17

If I don't die (in real life) in the middle of the game, I promise to finish this one!

I've been playing these a lot recently, instead of my wacky but interesting nonsense, so lets see how it goes. We may even get to see my woeful lack of mainstream fuseki theory coming out.

I have spent tons of time over the years studying fuseki. With the end result that I know the first seven or so moves of all kinds of things. Recently I read a book by Yamashita Keigo where he said that mistakes in middle game fighting are more severe than in the fuseki because in the beginning there are many good plays to choose from. Even if you don't pick the best one, you will still be able to get value out of what you do play. So these days I mainly think about trying to be comfortable with the way the position develops and who has the initiative. I generally do not try to avoid particular fuseki if my opponent seems to be headed that way. My studies with GoGoD over the years show that few of the "famous" fuseki give Black a lasting advantage anyway.

First of all, thanks for playing this game. I look forward to the commentary, and I'm sure it will be quite interesting and educational to follow.

I was wondering if you had time to elaborate any on this part of what you said:



1.) Are there any famous fuseki that do give black an advantage? What leads you to believe that black and white are even in most famous fuseki?

2.) The explanation that middle-game is less important than fuseki provides some rationale for not trying to "avoid particular fuseki" if your opponent wants to be headed that way. But is it not somewhat disconcerting if you are playing in a way, at any stage of the game, that leads you to what you believe is disadvantageous? For example, if your opponent is black, and plays a fuseki that makes you feel that black is ahead - why not try to mess up his plan?

Yep, it's the chinese. I'm doing better as Black with it these days, so hopefully this works out ok.

Noooo! It's not too late for the Kobayashi!

Kirby, answering these points will take a little time. Since it is twenty minutes to midnight in Tokyo, we won't get very far today. That said, I form my opinions on fuseki based mainly on the experience reported in GoGoD. I concentrate on the current komi period (6.5/3.75), which is roughly 2002 to date. If there is any fuseki that has demonstrated an advantage for Black, in my opinion it is the Chinese. I won't try support that now but maybe more on that another day. Actually I think it is irrelevant for amateurs anyway since we are not able to play with sufficient precision to realize such small advantages.

Also I meant to say (or to report that Yamashita said) that the fuseki is not more important than the middle game. That in the end, the game is likely to come down to fighting in any case in order to reach a decision. By the way it was a book on fighting - 戦いのベクトル ("The Vectors of Fighting", or something like that)- so maybe he was exaggerating

As a result, I have been trying to think more in terms of balance in the fuseki as opposed to advantage. Here though my understanding of balance has changed recently. I used to think it had a static meaning similar to real life. After reading books like "In the Beginning" when I started, I had always carried an idea in my head that balance in Go was mainly about a good blend of high versus low stones. Currently I prefer the dynamic image of a fighter standing in a well-balanced position and able to strike or defend as necessary. Balance in the fuseki is about who will be forced to fight on less favorable terms - because inevitably we will fight. I think it is similar to some of MW's commentary and I have enjoyed following his games here quite a bit.

Twenty past midnight now and the alarm goes off at 5:30 so that is it for now.

Thanks, ez4u. Though you said you didn't have much time to elaborate, I think that what you did say was quite informative.

I particularly liked this paragraph:


It is very interesting to think of the idea of trying to think of balance as opposed to advantage. Though I am usually not very successful in doing so, I typically think purely in terms of trying to obtain an advantage (well, in even games, at least).

Nothing tricky. Despite what I wrote to Kirby - avoiding the Chinese tends to be worse statistically than meeting it head on. The Kobayashi has never provided a consistent threat to White. It does get a little tricky if Black plays F3 next. Do I accept with C6, expecting a Kobayashi or play more aggressively, expecting that otherwise Black will leave F3 as a forcing play and complete a Chinese formation on the right next? Personally I have tried F3 followed by R5 a few times recently. Let's see what happens.

This is very natural. Of course, we're all trying to get an advantage with every move.
This is one reason (but certainly not the only one) that many beginners try desperately to kill every one of the opponent's stones.
Then later, we realize that's not the best idea, because our opponent is playing, too, and he/she also wants (and deserves) a piece.
As we improve some more, we find out it gets more and more difficult to get any advantage,
because our opponents are also improving, until you get to these people's 6d+ to pro levels
and it's super difficult to get any advantage because now the opponent is very good.
So balance is a very natural progression.

Dum-de-dum, nothing to see here. I'm envisaging a lower approach and the normal Chinese stuff. I got tricked with an interesting joseki the other day, that I'll share to fill the space:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 Prisoners:
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . 2 . 6 7 . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . a 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

Here, I figured was natural, even though it gives White rather good shape, it felt like settling was too valuable. However, correct play (apparently!) is this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 Prisoners:
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X 5 O 2 O 8 . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . 4 3 1 X 6 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . 7 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 . . |[/go]

This does look like a considerably better result, but I'm probably not the only one that figured giving White a corner and settling White completely felt a bit generous.

Sorry, just rambling.

In my opinion the giant killer versus the Chinese is here

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 Prisoners:
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . a . . 6 . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

The professional experience seems to show a steady, though relatively modest, advantage to White. However, that is just my idea and it does not seem that most of the professional world agrees with me Black continues to play the Chinese and White continues to explore alternative approaches to handling it. One issue with may be that there is a wide range of answers by Black so White is not able to predict how the game will develop from here.

I do not care for myself. I am not confident of understanding and handling properly the situations that arise after Black counter pincers around "a". So I chose something else. The play at G3 reduces the possibilities for developing from the bottom right and expects to redirect the action to the top of the board. Let's see what happens.

As a general opening rule, 4th line stones operate for fast development on the side they're 4th line on (this extends to things like 3-4 stones, hence the side they are normally approached from - it's easy to make a lot of territory on the 4th line if your opponent leaves you alone to do it). Not only that, but a shimari, even loose, _really_ accentuates the importance of the side it faces. So, with a lower left shimari and a top right 4-4, the wedge seems relatively urgent.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 Prisoners:
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . b . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 7 , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . c . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I rejected "a" because, although it's a really big point I want, it doesn't feel quite as urgent as to me. I rejected "b" because I wasn't happy about the development it allows White (something like this:)

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 Prisoners:
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . 9 . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 0 , a . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . b . . . O . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

A move like "a" is now fairly urgent, and "b" still lives, but the whole situation feels like it's too easy for White to make points. That said, the approach is big too, and Black's development is fast and large, it just left me feeling uncomfortable. I have a bad feeling about the long knight's aji not being as "open" as my faster looking position, and I can see him cashing a lot more than me out of it.

I rejected "c" and "d" as places mainly through indecisiveness. I want to leave as much aji in the lower left corner as possible. I don't want him to fix the 3-3 invasion in sente, so by playing at a possible approach at C8 doesn't look so nice, as the 3-3 lives unconditionally and he'll have to respond to my extension towards the top left. If he approaches from the other side, I extend along the left and he either has to reinforce or has some really awkward aji to clean up later. That's the hope anyway.

For beginners: Yes, the big wedge is pretty big.
And (a) and (b) are miai for Black to settle, which is very nice and convenient.
See also http://senseis.xmp.net/?Miai

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bm1
$$ -----------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 7 , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ -----------------------------------------[/go]