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Episode #8 Let's be frank (part 2)
Today we will continue the game between Frank and me.
Frank is a famous strong Dutch go player.
He worked at the European Go Centre for many years.
He has won the Dutch Championships four times.
But, he is being cut here now, so..let's see what's going on!
Hey, shouldn't black be corncerned about his four weak stones in the centre?
Yes, that's right. But first black needs to save his cutting stones.
This keeps the pressure on the white centre group aswell.
Now both players have a weak group.
As a bonus, black has a nice follow-up at A.
This would make the black territory on the right side very big.
What makes you decide to cut here and not to attack the whole group at once?
I would like to attack the whole group indeed. But, unfortunately, I have some weaknesses in my own shape.
If I attack here..
..there is a lot of aji here that black can try to exploit.
I need to prevent this cut.
Black creates some eye shape.
Would you play the same as black?
Ehm..well, I'm not sure. I would like to play like this.
This is an important point for black to get out.
However, white might be able to cut here.
So Frank's move was necessary.
I see.
This is a move to spoil Frank's shape, right?
Yes, that's true.
Oh, this looks very nice.
It strengthens white and takes away some of the eyeshape of black.
When black would play here himself, he gets great eyeshape and threatens to invade the lower side.
So remember the proverb: [the enemy's keypoint is yours]
This is another point where both players would like to play.
I played this peep to take away Frank's eyeshape. But Frank had a nice counter attack up his sleeve.
Nice timing.
Wow! You are surrounding black. Can he still escape?
He will try.
The next couple of moves are forced.
A good lesson for kyu players: [almost never atari a cutting stone]
The proper move. Now Frank leaves a lot of cutting aji behind.
White needs to come back and fix the cut at A.
A common mistake.
Black forces white to fix his cutting point and needs to fix his own in gote.
Pleas appreciate the important difference between sente in the correct variation and gote in this variation.
This looks like a vital point in black's shape.
Yes, it is. Black is cut. A and B are miai.
Are you winning now?
Well, I'm not so sure.
I thought I had good chances of capturing the whole black group.
But there is another proverb that says: [big groups never die easily]
Huh? Why this move?
I was a bit afraid.
If I continue chasing black like this, this move is cause for concern.
Let's be [frank], this looks scary and it's very difficult to calculate who kills who.
I see.
This move might look strange, because white can play here.
But this is sente for black.
So black can block here.
This looks like an overplay.
This looks promising for black.
This technique makes miai of A and B. White needs to prevent black from getting two eyes.
Frank sets up a very nice squeeze here, which will give him two eyes.
This is sente. If I do not respond Frank will play at A and kill the 4 stones.
Nice.
That's an impressive save!
Yes, white was squeezed a lot.
Now I am safe in the centre too, after this move.
Why does Frank extend his dead stone here?
I think this extension is a probe.
After this move black gains some clear sente moves. [A] for example is sente. And all moves around [B] are sente too.
Black aims at seperating the upper white stones from the centre stones.
The normal answer would be wrong.
Both my centre stones and the top group are in danger.
I realised I could not afford to answer and follow Frank's plan.
So I helped my centre group.
By helping my own group I also attacked black stones at the top.
This captures the black stone.
Ah! Because black's group is still weak. He has to come back and defend here.
Now you defended your own group in sente.
So do you think that Frank's attack at A was a mistake?
Yes, I think it was a mistake.
It seems to small at this point in the game.
Ofcourse white can return to the top now and block at B, but there are bigger moves, such as C.
So I will tenuki.
Because my centre formation is strong now, after I captured the marked stone at A, I can use this strength to attack.
If black tries to escape, I will be flexible and capture 2 other stones.
This doesn't do him much good.
Ouch. Now the whole black position at the top left is suddenly weak again.
Make one mistake and the game turns around completely..
We will show the following moves quickly.
Another big fight emerges, with lots of unaesthetic moves. Sometimes the ugly moves work best.
What a shape!
The right side is damaged. White has a living group inside of black's territory.
On top of that I got the chance to return to the top.
A very big point. And it is sente now. Black's corner group is not yet alive.
[Always do as many things as possible with one move].
About twenty moves earlier this white block was one-sided. But now it not only makes territory, it also attacks black.
[The timing of moves is of crucial importance in go]
I left a ko here at A.
If I try to kill the black group..
My own group is also dead. The outcome of the semeai is unclear.
But it looks promising for black.
Later I regreted this move.
I have enough points if I simply fix my own weaknesses.
The proper move instead.
White is safe and leads the game.
Black needs to live and white gets sente to start with the endgame.
As if the game wasn't exciting enough already, Frank and Peter started an explosive ko fight.
They are still playing this game on the Dragon Go Server and the outcome is yet unclear.
We hope you enjoyed this game commentary and that you learned something from Peter's thinking process during the game.
Thanks for watching and see you next time, when we will discuss the aftermath of a popular joseki.