The Man She Didn't Wake
A woman was working with a man.
During their work, the man began to doze off, but the woman made no attempt to wake him.
Why didn't she wake him?
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Hints
Use as many hints as you need, one at a time.
Hint 1
“Working together” does not necessarily mean helping each other.
Hint 2
The longer the man stayed asleep, the better it was for the woman.
Hint 3
They were opponents in a match, and the time available for the man's next move kept ticking away while he slept.
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Answer
They were playing a professional shogi match.
The man had fallen asleep on his own turn. If time passed without him making his next move, he would lose on time.
As his opponent, the woman saw this as a chance to win. So she waited without waking him.
Explanation
Although they were “working together,” they were opponents competing to win, rather than teammates helping each other.
The woman had never beaten the man before. But during this match, he began to doze off on his own turn.
The game clock kept running while he slept. If he failed to make his next move, he would eventually run out of time.
The woman waited for his next move without waking him. The man used up his main thinking time, then also failed to move within the per-move time limit in the overtime period. He lost on time.
That was how the woman beat him for the first time.
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