I just lost by 7.5 points which I'm proud of. Still I wonder where I made the biggest mistake. IMO it was my move 99.

1) I don't like move 13.

Sure, at move 11, you have to play the atari at O5 to keep him from taking his natural shape move there himself, but you seem to have thought of O5 as an integral part of your group.
IMHO, it is not. It is just a forcing move to impede his shape. Play it, forget about it, and play a move that fits with the rest of your stones.

I would have played move 13 at N3.

2) But once you have commited yourself with O5, you still could get something resembling eye space with 15 at M2. Letting him have M2 leaves your group heavy and vulnerable.

3) Move 41 had to be the extension at K8.

4) If you are going to play 46 at C3, why not follow up with 48 at B4?

5) Move 99 does not look too bad. If you don't play it, the the resulting weakness probably allows him to either live on the upper side or extend into the upper side from the upper left corner.

Regardless, once you lose the race in the lower left and let him have that monster ponnuki in the middle, the game is probably over.

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You may be right and I played the wrong direction there.



Do you mean playing n2 with move 17 as black? I thought that was not as big as making san-rensei - at least it doesn't look so^^.

To me it looks like you lost a lot of points between 115 and 119. The two moves 115 & 119 did not surround much in the end, and to me it looks like 117 should have been at 118 (mutual damage).

That's a good point and I agree I just don't see a lot of bigger alternatives.

The crime for Black in the opening is . After the ponnuki of , the Black orphan on K-03 is horribly placed, right next to the White strength. Ed Lee would disapprove. The play should go

L-04
M-04, capturing one stone
M-05
K-04
M-03, ko
L-02

At this point it looks OK to atari at K-05 and sacrifice the K-03 stone, make a wall, and then play the keima at Q-06. (The keima could have been played earlier, as well, instead of sanrensei or the extension on the left side, for instance.)

should be a hane at J-08. (If you don't like the reply of the atari at K-08, play at L-07.) The atari, , was huge.

And yes, would be better at R-06. That move carries a threat.

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Everything with love. Stay safe.

I'm KGS 1-dan as well, so this is just another opinion.
In the end I would have freely sacrificed the bottom stones and defended another part of the Moyo : )

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Thanks, Bill. I'm not good enough to comment on this game,
but the ponnuki was indeed the first thing that caught my eye, that something may not be right...

I don't like move 5 at k3. Approach a corner instead. I'm not going to call it a mistake at your level, but if you pattern search pro games (I can't at the moment*) I'd bet very few if any play it. One key reason it's normal to approach corners before playing the sides is if you pay side first and then approach your opponent can try to choose a corner variation that leaves your initial side stone as a poorly placed extension, as in this game. If you approach first then you can choose a good place for your extension. Of course if you approach first they may pincer in which case the play will likely develop in a way in which you don't extend (e.g with 4-4 take the corner, or double approaches, or jumps and counter-pincer fights) but on such an empty board that's totally fine. If you allow a fear of pincers to lead to too much preference for wedging plays on the side you are giving your opponent opportunities to make your stones misplaced. Of course there are positions in which splitting sides is better than approaching but that's usually because there is some big moyo you want to break up. In summary, it's a lot harder for a corner approach to end up misplaced than a stone on the side, so approach first as it's against the rules to move stones once you've played them.

P.S. at PC now, 1 of 1802
P.P.S actually 0 pro games, that hit was one of my KGS games when I was 11k, the dangers of including not just pro games in your kombilo database!

Here is my thinking behind me playing radical split fusekis.

1. Since I did it I jumped from 1k to 1d and I was a 1k for a couple of years, so that means something to me^^.

2. Pro's did play that style in the 1930s, not now anymore, but there are a lot of games where - even today - players split "retarded", i.e. not right away but after a couple of more moves. There is no reasearch that shows that early splits have fundamental flaws.

3. Yes, my opponent gets at least one shimari for free, but in return I deny him a framework while I still hold that option (with white I always have komi instead). Also I deny him pincering me and building up early. Instead he stays "flat" longer and you can attack or use this flatness a lot easier.

4. Split fuseki make games smallish and complex. Often you can just win by your opponent making a mistake because of the complexity and often when you lost an important battle there rises another opportunity (because e.g. now you got enough influence to attack this other group).

5. I have angst of moyos, yes. If I see a moyo the pure largeness of the moyo drives me crazy and I invade with all the greed I have. I am the kind of guy who wants to have a 120 pts. moyo while my opponent has 25 points - I want all and I do not want my opponent to have anything (I consider that a deep character flaw and it didn't get better after 10 years of playing Go, so maybe it's determined within my genes^^).

Like with any angst you have two choices: deal with it or avoid it and I feel I do not limit me too much in just avoiding those framework fusekis. I also feel that this fuseki type is good for your creative juices to flow, because you find yourself very early outside of the standard ways of playing and outside of database material.

6. Another point is that you can always treat the split move lightly as an ajimaker or bait trap (= you invite your opponent to get your stone in the hope he doesn't realize that while he's spending all those moves to kill it you spend smart moves on the outside to make more benefit at the end).

7. In Mastergo I find basically one game with that pattern (the split is one section further). But if you look for pattern you'll find some of those splits early in the game. At fuseki.info you find also some games, esp, on Tygem^^. It seems that kind of opening is seldom, but is played once in a while. It's like a san-san-opening^^.

added sequence in upper left that I'm not sure about.

W can live in that variation with b16 at b18 instead.

Better players have commented already and I am not sure I am in a position to lecture. Yet a few additions...

If I want to settle a group I would play N3 instead of O3 - i.e. the smaller extension. This is / was a common continuation after splitting a side in similar situations.

If I play O3 and see O4, N4, P3. I would look for O2 as first variation to consider (after atari). See this page on Sensei's Library. O2 is the kind of move I never see in amateur games. Looks not so impressive first, but has some nice follow up hours later in the game. Your choice probably aimed to help your framework, but K3 ended in a really bad spot. N3 may be overconcentrated (?) but at least it doesn't waste a stone altogether. P.S. Just saw sodesune proposed it as well.

After this start I would be very surprised if White felt threatened even once during the game. A framework is no good, when gently reducing it is already sufficient for the win, because your opponent got easy territory already. Losing "only by points" is not any better than to go down fighting after positional judgment tells you to complicate the situation. In this game you couldn't even complicate things.

Nice research.



No, I meant M2.

N2, IMHO, is no good for you. Playing N2 threatens to start a ko which does not hurt him much if he loses ( for he still can evade the ko with Q6 ) but which hurts you a lot if you lose it.
You have 4 stones on the lower side with ugly shape. M2 improves your shape, not only giving you an eye, but indirectly - with K3 - protecting the cut at M4.

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Yes, n3 and o3 are played with about the same freqency. I like o3 more, because you can do more severe things afterwards and because usually it keeps sente for me, making it somewhat easier.



I absolutely agree. I knew the variation, but the one I played is so often seen that it becones automatic play - very dangerous habit.

What do you guys think about my split and split fuseki in general? What could be the reason that I jumped one plain rank just because playing this kind of fuseki? (If you wanna check: KGS and my nick there "rs220675"...I started to play split fusekis with black and white from around 5th of april and then just look how my rank graph developed).

I don't like in this game. I wouldn't call it bad but I think it's certainly inferior.
No idea why you got promoted, though, this could have multiple reasons and one of them is maybe that a lot of players play by root opening memorisation. Your strange split can surprise them, but that doesn't make it a good move ; )
With my double Komoku openings I get such a split quite often, too. I'm always glad, because I end up with both corner enclosures and often my opponent is not really satisfied with his sandwich group inbetween.

In the end just splitting the board is not something which miraculously makes you a stronger player. Chances are there are other underlying issues which kept you from advancing, so the question is: How serious are you about improving? When you just play for the heck of it, then keep on going and play what is fun. But if you want to play "good Go" and also want to become fundamentally stronger then it should give you a strong hint that was never played by professionals in this position (according to GoGoD Summer 2012).

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c16 at b18 by bad.

I see your point and I'd even agree with you, but then I see the lower samples that do not strike me as a disadvantage for the splitter. I'd love to hear an opinion from a pro or highdan, though. Yes, you get two corner enclosures, but you do not get a framework (while I keep that option or with White have komi) and you do not get thickness and I get sente (or with White I have my komi). IMO that's an equal result.

Here are just two examples that shall show the point (IMO in both cases it's an equal game and the spliting player didn't even play more aggressive moves like a 3-point extension):





Notice the flatness of the stones, so basically you can let your creative juices flow and you have tons of possibilities to play and unfold a strategy (of course the opponent has also^^). My point is: If you do not like framework games this could be a strategy to avoid them without having to sacrifice too much. I have no idea if pro's do not play that style just because of fashion or because of a fundamental flaw, but I doubt the latter, because they play splits a lot, just not right in the beginning, so it can't be just "bad".

Your second example, without Komokus, is entirely different I'd say. Here I think is a stylistic choice, though, I also think it tries to circumvent the underlying problems instead of facing it : D If you are unsure of how to handle frameworks then I would practice it and don't try everything possible to never have to face such situations.

Regarding the split with a 3*4-stone in place:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Too good for White?
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 5 , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . , . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

White played on both sides and when Black defends his group, he's also ending in Gote on the left.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Feasible for Black?
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 5 , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . , . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Black can also try to extend all the way to prevent White from taking the enclosure but then I think is a very strong move and a fight will start in an area where White has more stones than Black. This is of course playable but personally I think White dictates the flow here.

Overall I can find multiple reasons why the white moves are good:
extends from the Hoshi stone and also attacks Black.
in the first diagramme takes a solid enclosure while also keeping up the pressure on Black.
in the second diagramme pincers and splits Black and so follows-up on

Black on the other hand:
in the first diagramme just makes a bases while inducing White to take his beloved enclosure.
in the second diagramme overextends and leaves behind weaknesses, so that it is unsure with what he will end with.


This is just my reasoning, though, and I am not stronger than you ; ) I also would like comments from stronger players.

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