Puzzling Fuseki

Last night, I played some guest on kgs, and got totally lost in his fuseki. I still haven't figured out how I should have replied. This was the position. I am white.



The black formation at the bottom threw me. Opening theory says to approach an unfinished corner. But A seemed really bad with Black 7 in place. I pondered B, but that didn't seem much better. Maybe D to check an extension from his corner. I ended up playing C, mostly because I had no idea what else to do.

Looking back, maybe D was better, since the bottom is still so invadable. At least, in theory.

He pincered my approach stone, and I took sansan. We played out the usual joseki, although I felt that his Black 19 was slow, I expected him to play it at F17 instead.



My turn again, and yet again, hard decision. Looking back, I think I like A or B. I briefly considered C, and then I did what I do best. I panicked! Against better judgement, I jumped in at D, he pincered at F3 and things went downhill FAST from there. I won by making a lucky kill, but I feel that my troubles this game started when I played at D. So any opinions on this fuseki and how white should have played are very welcome.

If interested, the whole game can be found here.

Another Victim?

My six years old son is starting to show some more interest in go. Although for now, he mostly wants to do go problems, not play. But I can still hope, right?

Ten Thousand Years Ko

Presenting the infamous 10,000 years ko.



As you can see, white will have to give black quite some moves to win this ko, making it almost same as the seki. But this ko is gote, and the seki is sente, which means that the sente seki often is the best play in this position.

Still, it is important to know that this is a possibility in this position too, and to be able to choose the right one for the board.

Go is so much fun!

The Sente Seki

Here is the sente seki solution for the L+1 with two hanes group. It is what we learned first and for a while we thought was the only solution.



Simple and elegant, we were happy that we knew everything there was to know about this shape. Apart from the fact that we didn't :p

Tomorrow, I will post the 10,000 years ko. It starts with the same white attack at T2, but white can follow a different line of play after that.

L Group Fun

I am finally mostly done studying the standard L and L+n groups with and without hanes. At least I think I am mostly finished. This position is the one which has given me the most fun, or maybe it would be better described as 'almost made my head explode'.



This shape seemed so simple. I like the double ko you can make when White attacks at T3. And I knew the sente seki White can make when attacking at T2. That was all there was to it, till I found another variation in a book. Instead of a sente seki, White made a 10,000 years ko.

Seeing that, made me half remember that, six months ago, J showed this ko to me. I remember saying to myself 'That is interesting' and immediately forgot.

I also think there was a thread on godiscussions.com, although I couldn't find it when I looked for it. Naturally, I had just half read that discussion, and immediately forgot it too. I am amazingly good at forgetting things.

After I had seen the 10,000 years ko line in that book, I needed to convince my study buddies. They were not easily convinced at all, and our mailboxes were overflowing with refutations of the ko, and refutations of the refutations. One of my study buddies and I sat down in real life, and played it out and studied it on an actual goban. We agreed that yes, the 10,000 years ko seemed a valid option.

More research and bouncing it off people (J and minue) gave more clearness into the whole 10,000 years ko issue, and how the sente seki usually is better for White anyway. The ko still is a good variation to know though, just in case we find ourselves in a game where a 10,000 years ko is better. Not to mention that the 10,000 years ko is cuter than a boring seki, which is what really counts.

I'll post the sente seki and 10,000 years ko (which is gote) in a few days, so that you can spend some time looking at it yourself, if you are so inclined.

We have moved on to the long L-groups, which coincidentally also have a 10,000 years ko in the most basic shape.

Tsumego of the Day

A few days ago, a friend sent me this tsumego. He couldn't find the solution.

We spent quite some time looking at it in our club's room on KGS, but could not come up with a solution either.

For now, we are considering the problem to be incorrect, but I wanted to post it on my blog to see whether someone can find a solution that we have missed.



The problem is black to play.

Have fun!