EVENT WHITE Eddie Smithers, 3k BLACK Tony Atkins, 3k RESULT W+3 BOARDSIZE 19 DATE 28 January 1984 PLACE Crewe (Cheshire Tournament) KOMI 5.5 SOURCE BGJ 62. July 1984. Page 21. COM Black Rank: 3 kyu Write Rank: 3 kyu ENDCOM B 1 Q17 COM Copyright British Go Association 1984, 2001 ENDCOM W 2 D16 B 3 D4 W 4 Q3 B 5 R15 W 6 K16 B 7 Q5 W 8 Q8 B 9 O4 MARK A@N5 COM Black 9: Very unusual. The simple line is to play at A first, then counterattack the white stone with 17 or 18 (/\). ENDCOM VAR B 1 N5 ENDVAR W 10 O3 MARK G@R5 F@P6 E@Q6 D@Q4 C@P4 B@R6 A@P5 COM White 10: Cutting across at 38(A) is the only move, then black 40(C), white 36(D), and black has to play 49(E). The continuation is hard, and is not even mentioned in lshida. (Note that capturing white in a ladder with 39(F) instead of 49(E) in this variation would be no good even if it worked, as white's corner would be too big after 37(G) and B). ENDCOM VAR W 1 P5 B 2 P4 W 3 Q4 B 4 Q6 ENDVAR VAR W 1 P5 B 2 P4 W 3 Q4 B 4 P6 W 5 R5 B 6 Q6 W 7 R6 ENDVAR B 11 N4 W 12 N3 B 13 O8 MARK D@R11 Q8 C@R5 B@R3 A@M4 COM Black 13: An instructive error. Normally this should be at 34(A), the vital point in what has become a pushing-and-crawling race. Black's two-stone group is still unstable and he cannot yet tenuki here (a useful rule of thumb for tactical situations is that a group needs at least 5 liberties before it is stable), However a 'joseki' alternative to 34 is to first attach at 32(B) to sound out White's reaction and prevent him from playing at 37(C) to take the corner. Secondly, if black wants to attack white 8 he should himself play a counter-pincer first. The capping play only forces white to extend to 14(D), taking territory and stabilising his group. Incidentally, an excellent lesson in the significance of pushing-and-crawling is given in the Ishi Press book, "In the Beginning" (a book most kyu players could profitably read). ENDCOM VAR B 1 M4 ENDVAR W 14 R11 B 15 Q12 W 16 P7 MARK Q12 O8 COM White 16: Wrong direction. If white wants to avoid being sealed in, he should move out through 13 and 15, not head towards black's (albeit thin) thickness. ENDCOM B 17 Q11 W 18 Q10 B 19 P10 W 20 R10 B 21 O6 MARK A@N6 COM Black 21: Too thin, inviting white to slice through the middle. Better is 44(A). ENDCOM VAR B 1 N6 ENDVAR W 22 R13 MARK D@S13 COM White 22: Too thin, better at D. ENDCOM VAR W 1 S13 ENDVAR B 23 R12 W 24 S12 B 25 Q13 W 26 R14 B 27 Q14 W 28 P9 MARK A@O7 COM White 28: Strengthens black. Simply 30(A). ENDCOM VAR W 1 O7 ENDVAR B 29 O9 W 30 O7 B 31 R4 MARK A@N7 COM Black 31: Strengthens white, and is off the mark. Willy-nilly, black must block at 43(A). ENDCOM VAR B 1 N7 ENDVAR W 32 R3 MARK A@N7 COM White 32: 43(A) shrieks to be played. ENDCOM VAR W 1 N7 ENDVAR B 33 M3 COM Black 33: Still off the mark and fishing in muddy waters. ENDCOM W 34 M4 B 35 L3 W 36 Q4 MARK A@N7 COM White 36: 43(A) now drowns out all sound - it slices through black's groups like a knife through butter. But instead white loses patience and tries a vulgar piece of rough stuff - fortunately it works. ENDCOM B 37 R5 W 38 P5 B 39 P6 W 40 P4 B 41 Q7 W 42 P8 B 43 N7 W 44 N6 MARK D@R8 C@O10 COM White 44: Or does it? This move is stylish, but simply giving the series of ataris starting at C and ending at 44 is simpler and prevents black 45(D). ENDCOM B 45 R8 W 46 Q9 B 47 O5 W 48 R7 MARK C@O10 COM White 48: Missing his chance. Now white must strike .and capture one or more of black's outside stones by giving atari at C. ENDCOM B 49 Q6 W 50 S7 B 51 S8 W 52 S9 B 53 M7 MARK D@S13 R14 S12 R13 COM Black 53: The result of the opening skirmishes in this corner have turned in black's favour: he has considerable thickness, while white has only a small side. Note that because of white's bad (and incomplete) sequence of 22, 24, and 26, Black can capture two stones by cutting at D. ENDCOM W 54 D6 B 55 L5 COM Black 55: Black eliminates the bad aji here, but lets white start a fight in the other corner. ENDCOM W 56 F4 B 57 E6 MARK A@E5 COM Black 57: Simpler is 60(A). ENDCOM VAR B 1 E5 ENDVAR W 58 D5 B 59 E4 MARK A@E5 COM Black 59: Bad. Must be at 60(A) ENDCOM VAR B 1 E5 ENDVAR W 60 E5 B 61 F5 W 62 F3 MARK A@C4 COM White 62: Aggressive, but not without risk. Natural is 64(A). ENDCOM VAR W 1 C4 ENDVAR B 63 D2 MARK A@C4 COM Black 63: Lets white seize the vital point of 64. ENDCOM W 64 C4 B 65 E2 W 66 F2 B 67 C3 W 68 G5 B 69 F6 W 70 G6 B 71 E7 COM Black 71: Bad shape, making the dreaded empty triangle. Should be a 1-point jump. ENDCOM W 72 D7 B 73 E8 W 74 D8 B 75 G7 W 76 H7 B 77 E9 W 78 D9 B 79 D10 MARK E@C10 A@B4 COM Black 79: The position is becoming steadily more difficult. Black has a weak centre group short of liberties. But his corner is not alive (if White plays 118(A) he can reduce it to an 'L' group). On the other hand White's centre group is stuck inside Black's moyo, and is riddled with cutting points, The vital question therefore is, at what stage can white stop chasing black and go back to kill the corner - or will black get a chance to save the corner first. In the mean­time, this hane and White's aggressive answer further confuse matters, since they raise the spectre of a Black descent at E and a counter-attack on the side. ENDCOM W 80 E10 B 81 G8 W 82 H8 B 83 F10 W 84 E11 B 85 H4 W 86 G4 B 87 H10 W 88 G9 B 89 F9 W 90 H9 B 91 G10 W 92 J10 MARK B@B3 A@B4 COM White 92: Probably an overplay. White should defend his cutting point (after exchanging 118(A) for 119(B)) and make miai of killing the corner or escaping/continuing the attack on Black's centre group. This would be a simple way of playing, since white can look forward to deriving plenty (more) profit from black's straggler. ENDCOM B 93 J11 W 94 K10 B 95 K11 W 96 J5 B 97 J4 MARK A@B4 COM Black 97: Black now and later continues to tempt fate. He really should make his corner live (with the, in itself very large, move of 118(A)). ENDCOM W 98 K4 B 99 K3 W 100 K5 B 101 L4 W 102 H3 B 103 J3 W 104 H2 B 105 H5 W 106 H6 B 107 K8 COM Black 107: Vital point for attack and wrecking white's shape. ENDCOM W 108 K7 B 109 K6 W 110 J6 B 111 L6 W 112 M10 B 113 L11 W 114 M11 B 115 L10 W 116 L9 B 117 L8 W 118 B4 COM White 118: Having failed to escape or make eyes (and fatally shortened himself of liberties in the process), white now turns in desperation to black's corner and the game reaches a climax. ENDCOM B 119 B3 W 120 E3 B 121 D3 W 122 B2 B 123 A4 W 124 B6 MARK E3 D10 COM White 124: Now white is behind in the semeai, but 124 seems to be necessary on the side, due to the aji of black 79. Also white should play 120 first (in fact, probably much earlier than this) to destroy black's half eye (black always has the option of discarding two stones to secure life). ENDCOM B 125 A2 W 126 B1 B 127 J2 MARK F@C1 A@E1 COM Black 127: A blunder. Black should first play at 128(A), threatening F and two eyes. This increases his internal liberties to the point where white needs 9 moves to put black into atari (count them), whereas black needs only 7 to do likewise to white.. ENDCOM W 128 E1 B 129 D1 W 130 F1 B 131 H1 W 132 J9 MARK A@A5 COM White 132: Hara-kiri. White must play at 136(A). If black connects both sides effectively have 6 liberties and white can win the semeai. Black's only hope is then to fill a white liberty instead and fight the ko. ENDCOM B 133 M9 MARK G@K9 COM Black 133: Returns the compliment. Filling a liberty at G will put Black ahead in the semeai and safeguard his stones above. ENDCOM W 134 H11 B 135 H12 W 136 A5 B 137 F12 COM In the sequence to 137, at which point the score tantalisingly ends, white kills black's corner (for the time being), a success which should be enough to win comfortably. However, not surprisingly, since both players are amateurs, the fight in the corner was not decisive, and in the end White won by just 3 points. ENDCOM