surgery in the near future following recent worsening of the pain. On Dec. 13, he played seated in a chair designed to reduce the strain on his leg, rather than the usual seiza style where one sits on their heels in a kneeling position on the ground, but he was seen occasionally rubbing it during the match.

When the dinner break ended at 6:40 p.m., Watanabe appeared restless, looking up at the ceiling and hanging his head at times, and at one point he muttered quietly, "My leg hurts."

At 7:17 p.m., Chida, who had stepped away from the board, returned and Watanabe told him, "I'm not feeling well and I don't think I can play to the end, so I'll resign here. I'm sorry." Chida was taken aback and expressed concern for his opponent, asking "Are you all right?"

Afterward, Watanabe returned home by taxi, and Chida conducted a post-game analysis session alone with the match commentator and record keeper.

(Japanese original by Susumu Maruyama, Cultural News Department)