[Welcome to Sensei's Library!]

StartingPoints
ReferenceSection
About


Referenced by
StanleyStyleGo

 

Stanley Standard Fuseki
    Keywords: Humour

Stanley's Standard Fuseki as Black. Note the four moves to make an optimal corner enclosure. Research has shown that this is the only effective fuseki for Stanley Style Go. Other minor variations may prove effective.

[Diagram]
19x19 diagram

As White, B7 is usually omited until after an approach. Stanley will give up sente to comeback and complete his formation.


Blake: It seems (to me) that the only way this would be effective is if it frightens or confuses the other player. If you look at his games, most of his wins result from people playing oddly against his, ah, unique methods, or blundering and letting him kill something. It seems to me that if white remains calm and plays lightly, there should be no way for stanley to combat white's superior board coverage. Thoughts?

Ellbur: I agree with Blake: Stanley wins when the opponent errs. The most common mistake that the opponent makes is to try too hard to kill Stanley, and then fail with greater loss. Another common blunder is not sacraficing when necessary; it seems the opponent believes they do not have to play honte against Stanley, and so make bold overplay. It is important to realize that against any opponent, even Stanley, Go is still Go.

I would like to try a Countering Stanley Style? page, but haven't a clue where to begin. His games are so complicated.

unkx80: I don't think it is very useful to learn "Countering Stanley Style" per se, it is too specific and applies only to one individual. There are just too many weird styles out there! I guess the thing about countering weird plays is that one should not always expect extremely good results, something slightly better than the more common move is sufficient to prove that the weird play is indeed not as good. Sometimes, the game of Go is not just the go board and the stones themselves, there is also a psychological factor in it. The weird plays can be seen as a kind of dare, but there is no rule that says that one must accept that dare. So if one plays according to the principles, the result should not be too bad.

Blake: It's probably more useful to view his style as simple overplay, since that's what it seems to be. If you can punish greediness and reckless invasion, I guess you can punish Stanley Style :-)



This is a copy of the living page "Stanley Standard Fuseki" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.