Best two out of three

Today I played three games against someone I never met.

I was browsing the English room on KGS, and he was the same rank as me (although I had a ?, since I haven't played in a while), and his game was without a time limit. I like that for a warm up. He won the first game, and invited me for a second, in which I prevailed. We then decided to play a third game for the match. I'll leave the result of the third game secret. :)

2012-04-30-skyee33-Median-1.sgf

I played black in all three games. In the first, I loved the opening. I like seemingly peaceful openings that leave room for nasty (creative?) invasions / reductions. I noticed in all three games that my opponent opened wide in the corner when left alone (when pressured, he runs in rather than out, though). I kind of tend to do the opposite and play for a safe corner whenever I can. Up to move 16 not much really happens. His invasion seems weak. He has no room for a proper base on either side. I would play C11 if I were him, giving me room either to jump two points north or one point east. In any case, I handled it badly. I should have pincered first. I wasn't too dissatisfied with the result because I kept my eye keenly on the right side, hoping to do something big there, and maybe a small reduction on the lower side.

Up to move 65, I make fun life on the side. After that, I actually planned out 67 and 69, hoping to bring the four stones back to life if I get the chance. On the other hand, discarding those stones would let my 69 invasion live. The only thing I really feared was him capping the 69 stone, and me being forced to make life underneath. He made a silly blunder with 84 after which I thought my win was secure. However, greed took the best of me.

We had a fun little ko then, which worked out OK for me. I should have secured another eye for my bottom right group then. Instead, I tried to save the other bottom group by killing off his snake. Naturally, I failed and lost all three groups.

2012-04-30-skyee33-Median-2.sgf

We started the second game first with a handicap of two stones. He thought I don't need it, so we restarted without.

Here he was the one to do fun things. Move 18 is the first of them. I'm pretty sure that K5 is a good defense however he continues, but I'm not really sure, and right now, I don't have the focus to explore. If any reader finds a weakness there, please mention it in the comments. :) 26 ha me baffled. The peep at 28 is fine, but it seems too early for that here. There are still big moves on the board, and for the move to make sense, he had to follow up at 30, so he lost sente. His continuation seems to indicate he wanted to surround me completely, but that's plain crazy. Right?

Anyway, when I played 37 I regretted it at once. I was sure he would pincer me, and make an easy kill. He let me get away. ^^' Which was lucky. 37 Was a greedy move. Making a move on the side would be better. After 43 the game is basically won. When I played 51 I noticed that he had a fatal atari at H8. I just apparently neglected that H9 does nothing to prevent it. XD The rest of the game is me clumsily halting his advance, and a neat little capture race to finish it off.

The second game was shorter than the first. It has always been a trait of the weaker player to take longer to realize one should resign. :)

2012-04-30-skyee33-Median-3.sgf

I like how he took territory on the north in 14-26. I'll play with that a bit and see if I can optimize it a bit. I messed up with 43. A much better answer would be P15. I was lucky with this outcome, though, because he missed a fatal point at 60.

I didn't think he had to resign there. He still had room to swing the game around. He was probably already tired (I know I was), so he didn't want to bother. Also, I'm sure we all know what a bitter taste a lost capturing race can leave, so I can't really blame him.

The best defense is a good offense

Actually, the title of the post is a bit misleading. In my experience, this attitude will more often then not get you into trouble. This time, it worked for white.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6978482/sgf/2012-04-20-Kobran-Median.sgf

This is a game I played yesterday at RAF's Go club against a new member who claims to be around 10-12k. I thought it would be an even match. He won impressively, but it was a decently close game all the way to the end.

I haven't played a stronger player live in quite a while, now. I almost forgot the feeling. ^^ It is very peculiar. Playing a game of go feels a lot like fighting an actual battle, while still keeping a very strong friendly relationship with the opponent.

Comments to the game itself are given inside the .sgf. The are in Serbian, though, so if anyone needs them translated to English, please ask. ^^'

To cut a bamboo

A short introduction for today's main topic.

A bamboo joint is a very strong shape. It gives flexibility and safety. The only real disadvantage is a bit of heaviness, but in most cases, when you make a bamboo joint in normal play, it gives you a powerful position, especially if you are in the middle, as it often happens.

The obvious strength of the bamboo is that while still being wide, remains connected. The player that makes a bamboo shape can connect even if the opposing player plays on one of the spots inside the shape. It reaches out freely to all four sides (especially so to the left and right in the above image), so it is flexible as well.

That was the introductory part. Now the main event. :)

Today I came across a very interesting shape that is related to the bamboo, but a bit more complicated and infinitely more interesting.

The book in which I found it called it "the alien symbol". The main feature of the shape is the opposing stone in place of the last piece of the bamboo joint. The book gives an example of how this can be very good for the opposing side (white, in the above image).

There is a more general principle behind this shape. Here is a quote from the same book:

In many ways, the Alien Symbol is a structural representation of the creative conflict that is the hallmark of Go (and perhaps of life as well). Stones that are connected are strong, and stones that are cut are weak - as E.M. Forester says: "only connect". The bamboo joint and the tiger's mouth are the twin icons of connection. You can take out an opposing force of any size with almost nothing, if you aim for the connections and the incomplete links of the chain - spoiling the bamboo joint as in the case of the Alien Symbol, or playing on the pivot as in the case of the tiger's mouth.