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BlueWyvern

 

GameIWantBack
   

I played this game recently against a shodan on KGS. I made two huge mistakes. Since then I've been replaying this game constantly, wanting it back to see how I would have done. It's not that I lost that bothers me, but that since I was playing even against someone about 5 stones stronger then me I took it as a test of strength, especially since each side had an hour with five one minute byo-yomi periods, and it feels like screwing it up with two simple mistakes wasn't doing myself justice. I thought maybe this game would stop tormenting me if I shared it with the world. Comments are welcome anywhere and feel free to tell me I am being a whiny ego-centric moron. :-) By the way, I am black. --BlueWyvern

[Diagram]
Diag.: 1-10

DaveSigaty: Blue, as you will no doubt remember from the many interesting things you've posted on BigQuestionMark, when presented with a complex middle-game position, my brain naturally turns to move B1. This is no exception! Here are a few thoughts on the early going.

The position after B5 is currently under active investigation by the pros. GoGoD CD lists 177 games since 1990 with 29 of them in the first 7 months of 2002 alone. The most frequent choice for W6 is at "a". Across the 66 out of 177 games in which W chose "a", B has only managed to win 23 times! (It is a mystery to me why this line is played so often by B. The record in 2002 is actual worse, with B winning only 3 of 14 games against W "a".)

The ikken tobi at W6 is another story. B has won 16 of 27 against W6. As a result it is going out of favor and was played only once in 2002. The formation of 2, 4, and 6 leaves a perfect invasion point at "b". This is the follow-up strategy for B - not immediately but soon. "Normal" play is that B continues at 7, W splits the right side or approaches the lower right, B answers and then takes sente to split the right.

W8 is an unusual choice. Most frequently W approaches at "c".

Should B9 be at "b" (looking only at the left side)? W8 gives W more opportunity along the bottom so a large knight's move one point above 9 in answer to "b" would be better because 8 has been played, but B's two-space extension in reply would undercut the upper left perfectly. In the game when W plays the pincer at 10, this seems too well placed and justifies W6.


[Diagram]
Diag.: 11-20

DaveSigaty: Playing B13, 15 seems like an overplay (especially when B then plays tenuki at 17). I think that if W had exchanged "a" for "b" and then played "c" before playing 18, B would have been in a very difficult position. Even so, W18 looks very close to securing 50 points of territory in the lower left. The B stones at 13 and 15 are too weak to allow strong resistance.

Separately, the shimari made with B17 seems not quite right for this position. I think that with the low position on the top, B would like to continue with something like the high play at "d" on the right side rather than a low move. For balance then I think that 17 should be at "e". Consider as well that if B extends to "f" in this position, W will likely be more interested in blocking B's further progress along the bottom than in invading between "f" and the shimari. If W plays "g" for example, it is likely that the resulting B position will be overconcentrated in relation to the shimari which will still be open on the right side.

After B19 it gets too complicated for a simple mind like mine. Let's just say that I admire the enthusiasm that both sides brought to the game :-) Dave


[Diagram]
Diag.: 21-30


[Diagram]
Diag.: 31-38

Here is the first really painful bit. A little reading would show me that the 'a', 'b' exchange gives the black group life in sente. White eventually comes back and kills this group.



[Diagram]
Diag.: 39-48 (Moves go 9, 10, 1)

These 10 moves are the set up for an absolutely fabulous move....



[Diagram]
Diag.: HOW COULD I MISS THIS?

....so fabulous that I missed it completely! Even after spending 10 moves setting it up! If I had simply played at 'a', One of my square marked groups would have broken into the center, disolving white's 60 some points in the lower left, his only fertile groupd for making territory, while possibly threatening white's surrounding stones. Black would have had a definite advantage. Instead I played tenuki at 1, thinking my attemt at reducing was a miserable mistake and white followed up at 'a'. White went on to kill blacks circle marked group and I resigned after move 72. I REALLY want this game back. *sigh*



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