EVENT WHITE John Rickard, 4d, Cambridge BLACK Francis Roads, 4d, Wanstead RESULT B+R BOARDSIZE 19 DATE 11th July, 1993 PLACE Sonoyama Trophy, Round 1 KOMI 5.5 SOURCE BGJ 92, Autumn 1993, Page 12 ANALYSIS F. Roads (+Feng Yun, 7p) COM Copyright British Go Association 1993, 2000 Black Rank: 4 dan White Rank: 4 dan Black Rank: 5325952 dan Write Rank: 5325952 dan ENDCOM B 1 Q16 W 2 D17 B 3 Q4 W 4 D4 B 5 Q10 W 6 C11 COM White 6: This, with 2 and 4, makes the low Chinese fuseki, which I occasionally meet with against my san-ren-sei (1, 3, and 5). Black 7 is on such a good point for white that it seems to me that black can take a small early lead, but the move brought no comment from the pro. ENDCOM B 7 K16 W 8 K4 B 9 C6 W 10 F4 MARK D@D6 C@C5 COM White 10': Normally played at C; then black D, white 10, black 13. The shape that black gets with 11 and 13 is better than this. ENDCOM VAR W 1 C5 B 2 D6 W 3 F4 B 4 C9 ENDVAR B 11 B4 W 12 C3 B 13 C9 W 14 C14 MARK B@C13 A@D15 COM White 14: Not too bad, but rather low and flat. Mrs Feng suggested A. John was concerned about the possible invasion at B if he played there, but the professional thought that he had enough pressure against the black group below to withstand it. ENDCOM VAR W 1 D15 B 2 C13 ENDVAR B 15 M3 MARK B@G17 A@N4 COM Black 15: I found it hard to choose between this, 74(A), and the points below and left of 98(B). Mrs Feng politely said that they were all good points, and that 15 was as good as any. ENDCOM W 16 R14 B 17 R15 W 18 Q14 B 19 O16 W 20 Q12 B 21 R11 W 22 P10 B 23 P9 MARK D@O11 K16 C@R10 B@Q11 A@P11 COM Black 23: Better at 35(A), because after white 30(B) and black 31(C) white cannot capture it in a ladder, which ends on 7. Therefore white 22 should be at 50(D). ENDCOM W 24 O10 B 25 O12 MARK Q10 B@Q11 COM Black 25: A rather loose move, which is normally played at 30(B) in this line. But it looks good, making the eye-stealing tesuji with 5, and I use it to frighten my opponents when I fancy my chances. ENDCOM W 26 Q9 B 27 R9 W 28 Q8 B 29 R8 W 30 Q11 B 31 R10 W 32 Q7 B 33 R7 W 34 O8 MARK A@Q6 COM White 34: Too conservative; should be at 67(A). ENDCOM VAR W 1 Q6 ENDVAR B 35 P11 W 36 R17 MARK R14 COM White 36 et seq.: With this move, John decides to give up four stones including 16 to live in the corner. Mrs Feng thought that this sacrifice was too large, and that it puts Black clearly ahead. ENDCOM B 37 S15 W 38 P17 B 39 P16 W 40 O17 B 41 Q17 W 42 Q18 B 43 N17 W 44 N18 B 45 M18 MARK B@F17 R17 A@M17 COM Black 45': Should be at 47(A). After 47 I have gote anyway, but if I omit 45 I have the option later of cutting above 36 and taking the corner; white then lives along the upper edge. I can still choose to play 47 in sente later on if I prefer. 45 is a clear case of aji-keshi. After 47, the point left of 98 (at B) becomes a big point for me ... ENDCOM W 46 O18 B 47 M17 W 48 N12 COM White 48 - 52: ... but John has some aji-keshi of his own to play. The pro criticised these moves, especially 52, as being too early, even if only kept for ko threats. A nasty cut is left behind at E. ENDCOM B 49 O13 W 50 O11 B 51 P12 W 52 N13 MARK E@N11 COM White 48 - 52: ... but John has some aji-keshi of his own to play. The pro criticised these moves, especially 52, as being too early, even if only kept for ko threats. A nasty cut is left behind at E. ENDCOM B 53 O14 W 54 R3 B 55 Q3 W 56 R4 B 57 R2 MARK A@R5 COM Black 57: Choosing this line instead of 66(A) hopes to make use of the aji around 67 and 69 (/[]); there is a threat to capture three stones and thus weaken the group as a whole. This move won professional approval. ENDCOM W 58 S2 B 59 Q2 W 60 S5 MARK A@R5 COM White 60 and 62: But these ones didn't. 66(A) instead of 60 makes the right shape. 62 makes only one eye; he should start escaping to the centre immediately. ENDCOM VAR W 1 R5 ENDVAR B 61 S1 W 62 T4 COM White 60 and 62: But these ones didn't. 66 instead of 60 makes the right shape. 62 makes only one eye; he should start escaping to the centre immediately. ENDCOM B 63 S6 MARK A@R5 S2 COM Black 63: I missed a chance to capture the corner here by playing a point above 58. If black extends from 58, Black plays 66(A) and the entire white group dies. ENDCOM W 64 Q5 B 65 R6 MARK A@Q6 COM Black 65': I should play this at 67(A), not fearing the ko. ENDCOM VAR B 1 Q6 ENDVAR W 66 R5 B 67 Q6 W 68 P5 B 69 P6 W 70 O7 B 71 O6 MARK F@O5 COM Black 71: Misses a chance to kill white off completely by playing at F. ENDCOM VAR B 1 O5 ENDVAR W 72 O4 B 73 O3 MARK A@N3 COM Black 73: I debated long whether to play here or a point below. What I didn't think of was the correct shape at 75(A); then I am a jump ahead of white in the race to the centre. 73 becomes a redundant move. ENDCOM VAR B 1 N3 ENDVAR W 74 N4 B 75 N3 W 76 M4 B 77 L4 W 78 L5 B 79 L3 W 80 M6 B 81 K3 COM Black 81: Rather a slow move. When I pointed out that I was playing solidly because I was ahead in the game, Mrs Feng appeared satisfied. The move is certainly huge territorially. ENDCOM W 82 J4 B 83 J3 W 84 B3 MARK C9 B4 C6 COM White 84: This too is huge, and greatly weakens 11, 9, and 13. Nonetheless, it was criticized as being yose and too early. ENDCOM B 85 H4 MARK E@N11 O6 COM Black 85: This move, the proverbial hane at the head of two stones, keeps the lower right white group separated from the newly strengthened lower left group, and looks forward to making use of the aji around 71 and at E. I hope that my attack will be more severe than the expected attack on my left hand group ... ENDCOM W 86 B7 COM White 86 - 92: ... which promptly materializes. Having played tenuki from 84, I can no longer expect territory or even eyes on the left. ENDCOM B 87 C7 W 88 B8 B 89 C8 W 90 B6 B 91 D11 W 92 C12 B 93 J6 MARK J4 K4 G@H6 COM Black 93: Right idea, wrong point; should be G, to give more help to the the left hand group. I should not be trying to threaten 8 and 82 because my bottom group is already very strong. ENDCOM W 94 F7 B 95 F9 W 96 H5 B 97 H3 MARK K3 COM Black 97: Another very solid move played in the same spirit as 81. ENDCOM W 98 G17 MARK H@F11 COM White 98: Enormous yose, but not urgent. John should continue the attack on my left side group, hoping to patch up his bad aji on the other side in the course of so doing. Mrs Feng suggested H. ENDCOM VAR W 1 F11 ENDVAR B 99 C17 MARK A@D16 COM Black 99: Yosu-miru; see Strategic Concepts of Go, Chapter 8. After White 100(A) I can live in this corner with ko. ENDCOM W 100 D16 B 101 N11 MARK \t@J6 A@K6 COM Black 101 - 113: The time has at last come to use the aji on the right. After 111 John decided to strengthen his upper group, but 113 captures the lower right group completely -- the two cuts below 'triangle' and 113(A) are miai. But I have to be careful to keep enough liberties on the group including /\. As the position stands, it is likely eventually to be necessary to fill in all the White group's liberties. ENDCOM W 102 M11 B 103 N7 W 104 N8 B 105 M7 W 106 N6 B 107 O5 W 108 P4 B 109 N5 W 110 M5 B 111 L7 W 112 N10 B 113 K6 MARK N10 L7 \t@J6 COM Black 101 - 113: The time has at last come to use the aji on the right. After 111 John decided to strengthen his upper group, but 113 captures the lower right group completely -- the two cuts below 'triangle' and 113 are miai. But I have to be careful to keep enough liberties on the group including 'triangle'. As the position stands, it is likely eventually to be necessary to fill in all the White group's liberties. ENDCOM W 114 J8 B 115 H6 W 116 G8 B 117 G5 COM Black 117: This move seems to be small, and leaving the left side group to its fate. But now I no longer have to fill in the said liberties to keep the centre group alive, so that it can be used aggressively. ENDCOM W 118 J15 MARK H@F11 COM White 118: John could kill off my left side group cleanly with 127(H). The trouble is that he has now lost too much territory for this to give him a winning position; he needs to capture it on a large scale, i.e. taking a goodly chunk of territory with it. White 118 attempts this, but ... ENDCOM B 119 F6 MARK A@K9 G5 COM Black 119: This was another reason for 117. I cut off a small White group, and because the centre group is now strong and aggressive John has to defend eventually at 126(A). My group now has one eye, and a series of threats either to make another or connect out left this group safe. ENDCOM W 120 E6 B 121 E7 W 122 D6 B 123 F8 W 124 G7 B 125 H10 W 126 K9 B 127 F11 W 128 D7 B 129 E8 W 130 H12 B 131 C10 W 132 C5 B 133 D12 W 134 D13 B 135 E10 W 136 D9 B 137 D8 W 138 E12 B 139 E13 W 140 G11 B 141 F12 W 142 F13 B 143 G13 W 144 E14 B 145 G10 W 146 G9 B 147 G12 W 148 H11 B 149 K10 W 150 L9 B 151 H13 W 152 J11 B 153 K11 W 154 J10 B 155 J12 W 156 J9 B 157 K14 W 158 K15 B 159 L14 COM The record ends at 159; John resigned a few moves later. John made a number of uncharacteristically passive moves in this game. I too missed chances, but in the end it was the bad aji that John left behind which did for him. ENDCOM