was a Japanese

professional shogi player A professional shogi player (将棋棋士 ''shōgi kishi'' or プロ棋士 ''puro kishi'' "professional player") is a shogi player who is usually a member of a professional guild of shogi players. There are two categories of professional playe ...

, ranked 9-

dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa ** Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivo ...

Promotion history

Manabe's promotion history is as follows: * 1967: 6-

kyū is a Japanese language, Japanese term used in modern martial arts as well as in Japanese tea ceremony, tea ceremony, ikebana, flower arranging, Go (game), Go, shogi, academic tests and other similar activities to designate various grades, leve ...

* April 1, 1973: 4-dan * April 1, 1976: 5-dan * April 1, 1978: 6-dan * April 1, 1980: 7-dan * April 1, 1988: 8-dan * November 24, 2007: Died as an active player * November 24, 2007: 9-dan (conferred posthumously)

The B-42 "Phantom" move and Masuda Special Prize

Manabe is widely remembered for a move he theorized but did not play contesting his last professional game, on October 30, 2007, against

Masayuki Toyoshima is a Japanese professional shogi player, ranked 9- dan. He is a former holder of the Ryūō, Meijin, Ōi, Kisei and Eiō titles. Early life and apprenticeship Toyoshima was born in Ichinomiya, Aichi on April 30, 1990. He entered the Japan Sho ...

in a C2 ranking match. Manabe, in poor health, resigned after the 33rd move. Later that day, he confided to his colleague Hiroshi Kobayashi that he had come up with the B-42 move and believed he might have won had he played it. However, he feared this would extend the match against Toyoshima and felt he could not endure a longer game. When he was later interviewed, Toyoshima acknowledged that the move would indeed have required a long time to formulate a response. Kobayashi did not appreciate the move at the time, but his conversations with

Isao Nakata is a Japanese professional shogi player, ranked 8-dan. Nakata's nickname is コーヤン ''Kōyan,'' after the on'yomi reading of his first name. Shogi professional Theoretical contributions The Kōyan variation (コーヤン流 ''Kōyan-ryū ...

about the potential move began to draw public attention. On November 27, a wake was held for Manabe. Simultaneously, a game position identical to Toyishima's match was reached in the C2 ranking match between

Yasuaki Murayama is a Japanese professional shogi player ranked 8- dan. Early life, amateur shogi and apprenticeship Yasuaki Murayama was born on May 9, 1984, in Hino, Tokyo. He learned how to play shogi from his grandfather when he was 5 years old, and won the ...

and

Nobuyuki Ōuchi was a Japanese professional shogi player who achieved the rank of 9- dan. He won the first Kiō title in 1976, and also served as senior managing director of the Japan Shogi Association from 1993 to 1999. He was awarded the Japanese government' ...

. Ōuchi, playing White (''gote''), played Manabe's ... B-42. Ōuchi would later claim he was not aware of the move's relationship to Manabe's last game. Much as Manabe had predicted, Murayama took over 110 minutes to respond to B-42. Though Murayama ultimately won the match, when Ōuchi was later told about Manabe's game with Toyoshima, he said "I should have won." Amazed at the move's recurrence during Manabe's wake, Kobayashi claimed it was a kind of miracle. The coincidence quickly became a topic of conversation in the Shogi world, and the move soon became known as the "splendid, phantom move" (幻の妙手, ''Maboroshi no myōshu''). The move was proposed for consideration for the then-upcoming Masuda Special Award, which was granted to Manabe posthumously in 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manabe, Kazuo Japanese shogi players 1952 births 2007 deaths Professional shogi players from Tokyo People from Arakawa, Tokyo