BillSpightsElfPositionalJudgmentExercises/Game 4 ELF's Solution

Oteai game between Fujisawa Kuranosuke, 9 dan, and Takagawa Kaku, 7 dan, 1950-04-12a. Fujisawa was the first non-Meijin 9 dan; later he changed his name to Hosai. Fujisawa played White, with no komi.

After Elf gives White an estimated winrate of 88% (144.2k playouts), assuming, as always, 7.5 komi and area scoring. With no komi, Black, Takagawa, won by 2 pts.

Takagawa was only 2 years from his winning streak of 8 Honinbo titles, and was known for his skill at the opening, so I expected that he would be ahead, even with no komi, but Fujisawa cleaned Takagawa's clock. He was a 9 dan, after all. :cool:

Fujisawa Kuranosuke (W) - Takagawa, Elf's mainline  

Fujisawa played at 40. Through Elf played as Dieter did. If is at 36, is at 38. Then at a, at 35. In the main variation from there the result is a ko that White takes first. White ignores Black's threat at b, allowing Black to descend to c. Elf rates at 36 as 89% for White (29.6k playouts). The 1% difference is within Elf's margin of error, I believe.

Elf's mainline, continued  

Elf's mainline, continued  

OC, since this is a no komi game, we cannot assume that Takagawa played badly. :) And even by Elf's reckoning he made only two sizable errors up to .

Play joseki, lose 13%  

was joseki, but Elf does not like it. Elf also considers the extensions to be minor mistakes.

Bot joseki  

was also a joseki play at the time, but I believe that - are new to the bot era.

Make thickness, lose 14%  

is a thick play. The result is the sequence up to . Elf considers to lose 14%. Whether that is so with no komi is another question.

Elf's recommended variation (115.2k playouts)  

This way Black gets territory and White gets thickness. Surely playable by Black with no komi.