Event Black Jim Bates, 4d White Richard Granville, 3d Place Challenger's League 1983 Result B+Resign Source BGJ60. Page 22. Sept 1983 Com Copyright British Go Association 1983,1998 Comments are by Matthew Macfadyen. EndCom B 1 r15 Com 1-24: Reasonable for both - Although Black gets two shimaris, white 22 is an excellent point (Black could consider playing 21 one point to the left of 22). EndCom W 2 d17 B 3 p4 W 4 d3 B 5 d5 W 6 d8 B 7 g4 W 8 e5 B 9 e6 W 10 f5 B 11 d4 W 12 f3 B 13 f6 W 14 g5 B 15 c3 W 16 e3 B 17 b4 W 18 k4 B 19 r4 W 20 r10 B 21 q17 W 22 n3 B 23 r8 W 24 r13 B 25 c15 W 26 c13 B 27 d13 W 28 c12 Mark A@d12 #6 Com White 28 is a bit strange - the usual idea is to play hane at 'A' instead. 28 would make more sense if white 6 were one line closer, but the shape in the game leaves Black with good chances to invade the side later. EndCom B 29 c17 W 30 c18 B 31 d16 W 32 e17 B 33 b17 W 34 g16 B 35 b18 Com Jim grabs his fourth corner - this play may look small but it is essential. Once the corner is secure it becomes relatively easy to live in the centre. EndCom W 36 l17 B 37 c7 W 38 c8 B 39 b7 W 40 d14 B 41 c14 W 42 e14 B 43 o2 W 44 o17 B 45 p15 W 46 p10 B 47 p8 W 48 s4 B 49 s5 Com Bad - he obviously feels that he is strongenough in this area to kill White completely, but the game sequence leaves many weaknesses. Dia 1shows the obvious sequence - White gets a favourable ko (if he wins it with 'A', he can continue at 'B'). Black can do better than this by playing 4' at 5, but the result is still ko (exercise for the reader). If Black had played 49 correctly at 'X' in the figure then there would be no chance at all for White to live in the corner, and Black's stones 23 and 47 would be nicely placed to trap him if he tried to run away. EndCom VAR B 1 s5 Com Moves 1-5 here permit Dia 1 to be shown as a variation of White 6 (pass). EndCom W 2 r5 B 3 q5 W 4 r6 B 5 s6 W 6 PASS VAR W 1 r3 B 2 q4 W 3 q2 B 4 p2 W 5 s2 B 6 t4 W 7 t3 Mark A@t5 B@s7 ALL Com "Dia 1" EndCom ENDVAR ENDVAR W 50 r5 B 51 q5 W 52 r6 B 53 s6 W 54 g8 Com White 54 threatens to surround the centre on a large scale. Black 55 is a good, light invasion, but 57 is an overplay - he must settle himself in the centre before playing here. EndCom B 55 k15 W 56 j16 B 57 m17 W 58 m16 B 59 n17 W 60 n16 B 61 o18 W 62 o16 B 63 l18 W 64 k17 B 65 p18 W 66 o14 B 67 e16 W 68 f16 B 69 f13 Com Black 69 is reasonable, but 71 is not. It is neither necessary, sufficient, nor indeed possible to live so deep in the white moyo. Even after 73 Black can cut his losses and abandon these stones for the moment. Jm Bates is quite strong enough to know this, but he fell into a common psychological trap, letting himself continue with a bad sequence even after he knew it was bad. It is extraordinarily easy to do this - the sensation is rather like a bad dream - you just sit and watch your hands playing a string of ridiculous moves and are quite powerless to stop them. EndCom W 70 e13 B 71 d12 W 72 e12 B 73 d11 W 74 c11 B 75 e11 W 76 f11 B 77 e9 W 78 e8 B 79 f10 W 80 g11 B 81 f8 W 82 f7 Mark A@g9 #76 #81 B@f9 Com Now it was Richard's turn to err despite himself. He had spent several minutes thinking about 76, but had clearly not thought about the consequences of black 81 while he was doing so. Nevertheless, when 81 was played, he replied at 82 after about half a second's thought. Had he devoted an extra few seconds to the problem, he should have had no trouble in spotting that 83 (A)would be a much better play than 82. this makes miai of 82 and 121 (B) and kills the black stones cleanly. Again the problem was not in knowing what to do, but in actually doing it. EndCom B 83 g9 W 84 g7 B 85 h9 W 86 k9 B 87 h11 W 88 h12 B 89 j11 W 90 l11 B 91 j9 W 92 k8 B 93 j12 W 94 g12 B 95 l12 W 96 m12 B 97 l13 Com Up to 97, Jim has cause to rue his premature plays 57 - 65. EndCom W 98 j13 Com 98 - 114: Black's helplessness is becoming progressively more apparent. EndCom B 99 h13 W 100 g13 B 101 h14 W 102 j14 B 103 f14 W 104 g14 B 105 f15 W 106 g15 B 107 h7 W 108 h8 B 109 j8 W 110 j7 B 111 k7 W 112 j6 B 113 k10 W 114 l10 Com 98 - 114: Black's helplessness is becoming progressively more apparent. EndCom B 115 e7 Com Black 115 - 121: Jim succeeds in cutting off the side group and connecting the ko, but he seems to have too few liberties to be able to do anything. EndCom W 116 g6 B 117 d10 W 118 d9 B 119 c10 W 120 b10 B 121 f9 Com Black 115 - 121: Jim succeeds in cutting off the side group and connecting the ko, but he seems to have too few liberties to be able to do anything. EndCom W 122 c9 B 123 e10 W 124 h10 Com However, Richard was in byoyomi by now, and this is the blunder Jim was waiting for. It gives Black time to connect his group together. Now the capturing race is looking close. EndCom B 125 k12 W 126 b11 B 127 m13 W 128 n13 Com Richard felt that this was necessary to keep him ahead in the capturing race, but it fails simply to the sequence to 135. (after 135 Black kills three stones below or five stones above). White 134 should be to the right of 133, but that gives Black his extar liberty anyway. EndCom B 129 l9 W 130 l8 B 131 m9 W 132 m10 B 133 n12 W 134 m11 B 135 n9 Com Richard felt that this was necessary to keep him ahead in the capturing race, but it fails simply to the sequence to 135. (after 135 Black kills three stones below or five stones above). White 134 should be to the right of 133, but that gives Black his extar liberty anyway. Jim Bates (Black) wins, presumably by resignation. EndCom