EVENT WHITE Alison Jones, 1d BLACK Charles Leedham-Green, 1d RESULT B+T BOARDSIZE 19 KOMI 5.5 TIMELIMIT 30 minutes, sudden death SOURCE BGJ 92, Autumn 1993, Page 8 ANALYSIS Feng Yun / Francis Roads COM Copyright British Go Association 1993, 2000 [Introductory text in EBGJ web page 09208.html] Black Rank: 1 dan Write Rank: 1 dan ENDCOM B 1 C4 W 2 Q16 B 3 D17 W 4 Q3 B 5 E4 W 6 D15 B 7 C13 W 8 K4 MARK C@E14 B@B14 A@C16 C13 D17 COM White 8: The result in the top left corner is as if black had made the extension from 3 to 7 previously and then white had invaded at 6. This bad [for whom?] for two reasons: firstly, such moves belong to the middle game, after white has built some influence to back up such an invasion, and secondly, because 6 is the wrong point to invade anyway. (See the Ishi Press book Attack and Defense (sic) page 179 for further details.) . Mrs Feng spent some time showing the various joseki that White could have chosen, starting at 12(A), 17(B), or a point right of 16 (at C). Alison had the grace to admit that she played elsewhere because she was unsure of these lines. The implication was that any of them would have been better than this tenuki. ENDCOM B 9 C15 W 10 Q9 B 11 K16 W 12 C16 MARK K16 D15 COM White 12: This move and the subsequent ones show why 6 is on the wrong point; there is no way to separate the black stones. The sequence to 24 is bad for White: her influence is worth less than the black territory, which is on the fourth line, and in any case is reduced by the presence of 11. All these moves are best left unplayed. ENDCOM B 13 D16 W 14 C14 B 15 B15 W 16 D14 B 17 B14 W 18 D13 B 19 D12 W 20 E12 B 21 D11 W 22 E11 B 23 D10 W 24 E10 MARK D15 E10 D10 E11 D11 E12 D12 D13 B14 D14 MARK B15 C14 D16 C16 K16 COM White 12: This move and the subsequent ones show why 6 is on the wrong point; there is no way to separate the black stones. The sequence to 24 is bad for White: her influence is worth less than the black territory, which is on the fourth line, and in any case is reduced by the presence of 11. All these moves are best left unplayed. ENDCOM B 25 D9 W 26 J15 COM White 26-32: Once again, White is exchanging the influence of a wall of stones on the fifth line for black territory on the fourth, which generally speaking is a poor bargain. Having done so, 32 should be a point below 31; then there is at least the prospect of a moyo in the centre of the board, though it will still take skilful play to turn it into as much territory as Black has already made secure. ENDCOM B 27 J16 W 28 H15 B 29 H16 W 30 K15 B 31 L15 W 32 G16 MARK G16 L15 K15 H16 H15 J16 J15 COM White 26-32: Once again, White is exchanging the influence of a wall of stones on the fifth line for black territory on the fourth, which generally speaking is a poor bargain. Having done so, 32 should be a point below 31; then there is at least the prospect of a moyo in the centre of the board, though it will still take skilful play to turn it into as much territory as Black has already made secure. ENDCOM VAR W 1 L14 ENDVAR B 33 G15 W 34 F15 B 35 G14 W 36 E16 COM White 36: The idea of 36 was to threaten the corner, but 37 captures three stones; Mrs Feng asserted that after this move Black had a won game. To lose three stones like this when they are confined to the edge or corner is not so drastic, but here in the center, where their influence spreads throughout the board, the loss is immeasurably greater than just the six points for stones and territory. ENDCOM B 37 K14 W 38 E17 MARK D16 D17 A@C18 B14 B15 C15 C13 COM White 38: [After 36,] there remained interesting aji in the corner. If White plays atari left of 7, and Black connects below 7, White can play one point above 15, threatening both the three Black stones 9, 15, and 17, and a move one point left of 39 (at A), which would threaten 3 and 13. Unfortunately White promptly plays aji-keshi with the 38-39 exchange, and erases this aji. When you know you've just made a bad move, it's very easy to follow it up with another. The professional thought that even if White had found an opportunity to make use of her aji, the loss with 37 still left her well behind. In a game with long time limits this position is resignable, but with only 30 minutes... ENDCOM B 39 D18 W 40 G3 B 41 E2 MARK B@Q5 A@R12 COM Black 41: This move is not urgent. It's a very large endgame move, but with his great influence Black should be thinking about invading the right side with a kakari at 75(A) or possibly 43(B). ENDCOM W 42 O17 B 43 Q5 W 44 Q4 MARK A@O4 Q9 COM White 44: Mrs Feng recommended the knight's move at 46(A). Although 44 move does appear in the joseki books, the idea being to make black heavy and easy to attack with the stone at 10, nonetheless we were assured that this joseki is now regarded as old-fashioned in China. ENDCOM VAR W 1 O4 ENDVAR B 45 P5 W 46 O4 B 47 Q13 MARK B@R11 A@Q11 COM Black 47: This move is not a deep enough invasion, especially bearing in mind all that influence, and leaves white space to separate the two black positions in good shape with 48(A). If Black wants to play hereabouts 70(B) is the move. He need not fear a splitting attack, with those strong stones in the rear. When you have strong influence you squander it if you don't attack hard and invade deep; that's what influence is for. ENDCOM VAR B 1 R11 ENDVAR W 48 Q11 B 49 Q7 MARK C@S5 A@N6 COM Black 49: Narrow and over-concentrated. He should escape to the centre with a knight's move at 51(A), or start to make eyes against the edge with the ikken tobi at C. ENDCOM VAR B 1 N6 ENDVAR VAR B 1 S5 ENDVAR W 50 O8 B 51 N6 W 52 O12 MARK O8 Q11 Q9 A@N4 COM White 52: White should play honte at A. Honte is very hard to define, but this is a good example: a seemingly slow move which actually achieves a great deal. The lower white territory is secured; the black group above is weakened; and therefore the white group 10, 48, and 50 is indirectly strengthened. ENDCOM VAR W 1 N4 ENDVAR B 53 O13 W 54 N13 B 55 O14 W 56 N14 B 57 N15 MARK O14 O13 Q13 B@R16 A@M14 COM Black 57: An overplay. The three white captured stones still have enough aji to force Black to play 59(A), so after 60 (described by Mrs Feng as "quite good") the three black stones 47, 53 and 55 are in trouble, and White is creeping back into the game. Black should play the contact move at 64(B) and try to make some eyes. ENDCOM VAR B 1 R16 ENDVAR W 58 O15 B 59 M14 W 60 N12 COM (Black 57: An overplay. The three white captured stones still have enough aji to force Black to play 59(A), so after 60 (described by Mrs Feng as "quite good") the three black stones 47, 53 and 55 are in trouble, and White is creeping back into the game.) ENDCOM B 61 P15 W 62 O16 B 63 Q15 W 64 R16 B 65 P12 MARK N15 R16 A@R11 COM Black 65: Aji-keshi. This move does not actually increase black's eye space at all. What it does do is render ineffective the move which he should have played at 70(A), again to make eye space. One of the proverbs in Segoe's "Go Proverbs Illustrated" reads: "If you plan to live inside the opponents territory, play directly against his stones", i.e. play 64 instead of 57, and 70 instead of 65. ENDCOM VAR B 1 R11 ENDVAR W 66 P11 B 67 R15 W 68 S16 MARK A@R12 COM White 68' should be the kosumi at 69(A). The idea is to kill these Black stones off, not just to protect the corner. ENDCOM VAR W 1 R12 ENDVAR B 69 R12 W 70 R11 MARK B@S14 COM White 70: She can attack more effectively with the placement at B. ENDCOM VAR W 1 S14 ENDVAR B 71 S15 W 72 S12 B 73 S13 W 74 Q12 B 75 R13 W 76 S11 B 77 P16 W 78 P17 B 79 T16 W 80 P13 MARK A@S17 COM White 80' should be at 81(A), to prevent black from making his second eye in the corner. If White had played there black is well and truly dead; can you convince yourself that this is so? ENDCOM VAR W 1 S17 ENDVAR B 81 S17 W 82 R18 B 83 S18 W 84 M7 MARK A@N4 COM White 84: The honte at A is still the best move. In the following sequence Alison missed many chances to play on this vital point. By this stage in the game both players were in serious time trouble; Alison had also been keeping the game record. ENDCOM B 85 M6 W 86 L5 B 87 L6 W 88 K6 B 89 L7 W 90 J8 B 91 L9 W 92 L11 B 93 K7 W 94 J7 B 95 K9 W 96 S4 COM White 96: This move makes it difficult for black to make eyes in the corner, and forces the stones to run away twards the white strength in the top left corner. This is a good way to use this strength. ENDCOM B 97 J9 W 98 G9 B 99 H8 W 100 H6 B 101 H9 W 102 G8 B 103 J12 COM Black 103: Loose. Charles is correctly trying to link his group with the strong stones above, but leaps a point too far. ENDCOM W 104 J13 B 105 H13 W 106 H12 B 107 K13 MARK A@K12 COM Black 107 loses a tempo by playing the atari here instead of the simple extension to 109(A). If I were feeling mean I would remind Charles of the British go proverb "Beginners play atari", but he's a good friend of mine so I won't. ENDCOM VAR B 1 K12 ENDVAR W 108 J11 B 109 K12 W 110 K11 B 111 H7 W 112 G7 B 113 K8 W 114 J6 B 115 M8 W 116 N7 B 117 N8 COM Black 117: This is a slip, the black stones could still have lived by playing 117' at 118 - see if you can work out how he can then quite easily make two eyes. ENDCOM W 118 O7 B 119 N10 W 120 M10 B 121 M9 W 122 O5 B 123 O6 W 124 R8 B 125 P7 W 126 R7 B 127 R6 W 128 S5 B 129 P9 W 130 O9 B 131 O10 COM Up to 131 Alison has succeeded in killing the large Black group, and is ahead on the board despite the bad start. But her flag dropped and she lost on time. Well all you kyu players, I hope you feel encouraged to learn that after you get your promotion to shodan you will still be allowed to make the odd mistake now and then. If you found this commentary helpful why not write to the editor and tell him so? In fact, why not write anyway and tell him what you think of the British Go Journal. We contributors slave away over hot word processors, but rarely get much feed back. ENDCOM