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No To Large Moyo
Conceived by HolIgor Go is a very frustrating game. You always fear something. I used to spend a lot of time in fear of an invasion. Will I be able to kill? Will I be able to defend my "territory" if the opponent decides to invade? Reading Kageyama's Lessons In The Fundamentals Of Go really helped. As you remember Kageyama advices to refuse to consider any loose formation as your territory till it really becomes a territory. This advice relieved pressure a little bit. If it is not your territory you don't fear to lose it, but you can acquire it. Then once in a club we analyzed an amateur game. A good European 4d lead the discussion.
When you are quite weak your first reaction is panic. I am being robbed of my territory!
Of course, you know that there is this connection, which saves your territory. You know also that you've just given your opponent a ponnuki and ended in gote. But it saves your territory! Now you can proudly tell that it is yours! 4d did not like it. Of course, he saw a whole board before him (in some cases this variation is the best thing).
In the above variation, b might have to win a ladder, and has not significantly weakened the 2 marked white stones IMO. -kungfu
That was an introduction. Now, about the controversial statement. This is a way I invented to calm down my fears of invasion.
(In the above example by kungfu, b cannot extend in sente along the bottom as in a normal san san with white on the bottom left. comments?) If the opponent successfully invades then you will lose some territory. But an attack of the stones that invaded will help you to turn some loose formation into your territory too. I conclude that
So, huge moyos give large territories. Comments? Comment by Kungfu: From the book "The Power of the Star Point" by Takagawa Kaku, I was given the impression that the threat of making a moyo is all that is needed. When the opponent invades, territory is made (see my example where white extends along the right above). If he reduces, territory is made underneath. In either case, the influence is made to gain extra territory by assuming a joseki mindset but abusing your extra stones/influence in the area. Examples from a pro game against the statement_
After white marked move Yi Se-tol played 1 forming a large moyo. Note, that it is not a huge moyo. If the opponent invades lower right corner, black has to kill to win the game. White played 2, which I think was a natural move for black. Futher in the game white invaded into lower right corner and lived after a long ko fight forcing resignation. Joan Pons i Semelis 3d : This kind of position arises quite often in the mini-chinese fuseki, and is not always true that the invasion on the lower right corner stakes the game in a Life & Death problem. I'll dig to find some examples of this. Also Takemiya Masaki 9p was (is ?) very good at letting the opponent life inside his moyos and win nevertheless. But he made "huge" moyos. Comment on the above by Kungfu: Well, if you make huge moyos, again, let them eat their cake-but use your influence to gain territory and let them live small. Moyo by defenition is NOT settled territory! If it is not settled, it is only potential. When you count your moyo, think about how much it is worth after it's been invaded. If it's not enough then you are behind. Discussion and example of this on Ten Kyu Side Invasion (albeit not at pro level :-) This is a copy of the living page "No To Large Moyo" at Sensei's Library. (C) the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0. |