A few simple rules ... limitless possibilities

British Go Journal No. 63. November 1984. Page 10.

Matthew Macfadyen

Black: M Macfadyen, 6d, GB
White: P Colmez, 5d, F
The game-file in SGF format.

(Introductory news about European Congress omitted.)

The congress ended up with a tie on 6 wins out of 9 between four Europeans. There was only one evening in which to resolve the tie, so a two round knockout was played with 50 minutes each and no byoyomi. In the first round Pierre Colmez beat Robert Rehm, while I beat Egbert Rittner (something of a newcomer, he has only been playing Go for two years). The final game is presented below. It is not particularly accurate, but it is quite vigorous and readers should bear in mind that the players had already played one six hour game and the previous playoff round before this game began around 10pm.

Dia 1 (1-51)

• Black 35: It would be bad to hane below white 34 since the 3 stones below would have some aji and White would take too big a corner.
• Black 43, 47: The fight at the top didn't seem to be going too well, so I started another one at the bottom.

Dia 2 (52-107)

• White 70: Overplay - White is chasing the black group into his own territory. This will be fine if black dies, but White is winning, and doesn't need to try anything so risky.
• Black 77: Awful - I had hallucinated that I could be cut otherwise, but nothing works. After 77, the white stones are solidly connected and Black is in real trouble.
• Black 81: Tesuji, but does it really work? White spent a lot of time trying to find a way to kill the group, and ended up by losing in yose due to time trouble.
• White 102: He should play the other hane (at 111) so that 108 becomes a killing attack.

Dia 3 (108-153)

• White 116: Rather slow: - he should play one point above 117 which almost kills black on the side. When I played 117 I began to feel I had some chance to win.
• White 118: much too slow. White cannot save his stones in the lower right, but he could easily live on the side while threatening to do so. A contact play at the start point looks the right way to start.
• Black 123 completes the side - now the game is close.
• 129, 131, 139, 141, 143: Outrage - Black gets all the big yose points, and most of them were White's sente. Now the game is not close any more.

Dia 4a (154-200) BGJ had Fig 4a and 4b as one diagram, Fig 4.

• Black 167: 170 was bigger, but Black is well ahead and I didn't want anything silly to happen.

Dia 4b (201-220) BGJ had Fig 4a and 4b as one diagram, Fig 4. 220 connects ko at .

Black wins by 14.5 points.

The article continues with another game on page 13.