Warder vs Dubie - Territories Staked Out  

The two marked black stones were my handicap. I started the game with them. In handicap games, White gets the first move. This position is reletively passive. In the opening moves, White placed a stone in the lower right, and then had given up territory on the upper right and upper left for a loose, center-facing position. White had pinned her^[3] hopes on future development, whereas I had taken this opportunity to make a much safer play for territory.

Note about territory vs. influence: "Low" positions--closer to the edge of the board--are more secure. It is harder for your opponent to get underneath them and destroy your territory. However, the closer to the edge of the board you are, the more profit your opponent gets from sealing you in. He can limit your development and enclose territory elsewhere on the board.

Warder vs. Dubie - Moves 10 to 19  

On move nine, White played . This move prevents the black stones above from developing down the side while also serving to help enclose the lower part of the right. In response I (Black) played an aggressive kakari (approach move) at . This move was likely an overplay. Due to the presence of , White likely could have responded at a instead of , making a much more severe attack (see the smaller diagram below). was leisurely, it still functioned as a pincer, but did not invite immediate and bloody conflict.

I decided to make a little room for my stone. I pressed down with inviting the sequence to . White is willing to allow me to push a bit here because she makes territory with every stone I play on the fourth line. Additionally, allowing me to turn or play at means I can seal White in and prevent her from developing along the bottom.

After , I played to get some additional room (so I could make eye space along the side of the board) and White responded with to enlarge the corner and limit my eye-making potential. Finally, I pushed up at to further expand my base at the bottom. White extended at to prevent from getting cut off.

Extra Diagrams:

Severe Pincer  

This is an example of a much more abrupt pincer. Black has to move out from between the stones with , since he can't make two eyes underneath the corner stone and . keeps up the pressure and stakes out a claim to territory on the lower side. and would not be as secure in the game situation, since White has a stone at . It probably would have been better to press at a (don't concern yourself with the last point if you're not an avid go player).

Alternative to in the Game  

This alternative assumes that Black got to play at , instead of white. The marked area guarantees an eye without having to push at a first.

Warder vs. Dubie - Moves 20 to 29  

After (which pushes out into the center), White switches to the left side to take the big point at . I respond by enclosing the corner with . This creates the possibility for a me to create a framework by using the two black stones on the upper side. White anticipates this and caps at to limit the potential size of the framework. both makes territory and threatens an attack on the marked white stones. With the sequence to , White makes some room to escape to the center in the event of attack. Finally, White plays the hane at . This move serves to both expand the eye space around the marked stones and put pressure on the black group below.

Returning to the Bottom

Moves 30 to 39  

I respond immediately, playing the counter-hane at . Had I allowed White to play here, she would destroy the eye-space of the group and all but seal in the three stones behind her wall. White extends, and I push back with . When White plays , continuing to build a wall facing the center, I jump to . Exchanging a for b would have been bad for me, as White's wall has much more room behind it than mine would. Jumping at helped to secure an exit for my group without strengthening White.

limits my eyespace along the side. I must play before White does in order to preserve the possibility of an eye along the edge (see diagram below). White plays the hane at and the extension , hoping to seal my group in. prevents White from playing below and cutting my group off from the center.

Warder05 vs. Dubie - Moves 40 to 49  

Connects against the peep of move 39 (W0 in the previous diagram). After and , I am guaranteed an eye along the side--my group in the lower right is now alive (apparently, I missed a tesuji at a, see below). Thanks to the last set of moves, white's group on the left is now quite strong. Not only is it alive, but it is well positioned to build substantial territory in the center. and build a small wall against my stones facing the center. This gets White some compensation for the side territory that I have at the moment. builds a base along the left side.

A Tesuji.  

This tesuji shuts in the white stones. Black plays a double-hane at and . In this situation, White can normally get free (or at least life) with by exchanging for and then playing the atari at . This time, however, sets a trap. If white takes , then black cuts at a capturing White's marked stones. If White connects at a Black takes and seals the group in.

A Series of Quiet Moves

Warder05 vs. Dubie - 50 to 59  

Black responds to by extending down the side with . The Upper left corner is now quite big. With moves - White quietly exchanges a little territory for outside influence before playing . This move takes a bite out of Black's potential territory on the lower side and coordinates well with through .

Warder05 vs. Dubie - Moves 60 to 69  

This strange sequence allows Black to connect up at while white builds a bamboo joint underneath. None of these moves by themselves have any major significance.

Moves 70 to 79  

I remember thinking hard about and then being reletively proud of the result (mostly because of my opponent's response). Move 69 hadn't seemed all that important to me, so I took the opportunity to vaporize White's chance at a large center territory. This stone extended from the strong wall below and looked to link up with the stones along the left side. Even if no real territory came of this move, White wouldn't get much territory in the vicinity of . White would have had considerable difficulty trying to directly cut off from the wall below, so she played to expand the territory on the left and prepare to cut off from both directions. I calmly answered at . White considered this small and played tenuki.

In response, I attached at , forcing white to play and then exchanging for before playing . While and helped White solidify her territory (we call this aji keshi), I still made a few points of territory in sente before playing to assure life for (barring major mishap). As we will see in the next diagram, , while expanding her upper right territory was a mistake in direction (it's possible White had some fear of mutual damage).

Response: Borders Defined

Warder vs. Dubie - Moves 80 to 89  

threatens to make a reasonable sized territory between it and the edge of the board, but White seemed concerned with protecting its territory on the right. White played at and then blocked at and . The sequence from to was probably not the most urgent or big, but it prevented white from stealing the corner out from under me. White then played to complete the sketch of her territory on the right.

Interestingly enough, both players passed up the opportunity to play at a. Even though was pretty important, a would probably have been just as good as (playing at a would significantly reduce black's territory in the upper right, as it would have many excellent follow-ups). Black should not have waited overly long, either. after , he had no reason to fear counterattack on such a stone. Ahh well...

Warder vs. Dubie - Moves 90 to 99  

White uses this sequence to complete her territory on the right. Due to the presence of the marked White stones, she gets more out of this exchange than Black does.

Warder vs. Dubie - Moves 100 to 109  

White manages to use the aji of the marked stones to prevent my group in the center from linking up with the left, and in the process defines the boarder of her territory on the left. While the formation around is reletively weak (which White white exploits for a few points later), the presence of the bamboo joint on the right means that group is in little danger.

Warder vs. Dubie - Moves 110 to 119  

Moves through finished the sequence on the lower left. Looking back, I'm surprised that it took this long to play . With that play, I made some extra territory on the upper right. With , the territories had been staked out completely. All that remained was to finish the endgame. Although, a White counterattack at a would have been interesting.

Final position: Black + 17.5  

Technically a 1-point endgame play existed at a, but I overlooked it. In the end, this reletively quiet game went well for me. Why this happened I cannot say. My Go-playing friends agree the game was strange. The game involved almost no reading, life and death or capturing races. It would be hard to even point out a serious attack during the course of the game. Such relaxed play can not occur in Chess where the object is defeat. In Go, where advantage wins the day, it games like this are bound to occur some time. I find it interesting to reflect on their underlying calm nature.