"In the old days," one player complained recently, "most players concentrated on one field of expertise and were weaker in other parts of the game, but these days the young kids are good at everything." This holds true of young South Korean and Chinese pros, as well as Japanese.

I recommend that go students build up a small but powerful repertoire of openings and tactics. After a while, you will know which moves are bad and which are good, and you will develop a sense of how to judge situations. This knowledge will serve as a point of reference, which you can slowly expand to include situations you are not familiar with.

This will improve your intuition for the flow of the game and augment your judgment as to whether or not to engage in a battle, which stones need reinforcement and which do not, and what is important and what is trivial. By systematically studying all aspects of the game, you may one day become an all-around player.

Naoki Hane is a rising young star who is an all-around player. Last year, he captured the Tengen title and this year had to fend off challenger Cho Sonjin, a former Honinbo titleholder, who is in his early 30s.

Hane defends the Tengen Title

Both Cho and Hane have already established themselves in the ranks of top Japanese players. Cho has a fast-paced style and likes influence, which he uses to start battles, while Hane has an orthodox territory-oriented style--but does not shy away from a good fight. The first two games of the Tengen title match were won by Hane. This is the third game in their best of five matches. Cho played White.

Diagram 1: The moves to 13 are nothing special. In response, many people would play at 15, but white 14 is more ambitious, threatening to attack black 7 and 9. If White plays at 15, black A, white B and black C would follow. The three black stones on the left would be virtually immune to attack. After black 15, White plays 16 followed by black 17. White then starts an attack on black 7 and 9. How would you do this?

Diagram 2: White 1 and 3 are an attempt to confine Black to the left side. Spending 46 minutes on this move, Black connected at 4, but White was happy to play at 5, making a loose connection to his stones in the lower left corner. Instead of black 4, Black should probably have followed the sequence in Reference 1.

In the game, Black becomes heavy and has to extend to 8, after white 7, which was praised as a brilliant move. In response to 10, White resisted with 11. Responding with black A, white would follow with 17 and black B would capture the two white stones 1 and 3, but this kills off black 10. Black has a more ambitious plan, which he starts implementing with 12 through 16. White 17 foils Black's plans, but it was a mistake. After 18, Black quickly reinforces his stones in sente up to 26, then switches elsewhere. Instead of 17, White should have played as in Reference 2. Incidentally, after 28 and 29 are played, what large open spot should Black aim at?

Reference 1: After white 1 and 3, Black should have resisted with 4. White can cut off two black stones with the combination through 11. But now Black breaks through from the other side with 12. White 13 is honte (proper move), but black 14 is a strong move. If White tries to break through Black's blockade with A, black B, white C, black D, white E and black F reinstate the barricade. The result is good for Black.

Reference 2: Instead of 17 in Diagram 2, White should have extended to 1. Black would cut with 2 and escape with the sequence to 8, but after 9 and 11, White need not worry--he can put up a good fight here.

Diagram 3: Black 1 is in the middle of the largest open space along the edges. White now has a problem--he is behind in territory. Defending against a threat at A, reinforcing with B or surrounding territory with C come to mind as possiblities for White's next move, but he really needs to do something more drastic. White 2 is a probe to determine his course. Black 3 sets the stage for a white invasion and a black attack. Contact moves like 2 through 8 are one way of making sabaki (light shape with potential eye-shape).

White 10 invites a ko with black 11 and white 14. However, White's ko threat of 16 and 18 is not large enough, as Black can still live in the corner with 19 through 23. After white 24, Black uses his influence on the lower side not to make territory but to strike out and split White's position with 25 through 29. This starts a hectic battle that continues for the next 30 moves or so. Instead of 24, White should have stayed away from Black's thickness and played at D as in Reference 3.

Reference 3: White 1 would have been a better move than the one played in the game. If Black defends with 2 and 4, White can force 5 through 10, then defend at 11, which also threatens A. This would give White a good result. Therefore, instead of defending at 2, Black might want to play at B, followed by white C and black D to cut off white 1. The result would not be clear, but at least White would be able to fight better than in the actual game.

Diagram 4: Black 1 is the strongest move because it keeps White split. White has no choice but to keep on fighting. White cannot cut at 17 instead of 6, because Black will cut at A and then the whole white group in the lower right corner will most likely suffocate. Up to 28, White has no choice. He needs to fight on two fronts, his center and the large group around 18 and 20, which he must keep alive. However, this group is saddled with a fatal deficiency. How can Black attack this group?

Diagram 5: Black 17 captures the ko where the marked stone is. Black 35 connects at 22.

Black has already figured out the way to kill, so he strengthens his surrounding groups first with 1 and 3, then makes ko threats with 7 and 11, before planting the sword in White's heart with 13. After black 19, White is dead.