I've become a big Iyama Yuta fan, although it is admittedly easy to become a fan of someone who is winning so much. His style is sharp, and his sabaki plays are a lot of fun to study.

A friend and I were looking at a game of Iyama Yuta's from a few years ago, and the move below (w244) blew my mind.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wm44
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . O X O O O . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . O . . O . X O X O |
$$ | . . . O O X X X . , . . X O . X X . . |
$$ | . . O . X O X O X X . X O O . O X O O |
$$ | . . O X . . O . O X . X X O O . O O X |
$$ | . . . . b . O O O . O X . X O O X X . |
$$ | . . O X . X X O . O X O . X . . . . X |
$$ | . . O . . . 1 X O X X X O O O O X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . a X O X O X X . . X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . X O O O O X X X O X . X |
$$ | . . X . X O X . X X . O O X O . O X . |
$$ | . . O O O O O X X X X O O O O O . O . |
$$ | . . O X X . O O O X O O X X X X O . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . X O O . X O . . O . . |
$$ | . . . X . . X X X O . O O X X O . O . |
$$ | . . O O X X O O . X X O . O X X O X . |
$$ | . . O X O O X X . . X X . O O X O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

But I'm wondering if someone can point out whether (a) white lives unconditionally, or (b) white lives in ko? If the latter, I infer that can't win the ko based on the fact that black (Cho U) resigned after playing 'a' and white playing at 'b' (I couldn't find enough threats for black either). My friend and I could only find a ko.

(The game is the third title match for the 34th Meijin, September 24, 2009--Cho U is black, Iyama Yuta is white.)

I'm also becoming a big Iyama fan although I'm always rooting for these series to go the distance, and I'm glad the last three were all decided on the final possible game.

I'm cheating with the book covering 34th meijin. Here's an SGF showing the continuation as they see it with the comment that black has no ko threats to use.

So the answer is 'White lives unconditionally with ko'. I like it.