From Takao Shinji's Blog. White (Takao) to play. As he wrote, "In this position, if the center White stones live, White wins the game." Both "a" and "b" seemed good to connect to the right. But then, presumably in byo yomi, White got wrapped up in the question, "Which of them keeps more points?" He forgot that the balance of territory was already decided as long as he safely connected. As he put it, "Tragedy struck", and Yuki Satoshi will challenge Iyama Yuta for the title in March.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc Takao Shinji - Yuki Satoshi; Judan Challenger Final, 2013-01-31
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . X . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | X O . X O . . . . X O O O . O O O X . |
$$ | . X X . O . . . . X X X X O . O X . . |
$$ | . X O O . . . . . , . . . X O X X X . |
$$ | . O . . . . O . O . . . . X . . X . . |
$$ | . . O . . X O . . . . . . X X X O O . |
$$ | . . . . O . O . X . X . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . O X . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O X X X X X O . X . . . X . X . O . |
$$ | . . X O O O O X X , . . . O . , O X . |
$$ | . . X . . X O O X . a X . O O . O O . |
$$ | . . . X O . . . X O X . b X . O X X . |
$$ | . O X . . O O O O O X O . X . O O X . |
$$ | O O O X X . X . X O O . X . O . O X . |
$$ | . O X O X X . X . X O . . . . . X X . |
$$ | . O X O . . . . . , X X . . X X X O X |
$$ | . . X O O X . . . . X . O X X O O O O |
$$ | . O X O X X . . . . . . . X O O . O . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . X X O . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

So which one works and which one did not work in the game? Answer is below.

_________________
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

oooh... I remember watching this game.
thanks for the explanations.