TG53 71 to 140

Komi 50.5 points  

Dave White 131, 133, 135, 137

mat Black 132, Black 134, Black 136, Black 138 (I know ... empty triangle, but still)

Dave White 139 In yose there is less need to worry about ideas like empty triangles. But did you notice that it is an invitation for White to capture at 139 :-)

mat Wouldn't other moves have been an invitation to invade my territory on the lower side?

If you played 139 yourself it would make 138 later absolute sente (threatening to cut off my stones). I would probably play 138 myself but then you would naturally block and protect your bottom.

mat Black 140

Connect two groups  

Connecting two groups has the advantage that the life would not be in danger and moves against the single group would not be that urgent. Allowing your groups to be separated loses more than a monkey jump.

mat You mean White 117 was less than ideal? Well, unfortunately White now has both separated Black and performed the monkey jump...

mat Black 132.

Komi 50.5 points  

Dave White 121 I'll continue up the side. White 123 to finish off.

mat Black 122, Black 124.

Dave White 125 I'll pick here next.

mat Black 126 That's the sort of play I don't like ;-) I can't defend all the time, but do I have an equal threat? (you probably won't tell me...)

Dave Of course I won't tell you (partly because I don't actually know :-) But we will be able to look at it later.

Dave White 127 This is one of the interesting moves here. A black play here is sente against the corner.

matI would have bet that you would play at a instead.

Bottom right  

After 8 (actually after 4) White is dead. As a result, White has to answer 2 at 4 and Black cuts off the stone at 1. If Black had played at 2 in the game any time after the two marked stones were exchanged, White could only have answered at 4. In this way Black would have closed the side in sente. When Black answers at 128 in the game, he has closed off the side in gote.

mat Black 128

Dave White 129

mat Black 130

Moves 111-120

Komi 50.5 points  

Dave White 111, 113, 115 (forced)

mat Black 112, 114, 116

Dave White 117 what's big? What's fast?

mat Would Black 116 at Black 118 have been bigger?

Dave After Black 114, White 115 there is bad aji in the center for White (Black at a threatens a big ko). As a result the white hane at 116 is less of a threat than it was. White 117 is not necessarily the biggest move in an absolute sense but it threatens a wide open black territory so Black seems to have to answer. Probably Black 116 at 118 was best.

mat Black 120 I don't think anything tighter will stop you.

Dave You are probably right. The reason is the exchange of 118 for 119. White 119 protects the point at b. If 119 were not there, you would be able to play at c or d, for example, and stop White more tightly than in the game.

Komi 50.5 points  

Dave White 101 I'll push into your area in order to reduce it but more importantly to prevent you from forcing me to remove your stones at the top.

mat Black102

Dave White 103

mat Black 104

Dave White 105 Now it gets tense again!

mat Yes: Black 106

Dave White 107, 109

mat Black 108, 110

Komi 50.5 points  

Dave White 91 The one-way street continues...

mat Black 92

Dave White 93 Now we have choices. Does this one work? Who is in more trouble here? :-)

mat I honestly don't know (I suppose you do), I guess I can get a ko if I don't make a mistake... This time I will not communicate my thoughts, since that increases the likelihood of your exploiting an error of mine ;-)

Dave I think this is a very complicated position and I really don't know what is the status. It will be interesting to look at alternatives later. :-)

mat Black 94

Dave White 95 I'll take this point.

mat Black 96: my first eye (nearly) (White 95 was again a surprise!)

Dave White 97 I don't know that 95 was the right approach. In theory when you played 92 without atari at 95 I should be happy to let you capture 89 since then 92 would become essentially a wasted stone. On the other hand trying to read out the fight if you broke out into the left was giving me a headache! :-)

mat I was looking forward to the breakthrough...

mat .

Uhhhh I think this was a mistake. If you want to let me withdraw it, you can put Black 98 at a. Otherwise I wouldn't be surprised if you go to b...

Take your time and decide which you prefer. I'll wait for you to clarify your choice. Dave

mat Black 98 I give up this fight! If I play a you can answer with c, if I play c you can answer with b. All I can do is to clear up a bit in sente. What a pity!

Dave White 99

mat Black 100 I feel better with this stone.

Komi 50.5 points  

Dave White 81 One way or another this should decide the game shortly.

mat Black 82 Let's get one extra liberty in sente.

Dave White 83, 85, 87, 89...

mat Black 84, 86, 88, 90...

Komi 50.5 points  

Dave White 71

mat Black 72 I really want to play a, but since Black 72 is sente I hope it's not a mistake. I don't dare think that it works, but I'll try.

Dave White 73 Let's see if you can make it work. :-)

mat Black 74 This time I was able to predict your move ;-) ! Of course I have to play Black 74 if Black 72 was to make sense...

Dave I didn't originally plan to answer 72 with 73. When I settled on 71 I thought that I would have to compromise with a play at White 76. But at the last minute I thought, "What the heck, this is a teaching game; maybe we will both learn something!" Somewhere in The Direction of Play, Kajiwara writes that if an attack won't work, better not to start the attack. The problem with us amateurs is that we lack the skill (or are too lazy) to read out the result properly. White 73 may or may not be an overplay. Unfortunately the play of a couple of ??? (by the way, what is the Go term equivalent of ''patzer'' in chess? no offence intended!) probably won't teach us the true result anyway :-)

Dave White 75; will this hold it all together?

mat Black 76 Hmmmm, either I connect to Black 68 or Black 78 will let me destroy a bit of your territory. I'm not so sure about the latter one...

Dave White 77 Naturally I can't let you connect so easily. So let's see how much damage you can do to the top...

mat Black 78 Here we go...

Dave White 79 I think this one really is inevitable. :-)

mat Black 80 this looks good...