Shusaku Game 1 (Part 5)

Here we go, we will wrap up this game and then find something new to dig our teeth into. I will be doing many Shusaku game reviews here but sometimes I will pick out pro games too, especially when looking at fuseki which has changed a lot. There will also be more problems as time goes on, which reminds me I have to post the solutions to those two life and death problems. If you're just getting here you can go to the beginning or click the link to 'Game Reviews' at the top of the page to go to a page that will have links to all the games I go over on this site.

First of all I'm going to backtrack here and cover the end of the ko fight that were were looking at last time because this is where (I think!) black pulls ahead. Black 29 has just taken the ko to the left of 47 and white makes a ko threat by peeping at 30 along the top.

Dia. 1

Black ignores this ko threat and turns to attack the large white group on the bottom. The logic is that after 31 and 33 the white cut at 49, setting five black stones adrift, is no longer very threatening to black. This is doubly true because the white stones in the top center are very weak and have bad shape. 33 also weakens this group further. White has no time to take the ko after 33 because he has to make eyes for his large group on the bottom. While he manages to make two eyes through 46 black is comfortable enough to ignore white 30 and fill the ko at 47. White would like to play at 49 to profit from his ko threat but the white group in the center is so weak that he has to take the time to reinforce it at 48. Black now descends at 49 so white can't even get partial compensation from the ko.

We can see that white 30 was actually a mistake that allowed black to gain the advantage in the center and eventually win the ko fight. This also shows the wisdom of not following your opponent around the board. Had this been my game I might have reflexively answered white 30 and then gone on the lose the game. Every move you should take stock of whether you truly have to respond to your opponent, take every chance you can to get sente and execute your own plan. If we remember that white had to add the stone at R12 to increase the value of the ko we see that white has invested a number of stones into this fight and gotten almost nothing in return. This is a beautiful sequence for black and really shows how strong Shusaku was even at a young age (he is ten at the time of this game).

With 50 white takes the biggest point on the board but this allows black to take the initiative and attack the floating white stones at 51.

Dia. 2

White pushes out through 60 and then builds up the top left with 62 and 64. White switches back to defending his center group with 66 and then ignores black's turn at 67 to play the large point at 68. Black makes an excellent move at 69 which exploits the bad aji at G18, white has to defend the point with 70 or black will play there and cause all kinds of trouble. See if you can work out the details for yourself (hint: Black's wedge at F16 has some intriguing possibilities).

Dia. 3

This takes us through to the end, these moves are all pretty small but notice how Shusaku ignores the threat to cut at 78 to live on the side with 79. This is bigger in terms of territory and makes the cut meaningless. After white blocks at 80 black uses sente very well, forcing at 81, 83, 85, and 87. White resigned after black 91. I'm not the best counter but no matter how I play out the endgame it seems black has a secure lead of at least a couple points.

I hope you enjoyed this game. I had a lot of fun playing through it for you. Maybe we can do another Shusaku game next week. I'll see if I can find a good one, or maybe we'll just go through the book, game by game, and see how Shusaku progresses. Till next time, ciao!

Shusaku Game#1 (Part 4)

Alright, we'll get through the middle game ko fight in detail and then I should be able to wrap up the game with the next post, thanks for following along so far. Ko can be very confusing so I broke this section down into smaller pieces so we can follow the ko fight closely. If you're just getting here you can jump to the beginning if you want to get up to speed. With that said, lets continue:

Dia. 1

Note that Black 1 = 101

White captures at 94 which reinforces his center stones and threatens to escalate the ko by cutting at R12. Black responds by turning at 95 to pressure white and white attaches at 96 which leads to a second ko, this one, unlike the other ko, is large and urgent. Black captures immediately.

Dia. 2

White 10 to the right of 7.

Black 13 at 7.

As you can see white doesn't even fight the ko but while black captures and then connects with 3 white uses 2 and 4 to link up his stones. Black cuts at 5 and white uses 6 to increase the size of the ko on the right. Black captures and white makes a ko threat at 8. After black captures white retakes the ko with 10. Black defends by falling back at 11 which firmly captures the two stones above. Now if white fills the ko at 7 black's five stones on the right will be cut off. If white fills immediately though black will jump to 12 and escape easily. Therefor white plays at 12 directly even though this allows black to retake the ko with 13. White 14 reinforces his stones and threatens to cut off and attack black's four stones on the top center. Black cuts at 15 to connect underneath to the corner and with 16 white retakes the ko.

Dia. 3

19 takes ko.

26 takes ko.

17 threatens to connect to the endangered stones so white plays 18 to respond and black retakes the ko. White 20 threatens the large black group on the bottom and black 21 is a good response. If white retakes the ko black has very large moves on the bottom and can inflict damage to the white corner in the lower right. The combination of 21, 23, and 25 make it hard to threaten the group effectively and reduce white's ko threats. Compare if black simply blocked 20 at H2 then white would retake the ko and continue to threaten this group. After 25 white retakes the ko. Black pokes at 27 and then takes the ko.

Dia. 4

47 fills ko to the right of 29

White makes a threat at 30 but black makes a very sharp decision to ignore it and attack white's bottom group. If white can build some influence towards the center then the white cut at K18 doesn't matter so much because the five black stones can easily jump to safety. After 31 and 33 white has to struggle to make eyes locally. While white eventually gets a second eye at 46 and does a little damage to the corner but there is no way to live in sente. After 31 and 33 the white threat at 30 is not looking so threatening so black takes sente to fill the ko bringing this fight to a close.

If we look at the end result white has done poorly. White had to invest an extra move at R12 to increase the value of the ko fight and that move becomes wasted now. Secondly when black connects the ko it is white who is suddenly thin in the center and white will have to jump out which will even give black time to turn to the top and answer white's ko threat. This sequence shows the incredible latent strength of Shusaku and his amazing grasp of timing. Usually one can expect to get at least some profit out of a ko fight but here white has gotten almost nothing.

Next time we'll wrap this game up, check back for the rest of the analysis.

Shusaku Continued (Part 3)

More sweet Shusaku action here. You can jump to the beginning or use the tag Shusaku Review#1 to see all posts covering the game. White has just played a shoulder hit on the single black stone in the upper left. Now lets see how black handles the situation.

Dia. 1

First black turns at 51 to build strength and then jumps to 53 which is a standard maneuver in this situation (black could also live in the corner). After pushing at 54 and 56 white turns to expand the right side at 58. Why 58 specifically? The answer has to do with the possibilities of a second extension up the right. If white plays one point closer to black's shimari in the upper right then black can invade behind him like so:

Dia. 2

Now white does not have room to make a base on the side and the situation is troublesome. If white were to pull back a point and play at 2 then black has room for a large extension at 1. The point at white 58 is ideal for expanding the right side and restricting black's influence in the same area.

Next I want to look at white's attachment at 60. This exchange is not as good for white as simply making a two space extension to 62 because after black 63 his corner is very solid and large. If white simply makes the two space extension there is still room to reduce, probe or invade the corner. The attachment eliminates these possibilities. I suspect white wanted to reinforce the expansion at 58 in sente and then turn back to the left side and take the corner with 64 and 66. This explains why white made the somewhat crude attachment at 60. With the situation on the left settled Shusaku turns to the right side and reduces the white formation with a shoulder hit at 69. This is a strong reducing move that limits white on the right side.

Dia.3

94 at 78 Takes Ko

White ignores the shoulder hit to clamp at 70. This seems a little dubious to me as the thrust at 71 is very large. White salvages some territory with 72 and 73 but this gives black the suppressing move at 73 and also allows black to turn at 75 which makes white's upper right side group very thin. I think responding to the shoulder hit directly leads to a better result for white than what happens in the game.

Through 87 a ko develops but it is not terribly urgent for either side. White's stones at 70, 80-84 are light. Their ponnuki shape is difficult to attack. So white is not so concerned with the ko. Even if white had the advantage in ko threats and captured at 78 black could give way at the point below 85 and still capture two white stones and connect his stones down to 73 with the corner. This is why white tenukis to play at the big point on the upper side.

Again I think 88 to be a little dubious. It is too close to the thick black corner and invites invasion. It also does not seem to coordinate well with the white group at 70 et al. I prefer to play at 92 directly which limits the scope of an invasion. With a stone at 88, when black invades at 89 his stone has room for a two space extension so white must immediately pincer at 90. I prefer playing directly at 92 like this:

Here, if black invades, black cannot extend to get a base as easily and white can use the thickness in the upper left to attack black's stones, white 1 and 5 also reinforce the four white stones to the right. Note that black will not actually invade as in the diagram but might consider sliding underneath the stone at 1 and playing two points above it on the second line. In the actual game black was able to invade at 89. White 1 here also does more to reinforce the stones to the right than 88. Through 91 white's drifting stones in the upper right are starting to feel uncomfortable so he recaptures the ko with 94. This regains the resilient ponnuki shape and threatens to make the ko dire by playing below 85. Now black has to make a decision, if he wanted to play it safe he could connect below 85. This is very solid. But if white does start the ko black would capture first so black could ignore white's threat and continue pressuring the central stones. This is a more proactive plan but leaves some aji behind for white to work with.

That is all for this installment, I will continue to work through games, hopefully doing one a week or so. I hope you enjoy this commentary.

Shusaku! Game #1 (Part 2)

Shusaku really is a fun player to watch, you might want to catch up with the game so far or just see how black (played by Shusaku) breaks into the bottom of the board here:

Dia. 1

The lesson here is leaning attacks. Note how black makes what base he can with 17 and then responds to white's cap at 20 by poking out at 21 and crawling at 23 before jumping to 25. This is a basic technique whereby you first strengthen one group by using forcing moves against a stronger enemy group on one side and then strike out where it is most urgent. Right after 25 it is white's turn for a leaning attack. By making the shoulder hit at 26 and the hane at 28 the blocking move at 30 becomes much more effective. Imaging a simple black extension to the left of 24 without the stones at 26 and 28 and you can see how ineffective 30 is without these forcing moves being made first.

Another thing to like in this sequence is how white floats away with 22 to keep the pressure on black. There is a proverb that says "Attack with the knight's move." and the logic is that by attaching you strengthen yourself but you also strengthen your opponent. Attacking moves are played away from your opponents stones to pressure them while keeping them weak, it is when you have the weak group that an attachment becomes appealing.

Dia. 2

Black starts with 31 and 32 to probe white's intentions and then seizes a white stone with 35 and 37. White plays 38 to increase the aji of his sacrificed stone. After exchanging 42 for 43 which helps the weak white group on the bottom left white switches to the corner to play 44. I think this is premature, or perhaps this is a situation of a player going for a big point instead of an urgent one. Black still has only one sure eye and white's group is very weak. This is seen when black jumps out at 45 white immediately turns to reinforce at 46 and 48 which allows black to not only stretch out at 47 but solidify his territory of the bottom left. White's moves might make an eye at some point but have no real territorial potential. Black's sole stone in the upper left is very light and even after white attacks it for a fourth time with 50 Shusaku still has options for dealing with the situation.

Update 8/20/2010: So I talked to a dan player at my go club about this game and he showed how white 44 is also urgent. If white plays around 45 to seal black in then black can play at 44, press white down in sente and then counter attack the sole white stone on the left.

Ok, I hope this piece helped you, especially the first bit on leaning attacks of which these are very good examples of how to wiggle one way and then probe the other when your stones are under attack. This is why it is usually unwise to try to capture large groups. The options your opponent has to push and strain first this way and then another will usually create a gap in your net as you try to take all their liberties. It is almost always better to play simply and make your opponent live small. Next time... How will Shusaku settle his stone in the upper right? Will white fight back or can the young Shusaku (or I should say Torajiro, his childhood name, since he is only ten at the time of this game) best his 2 dan opponent? Tune in next time to find out!

Shusaku!

So excited!! I just got a new board, new stones, nice bowls and the complete recorded games of Shusaku! The game commentary is in Chinese but I can at least read the game diagrams.

The games of Shusaku are great study material for kyu players. While the joseki are a bit out of date, because there was no komi black had a large advantage and often played conservatively in the opening, the middle game fighting tends to be spectacular and the endgame sequences are modern pro level. To that end I just bit the bullet and picked up what I think is the most complete collection of his games and I thought we could go over some of the interesting points of a game here. This is a game from 1839 when Shusaku, still known by his childhood name Torajiro, was only nine or ten years old when this game was played. Shusaku is black and this is before the invention of komi so playing black is an advantage. His opponent is a 2 dan player.

First of all you'll notice the old fuseki style. All corner openings start at the 3-4 point and there are a number of other quirks like the order of 5 and 7 as well as playing 1 and 3 in the same corner. Black's move at 7 would almost certainly be played at the 4-4 which would prepare for an extension on both the bottom and the left but the 4-4 was not played at the time. As it stands 8 is a well timed approach. Black 13 is an often overlooked variation on the joseki that prepares to extend up the left side and puts more pressure on the three White stones than a one point jump on the 3rd line which is by far the most common variation of this joseki.

White's decision to tenuki and enclose the lower right corner is a little suspect. It makes an invasion of the bottom look attractive. I would have thought about this variation for white 12 to create a more balanced formation across the bottom:

This way there are no obvious entry points into the bottom for black. If we go back to the sequence played in the game the lower side looks very inviting for black.

As a matter of fact Shusaku wastes no time at all and strikes at 15, robbing the three white stones of a base and breaking into the bottom. Next time we'll go into how the situation plays out.