Shusaku Game 2 - Part 3

We're going to wrap up this lovely little game here in this post. I'm really having fun doing these Shusaku reviews and I hope you are enjoying them on your end of the inter-webs. You can follow this game from the beginning or check out other problems (there will be more eventually, I promise!) or study fuseki around different areas of the site. Without any more delay lets wrap this game up.

Dia. 1

110-118

I think that white takes the lead with 10. It is hard to say for sure but white just seems to get too much territory around the top right. After 17 the situation in the lower left is very interesting. Black can kill white by capturing 12 but white figures that another mover around M14 will enclose enough territory to win easily without the corner. Also white has gotten to play 14 which gives him good prospects for enclosing territory on the bottom. Black may have thought that he had to capture or pressure the white corner in the lower left but I think 17 has to be somewhere along the top or maybe even on the right. Something has to be done about the white moyo. The downside of not playing 17 is that if white plays there he is unconditionally alive and black will have no attacking moves. This dilema shows how hard the game is for black now.

Dia. 2

119-138

This is a good example of how to tenuki to take sente. Black makes an extension to 19 and would like white to answer so he can take some profit in sente and turn to attacking the top. White has other plans and peeps at 20 to make aji (you can see this if you imagine a white move at S7 later, it impacts a lot of reads) and then jumps to 22 along the top. After 24 and 26 I really don't like Black's position. If white gets a whole quarter of the board the balance of territory completely collapses. Yet it seems an invasion isn't practical either. The capture at 36 is well timed too and when black jumps to 37 an interesting ko shape develops. Either side can start the ko by throwing in, white at White manages to keep black off balance throughout this sequence and ignores 37 to swing back and block at 38. I think that even if black takes the corner by playing at A3 white still gets plenty of territory in the upper right.

Dia. 3

139-156

Black exchanges 39 for 40 before solidifying his shape with 41. Knowing that he is behind Shusaku plays a very daring sequence and through 47 cuts white in two! Now white has to worry about making sure this group survive and with 49, 51 and 53 manages to capture some white stones. While this is a great tactical sequence I doubt it is enough to redress the territorial imbalance but in addition to capturing three stones the potential white territory on the bottom has been destroyed. Perhaps if black can take the lower left corner the game will be winnable for him. When white descends at 54 black starts the ko fight. It is a little unpleasant to start this ko since white gets to capture the ko first. This is a big advantage in a ko fight since your opponent has to make the first threat. Black has a lot of threats in the upper right, he can threaten to live in the corner with his sole black stone but white is not without resources either.

Dia. 4

157-171

62 at A2, 65 at 59,

68 at A2, 71 at 59

Ahhh... ko fights! This is a big one so we'll try to take it slowly. First black makes use of his threats in the upper right and retakes the ko at 59. White makes a great ko threat at 60. Remember how I said black would have to break up the lower side and kill the corner to have a chance? This offers the corner for the side and black cannot take that offer if he is to even dream of winning. Black blocks at 61 and white retakes the ko, black keeps on using his threats up top with 63.

Black now takes the ko with 65 but white has another large threat at 66. Black is still mining the top right for ko threats and after the 69-70 exchange is able to, once again, retake the ko. This is a pretty straightforward ko fight. The size of the ko is very large and each side is playing their biggest threats. Certainly if you were able to read out the available ko threats in this situation you would be a very strong player.

Dia. 5

172-191

79 at B3, 82 at 74

85 at B3, 88 at 74

The ko fight continues and the most interesting part is how white uses his ko threats along the bottom to counter black's wealth of ko threats in the top right. These threats aren't as big as the black ones in the upper right but there are enough to preserve his lead. Finally black runs out of threats in the corner and has to continue at 89. This is small enough that white captures at 90 ending the ko. After 91 black captures four white stones and makes around 14 points of profit but this is not enough. The white position in the top right corner is overwhelming and after black's ko threats up here there is not even a shred of aji left for him. I think black is more or less looking for a spot to resign but Shusaku still has some fighting spirit left in him.

Dia. 6

192-208

After the top plays out black makes another desperate stab at winning. After connecting at 97 he rescues his cutting stones with 99 and looks to attack the large white group in the center left. White has read out all the variations and counterattacks at 2. After the 3-4-5 exchange white plays at 6. Now white the white capture of either the group connected to 97 or the three stones at 5 is miai, guaranteeing life for the large white group. After white captures at 108 black resigns.

One question I've had with these games is "Exactly how strong are these players?" At the time of this game Shusaku was still known by his childhood name, Torajiro, and is only ten years old at. His opponent was 3 dan and I'm unsure of how classical strength was measured. There were no pro leagues but most strong players had patrons that bankrolled their study. I would think that a 3 dan in 1839 Japan would be a significant achievement. On the other hand the level of Go/Weiqi/Baduk has risen greatly in the last 100 years. This is also one of only two games of his that were recorded before he was called a Shodan. I think these players are probably around the strength of a modern amateur shodan player. The games are very good with many sharp lines but I don't feel this is totally out of my depth either. Also, I've looked at some of the other games and Shusaku gets a lot stronger in the next couple years of his life. Anyway I hope you appreciate the game.

I apologize if my commentary has any mistakes. To my knowledge no dan player has even looked at the site yet so there may be some corrections coming my way! I look forward to it too. I am trying to build a community of go players, particularly in the US and Europe. If you haven't yet, go register with IgoLocal.com and start finding players in your area. One day I dream of a Go Academy in the US and when young children here rival the best that Korea, China, and Japan have to offer.

Speaking of Go in Europe I want to give a special thanks to the Club de Go Nam Ban in Madrid, Spain for their hospitality and their strength. Seriously, this was one of the best Go clubs I've ever been to, if you get over there check them out. 

Shusaku Game 2 - Part 2

More Shusaku! You having fun yet? We'll be going over another game from 1839 which means Shusaku is nine or ten years old. I feel like these games are definitely good material but not so advanced that we cannot comprehend what is going on. If you want examples of really complicated games try looking at some some of Go Seigan's fighting games (courtesy of gokifu.com, you can also download sgf files directly from their website). Here we should be able to follow along pretty well with our own skills. Perhaps as we go through the game record we can improve alongside Shusaku so that when we get to his later games when he was in the full flower of his skill our own abilities will have risen somewhat and we can continue to enjoy these marvelous games.

If you want you can jump to the beginning and see what has happened so far and you can always go to the 'Game Reviews' tab along the top to get a full index of games that I've annotated here. Shusaku is black, his opponent is a 3 dan player (sorry, I don't know his name, the book I have is in Mandarin which I tragically cannot read), and there is no komi.

Dia. 1

White has just lost a ko in the upper left giving black a big corner but allowing white to play two moves in the upper right. Black's stone at R16 still has some aji but black will have to find the right time to make use of it. Black approaches and white pincers at 56. This type of move should be reflexive and automatic. Any chance to extend while making a pincer is worth taking. Black presses white down a bit and then plays lightly at 61 and 63 so Shusaku can take sente to crawl out with his cutting stone. Had white captured this stone, maybe in a net at G11, the white wall along the top would dominate the whole top half of the board with its thickness. We can see black's plan take shape through 69, white has to scramble to escape with his group on the left, and with 75 and 77 Shusaku destroys white's wall and breaks out into the center. White, though, has gotten to play 76 and seeks compensation with 78.

White 78 is kind of a tricky move. In some shapes this is a tesuji, the one space diagonal jump, but in others it leaves a weakness at the middle point, here that would be D6. In the game black chose to play 79 and it is easy to see why. If black defends the corner or even hanes above or below at B4 or D4 white will fall back and capture the black stones above. This is unacceptable because black wants to continue attacking these white stones and this would give white not just a base but some territory besides. Black choses a difficult path with 79 but I'm not sure what choice he really has. I think after investing the stones at 65-69 that black needs to attack these white stones to maximize his overall efficiency.

Dia. 2

Here we see the trade take place with black sacrificing the corner (his stones still have some aji but white's four stones are obviously very thick) to keep up his attack. This also concerns the base of the black stones on the left. As a rule of thumb a move that concerns the base of both weak groups in a fight is extremely important. Rather than letting white capture these stones black judged the fight to be most urgent and so decides to simply let go of the corner. First he pushes out at 81 and 83 and then, since white has to descend to 84 to break up black's corner enclosure, has time to cut at 85.

Dia. 3

Note: 1 = 101

White forces at 86 and 88 and jumps to 90 which do a good job of reinforcing the large floating white group. It is hard to see black surrounding white after these moves. Black turns and threatens the top with 91 which helps get rid of the aji around J15 that white had. After black connects with 93 white hanes at 94 to slow down any black attempt to try something in the corner. When white cuts at 96 the situation becomes more dire for black on the right side. While he settles his stones in the lower right white can probably solidify a large territory in the upper right.

Dia. 4

Black pushes white around a little bit with 3 through 7 but white gets the time to play 10 which is a really large move. After this it seems hard for black to win. Black's corner is decently big, about 23 points in the upper left but white will get much more than that either on the top or, more likely, on the right side. It seems that black must take back the lower left and prevent white from making any territory on the bottom to win. While one of the two might be possible I doubt that black can achieve both. The alternative is too invade and escape but after 10 this seems difficult. The game isn't over yet but I think that the situation is easier for white, it is probably best not to relax when your opponent is Shusaku though.

Tune in next time for more exciting adventures of Torajiro and the Goban vs the World.

Continue on to part 3.

You want Shusaku? You get Shusaku!

The small handful of people who have been to the site seem to really like the Shusaku game review. I figure that I'll just start going through his existing game records and commenting on what I can see in the games. I apologize for the inevitable mistakes. I feel like I have a strong understanding of the game but am also far, far away from mastery. Since this commentary is aimed at kyu players I should be able to offer some insight into what is going on. I would greatly appreciate any stronger players who might want to contribute to our collective understanding of this beautiful game. If you are just joining us then please look at the previous game record of Shusaku's that I commented on last week.

Now, lets get into the next game. This is also from 1839 when Shusaku was ten years old. His opponent is a 3 dan player. Remember that this is before the invention of komi so games could be tied and taking black was a huge advantage.

Dia. 1

Here we have a fairly standard classical fuseki with all initial stones being played on the 3-4 point. The pincer at 6 is fairly loose so black feels comfortable playing tenuki to enclose the corner at 7. I have a hard time deciding whether 8 is good or not. It seems very large to extend down the left, establishing a base while also reducing the value of black's enclosure. This also increases, albeit indirectly, the pressure on black's stone in the upper right as it it is no longer possible to directly attack the white pincer. If black encloses the corner at 8 then white can enclose his own corner in the lower right. On the other hand it is common thinking that allowing black to enclose two corners is a little slow for white, who is already behind by a move, so perhaps white 8 is appropriate. When black attacks at 9 I feel some apprehension though, especially as black 9 is very big, being an extension from the black shimari in the lower left.

White 10 and black 11 are generally considered a little slow in modern thinking. Regardless of that they remain solid moves. Perhaps the efficiency is not as high as it could be but most of that difference is made up by the solid nature of the shape created by the diagonal extension. White jumps to 12 and it looks like we will have a fight on our hands. Black would like to settle his stones and build up the lower left corner while attacking 6 and 12. White will look to harass black's group while leading 6 and 12 into the center and solidifying territory along the top.

Dia. 2

Now we see how this fight played out, black peeps at 13 to make the white stones heavy and then slides into the corner to try to get eyes. White 16 and 18 are very sharp, allowing white to destroy any potential eye space black might have found on the side. White reinforces the top with 24 and Shusaku wastes no time attacking at 25 and 27. These are very good, basic, attacking moves. Note how well 25 and 27 coordinate with the black enclosure below. White naturally counter attacks at 29 and black attaches at 29. This fight is about to get very complicated but I think we can follow it. While the black stones are weak they have a move at C18 that will get them two eyes. While simply surviving like this would represent a loss, the ability to fall back and live allows black to fight to the limit. Remember also that the white group is also weak. Black should be able to use the aji available to craft an acceptable result.

Dia. 3

This is a beautiful sequence that demonstrates the prover 'There is no ko at the beginning of the game.' The meaning of this proverb is that if a ko emerges at the beginning there are no ko threats so whoever captures the ko first will simply ignore any threat and finish the ko. Black pushes through with 31 & 33 and then turns to cut at 35. Then black continues to push and white is forced to start a ko to save his stones. Black captures the ko first and then white makes a very serious local threat at 46. I just said there are no ko threats in the beginning but this is a local threat that deals with the ko specifically. If black fills the ko at 34 then white will cut at 47 and capture the whole group connected to the ko. Black has no choice but to connect at 47. Fortunately for black he also has a local ko threat. If white ignores 49 to connect the ko then black will cut at 50 and kill the white stones outright. After this white takes the best option available by pressing at 52 but, like the proverb says, there is no ko at the beginning of the game and black fills it to take the corner.

This result is actually fairly close to even. Black has taken a large corner in the upper left but so has white in the upper right. Black's five stones in the lower left map out a very large territory but the white wall on the top coordinates well with the upper right. Since black has sente I think the game is slightly better for him so far but, again, my analysis may be somewhat off. Hope you have enjoyed this series. Continue with the game in the next post.