In some ways, a game of go is like life. If you start out well, you have a leg up on your opponent, but if you rest on your laurels, it's just as easy to lose your advantage. Conversely, even if you start out badly, you can make up the difference by always being on the lookout for ways to improve and by taking chances.

Gaining an early advantage from an effective attack is a good start, but usually this will not decide the outcome. A game of go between top pros can last anywhere between 33 moves (the shortest game on record) and 411 moves (the longest game on record), with the average number of moves at around 250.

Attacking

Attacks can be initiated in different ways. Before attacking, you should first look at the alternatives, some of which are changing the direction of play; taking away eyes or letting the opponent make them; cutting off an escape path (usually followed by a life-or-death struggle); threatening from a distance or starting a direct fight; or merely marking time. In all of these cases, it is good to be aware of what you are doing and why.

Last week, we saw how an attack was initiated using the hazama, which allows the opponent to escape, only to be attacked in the flank.

Diagram 1 :
In this situation, White (Lee Chang Ho) had several options for attacking the marked black group. Since it is difficult for Black (Cho Hoon Hyun) to make eyes on the lower side anyway, cutting off the easy escape route to the center is a good idea. White 1 achieves this objective, while forcing Black to run through the hole left between White's stones. This formation is called hazama. The exchange black 2, white 3 severely weakens the black stones on the left.

Reference 1 :
If Black continues with 4, White will first deprive the black group on the left of eyes with the sequence through 8, then attack with 9 to drive the eyeless black stones into the center. Although black 10 through 14 look like natural moves, white 15 and 17 put the marked black stones in trouble again. That is the reason White has little choice but to try to escape with 4 in Diagram 1.

Reference 2 :
Here is another example of the hazama. When Black plays 7, this leaves a wide open hole at 8. If White plays there, black 9 is a hamete (trick play) and White has to be careful about his liberties.

Reference 3 :
If White first creates cutting points with 10 and 12, then carelessly cuts at 14, black 15 exposes his weaknesses. White must capture with 16, but now black 17 cuts and puts three white stones in atari. White must connect where the marked black stone was, but then Black captures the marked white stone with 19. White was tricked.

Reference 4 :
Creating cutting points with 10 and 12 is correct, but White needs to cut at 14 next. Black 15 defends against the threat of a double atari, but White extends to 16, leaving Black with still more cutting points to defend. Black 17 defends one of them, but he still has another cutting point next to A. This way, White avoids being tricked and ends up with a better result.

Diagram 2 :
This is what happened in the game-Black first cuts with 3 and 5, then plays at 7 to take away the damezumari threat and also White's eyes. White defends with 8 and 10. In the end, Black is forced to play at 19 and 21, which kills the marked stone. However white 22 was a huge mistake. See Problem 1.

However, due to the time pressure (it was a fast game, with each player having only 30 seconds per move), neither player saw the problem. The question was who would spot it first.

The focus then shifts to the left side with, again, uncompromising fighting spirit. White 30 and 32 are a useful tesuji combination. Black 39 is again a vital point. White resistance by playing at B is broken by the sequence black C, white D, black E, white F and black G, capturing three white stones.

Problem 1 :
Look at Diagram 2. White 22 was a big mistake because it leavs behind a cut around A. How can Black cut ?

Diagram 3 :
After making a few exchanges in sente (keeping the initiative), White switched to 14 to defend against the threat in Solution 1. In the meanwhile, black 11 was a clever cut before defending at 13-White cannot capture 11 in a ladder because of the presence of the marked black stone. Black 15 and 17 more or less capture three white stones. White 22 and subsequent moves were poor, and Black manages to escape and connect his weak stones on the left to the live ones on the lower edge with moves 15 and 17. Instead of 22, White should probably have played at 26. The only good thing that came out of this was that White was able to play at 34, building thickness in the center.

Problem 2 :
After Diagram 3, White is trailing Black in territory. But thanks to 34, he has thickness in the center and can launch an attack in that area. How should White attack ?

Solution 1 :
Playing black 1 is usually bad style, but here it enables the clamp at 3. White gets in damezumari (liberty problems), as demonstrated in the sequence to 9 in which two white stones are captured. White 10 and 12 are meaningless, and White's entire group dies after black 13.

Reference 5 :
Black 3 doesn't work well. Black 7 seems clever enough, but white 8 is really a clever move. If Black plays at 9, white 10 makes miai, defending at A or capturing the corner with B. It is up to Black to make this choice, but no matter which one he chooses, White will keep his group alive.

Solution 2 :
White 1 is a strong cut which happens to be yet another hazama. Black has no choice but to cut with 2 and 4, but when White strikes at 17, the vital point, Black is in trouble. Black 18 and 20 seem dangerous, but white 23 prevented any escape for the stones around black 4. Reeling from this shock, Black exchanges 24 for 25, greatly strengthening White in this area. He should have left behind the threat to play the nozoki (peep) at A. After 53, White is leading slightly, and he wins the game by 3.5 points, to win the 14th TV Asia Cup.