Thursday (January 15)

Table A

Table B

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Table A, Game 1

Kurosawa

Jaunary 15, Table A, Game 1, E3-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10041

In E3-2, Kurosawa is the dealer in 1st place, but only has a 2,700 lead over 3rd.

Kurosawa starts out the hand with a red 5m, a red dragon triplet and a pair of souths. With some nice shapes in manzu by turn 2, Kurosawa rejects iishanten to try for a half flush. On turn 4, she fills in a 7m penchan and gets to iishanten. On turn 5, she gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 6m kanchan, guaranteed at least a mangan if she wins.

On turn 6, Kurosawa improves to a 36m wait, with the 6m giving a manzu straight. Two turns later, Kurosawa draws the 3s and wins the hand. Kurosawa wins with Tsumo/Honitsu/Red Dragon/Aka 1 for 6,000+200 all.

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Results

Game 193

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Table B, Game 1

Aki

Jaunary 15, Table B, Game 1

In S1-1, Aki is the dealer in 1st place with a 2,900 lead over 2nd place Nakabayashi.

Aki starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a red 5p and a red 5m. Within the first four turns, Aki fills in a 6p kanchan and a 7m penchan, getting her to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. On her very next turn, Aki gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if she wins. In the second row, Hinata discards the 7m trying to take tenpai and deals into Aki. Aki wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 12,000+300.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7545

Moving to S1-3, Aki now has a 26,400 lead over 2nd place Aikawa.

Aki starts out the hand at 3-shanten with multiple good waits. After creating a souzu ryanmen and a pair of wests, Aki gets to 2-shanten with a guaranteed good wait. If she draws a 6s and a 6m, she will have a 678 sanshoku.

In the second row, Aki creates a 234m sequence and a 678m sequence. Being tenpai, Aki throws a red 5s and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen, wanting the 6s. At the end of the second row, Hinata gets to tenpai on a 7s tanki, but she has no yaku. Two turns into the third row, Aki draws the perfect 6s and wins the hand. Aki wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Sanshoku/Dora 1 for 6,000+300 all, moving up to 72,600.

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Results

Game 194

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Table A, Game 2

Honda

Jaunary 15, Table A, Game 2, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10042

In S2-0, Honda is in 4th place, 600 behind 3rd place dealer Hisato, 13,800 behind 2nd place Taro and 23,200 behind 1st place Genta.

Honda starts off the hand 4-shanten with not much to speak of. However, that changes pretty quickly. By turn 5, Honda is already at a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten with pinfu guaranteed.

But, danger comes along as Taro calls riichi on a 369p three-sided wait at the end of the first row.

At first, Honda start to fold his hand. But even as he folds initially, he manages to get back to iishanten after drawing the dora 6p. After making a 4m triplet, Honda gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 5p kanchan. Two turns later, he draws the 5p and wins the hand. With the flip, Honda’s 4m becomes the uradora and Honda’s hand is suddenly upgraded by 3 han! Honda wins with Riichi/Tanyao/Dora 1/Ura 3 for 3,000/6,000 plus a riichi stick, enough to put Honda into 2nd place and within a mangan of 1st.

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Results

Game 195

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Table B, Game 2

Unbelievable Uchikawa

Jaunary 15, Table B, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7546

In E1-0, Uchikawa starts out with a strong 2-shanten hand with a secured red 5p. On turn 3, Uchikawa gets himself to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten with a chance at souzu straight, needing a 6s and a 9s to get there. On turn 5, Uchikawa draws a 9s and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen.

To his left, Shibata has already called pon on the green dragon and sits with a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. At the start of the second row, Shibata draws the 6p dora and gets to tenpai on a 25p ryanmen.

In the middle of the second row, Uchikawa draws the high-value 6s and wins the hand. With Uchikawa’s 5p pair also becoming dora, Uchikawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Ittsuu/Aka 1/Ura 2 for a big 4,000/8,000 baiman.

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In E3-1, Uchikawa is now the dealer and has already won a 1,000 all hand.

Uchikawa starts off at 4-shanten with a secured red 5s. The first row goes very well for him, filling in a 7p kanchan, pairs up the 1p and draws a red 5p. By the end of hte first row, Uchikawa is iishanten.

In the second row, Uchikawa goes back a step to create a 4556s shape, allowing potential wider wait. On his next turn, he draws a 3s. It could have been tenpai, but it does put him at a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. A turn later, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan.

Immediately after, Ooi fills in a 7s penchan and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen.

Uchikawa has two winning tiles while Ooi has six. As Kobayashi draws the 7s right after, Uchikawa is down to just one. But, Uchikawa only needs that one. In the third row, Ooi draws and discards the 7s and deals into Uchikawa. Uchikawa wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Aka 2 for 12,000+300.

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In E3-2 Uchikawa starts out with an iishanten hand and has two kanchans to convert or fill. On turn 2, Uchikawa fills in a 4m kanchan and has a chance to be tenpai on a 7p kanchan, but he rejects the cheap hand to try for something better. After switching between floating tiles, Uchikawa finally gets a ryanmen at the start of the second row and calls riichi on a 14p ryanmen, wanting the 4p for a 234p iipeikou. At the start of the third row, Uchikawa gets that 4p and wins the hand. With an uradora hit, Uchikawa wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Iiipeikou/Ura 1 for 4,000+200 all, moving him up to 70,900.

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In E3-3, Uchikawa is 3-shanten with a pair of easts and a pair of 3m dora. Before the row is done, Uchikawa calls pon on the east and gets to iishanten.

Around him, Kobayashi has called twice for iishanten and Shibata is iishanten as well. On Shibata’s next turn, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 1p/8p shanpon.

Within the go-around Uchikawa has a chance to take a 3m/9m shanpon, but decides to be a bit safe and stay iishanten.

When it gets around to Kobayashi, he pairs up the south pair and gets to tenpai on a 5p/south shanpon, guaranteed a mangan if he wins.

On Uchikawa’s next turn, he has a chance to be on a 7m penchan. With the formerly dangerous 4s now a nakasuji, he takes the tenpai. Immediately after, Ooi discards the 7m (a safe tile against Shibata) and deals into Uchikawa. Uchikawa wins the hand with Double East/Dora 2 for 12,000+900, his third dealer mangan in a row.

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In E3-4, Uchikawa is 3-shanten with a connected dora 7m. The first row secures the dora with a 789m sequence and gives an extra 7m to boot. By the end of the first row, Uchikawa is 2-shanten. At the start of the second row, Uchikawa draws a 9m and puts him just an 8m away from a 789m iipeikou. A turn later, he gets to iishanten.

Across from him, Koabayashi is iishanten. With a 678s chii, Kobayashi gets to tenpai on a 4p kanchan.

On Uchikawa’s next turn, he gets to tenpai and waits dama on an 8m kanchan. On his very next turn, he draws the 8m and wins the hand. Uchikawa wins with Tsumo/Iipeikou/Dora 2 for 4,000+400 all, lifting him up to 98,000 and ahead of the season’s highest final score of 91,500 by Yu.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7547

In E3-5, Uchikawa is now a single hand away from breaking the 100,000 mark.

Uchikawa starts off 2-shanten from seven pairs with pairs of 6s, 5p (including the red 5p), 1s and a triplet of wests. He also has a choice to go the standard route, being 2-shanten there as well. On turn 4, Uchikawa creates a 345p sequence. With the 4p also being the dora, the standard route looks pretty good, being iishanten. At the start of the second row, Uchikawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 1s/6s shanpon.

Two turns later, Kobayashi chases with a 5s kanchan.

At the end of the second row, Kobayashi discards the 1s and deals into Uchikawa. WIth an uradora, Uchikawa wins with Riichi/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 12,000+1,500 plus a riichi stick. With all that, Uchikawa is up to 112,500.

And with that, Uchikawa is just the sixth player in M-League history to break the 100,000 mark.

• February 18, 2021: Sasaki Hisato gets to 100,400 in E2-3, finishes the game at 94,000
• November 18 2021: Date Arisa gets to 108,500 in S3-5, finishes the game with 105,500
• December 2, 2021: Asakura Koushin gets to 104,900 in S4-1, finishes the game with 102,400
• November 7, 2022: Kurosawa Saki gets to 113,700 in S4-9, finishes the game with 112,700
• February 26, 2024: Suzuki Taro gets to 106,100 in S2-4, hits the peak of 127,100 in S2-6, finishes the game with 112,800

And now Uchikawa with 112,500 at the end of E3-5.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7548

In S1-0, Uchikawa has slipped down to “just” 108,300 and is still behind the all-time record of 112,800.

Uchikawa starts out the hand 4-shanten for a standard hand (3-shanten for chiitoi) with a connected 7s. In the first row, Uchikawa makes a 9m triplet and adds some connectors to be 2-shanten.

However, Uchikawa’s advancement is interrupted when Shibata calls riichi on turn 5 and waits on a 36p ryanmen with five winning tiles left in the wall.

Uchikawa pairs up the 7s during the go-around, but he breaks 9m triplet, looking like he’s folding. However, while he does this, Uchikawa makes a 7s triplet. In the middle of the second row, after getting rid of all his terminals and honours, Uchikawa calls a 678p chii and discards a suji 7p for 2-shanten. Within the go-around, he calls pon on the 7m and discards a dangerous 8s for iishanten. In the third row, he discards the red 5s nakasuji and gets to tenpai on a 4m/5m. Despite everything being against him, Uchikawa manages to win when Shibata discards the 5m. Uchikawa wins with Tanyao/Dora 3 for 8,000 plus a riichi stick, getting Uchikawa to 117,300, the second-highest any M-League player has ever reached.

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Though Uchikawa slips down to 104,700 and misses the highest score of all time (actually “only” having the 4th-highest final score in M-League history), Uchikawa has the highest hanchan of the season, putting him in line for a 1 million yen prize.

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Results

Game 196

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