Last week's Go Weekly magazine ...

By Rob Van Zeijst

Last week's Go Weekly magazine made an interesting point concerning the truth being absolute or relative. It said that based on personal belief and perception of a situation in go, the best move for each person was different. In other words, what is true changes with your perception, that is, your opinion. If there is an absolute truth, it is that our opinions or personal truths are relative.

Honinbo title match

Diagram 1: This situation arose in the first game between titleholder Cho U (Black) and Takao Shinji in the best-of-seven Honinbo match. Black's choice of joseki in the lower left is questionable as White gets to play in the lower right first with 22. Furthermore, he sets up a great moyo with 26 through 30, 36 and the excellent move at 42. Black can counter this with A, but this would turn White's moyo into territory. Cho mentioned he had no choice but make a deep invasion, although he did not have much hope of accomplishing anything. Some pros jokingly said that White could connect at B and capture the black invader. This illustrates how little this invasion would achieve. After 45, the chances Black will survive are 50 percent. If you believe the game is bad for White, forget about making territory and go for the kill with C. However, if you believe White is leading, D is the best move. Where would you play? Find out next week where White played in the actual game.

LG Cup

Diagram 2(1-27 represents moves 57-83): In the fourth and final game between Cho U (Black) and Yu Bin for the LG Cup, we talked last week about the need to play "urgent" moves rather than "large" ones. This point must be stressed when Black plays at 1, the final move last week. This move secures eyes for Black, takes White's away and is worth about 20 points in territory. Last week, you were asked in Problem 2 where White should move. The answer is that he must secure a base with 2, which also prevents Black from playing here. If Black attacks at A, white B is a strong countermove. Furthermore, white 2 makes connecting at 4 sente. Black 7 and 9 secure eye-space for Black while aiming at B (see References 1 and 2). White 14 and 18 make a loose connection. Yu regretted playing 11, 13 and 15. He said he should have played at 16 earlier followed by white E. Black tried to mount an attack with the 17-19 combination, but this fizzled out when White played at 22. If Black cuts with C, the sequence white D, black E, white F, black G and white H would follow. Black would lose points.

Reference 1: Look at the lower right corner of Diagram 2. This situation appears often in handicap games with the colors reversed. When White plays at 1, Black can defend at B, but that is gote. Playing tenuki (elsewhere) is usually better. However, be prepared for the nozoki move at 3. After connecting at 4, white 5 looks nasty. Sometimes it is possible to counter with 6 through 10 and cut off the corner from the marked white stone. Note, White cannot cut at A, because of the sequence black B, white C and black D.

Reference 2: This is the situation in Diagram 2. If Black plays a nozoki move at 1, followed by the sequence through 7, the moves 8 to 12 are natural. But this puts Black's marked stones in jeopardy. That is why he played at 3 in the actual game.

Solutions to last week's problem

Solution 1A (5 is played where the marked stone was captured): If White plays at 1, he will live. Therefore, Black must play at that spot. This puts the white stones in atari, so White has to capture with 2. After Black connects at 3, white 4 captures three stones, but Black kills the white group by playing at 5.

Solution 1B: Here we have a different situation with two extra liberties for White. Again, Black must play at 1, But the cut at 2 looks damaging. However, Black can capture a stone with 3. After white 4, Black should resist the temptation to connect his two stones, and play at 5.

Solution 1C (black 7 plays where the marked stone was captured): White now can capture two stones with 6, but Black plays 7 at the marked stone and White is dead again.

New Problems

Problem 1: Why is black 2 the wrong move? References 1 and 2 offer a hint. How should black respond to white 1?

Problem 2: How should White respond to 1?

Want to find out more? Come to Ben's Cafe in Takadanobaba, Tokyo (03-3202-2445, www.benscafe.com) where the English- speaking go community congregates every Sunday. You can enjoy free lessons, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Van Zeijst is a four-time European go champion and European representative at the Fujitsu World Championship.