Some people say that ...

By Rob Van Zeijst

Some people say that the way you play go provides an insight into your personality. Those who are pushy usually play aggressively, while those who are more balanced tend to have an all-round style of play. In my experience, most top pros are all-round players who balance aggressive moves with careful approaches and strong punches with seemingly timid defenses. However, these pros change their playing style according to the circumstances. As one veteran pro, Takeo Kajiwara, liked to put it, they are in touch with the "feel of the stones." Kajiwara wrote a book, The Direction of Play, which offers some rather extreme and opinionated concepts--but you can still learn a lot from them.

Feel of the stones

In go, there are so-called heavy and light stones. Heavy stones can be equated with "attachment," while light stones are equivalent to "detachment." It takes a certain type of mind-set to understand this, and many amateurs have difficulty understanding the concept.

Diagram 1: This sequence provides a classic example of a light shape. Through 10, White plays great forcing moves. But white 11 is the move that separates the wheat from the chaff. Defending tightly with a move at A would be far too heavy.

Diagram 2 (Black 9 connects where the marked stone was captured): After the sequence in Diagram 1, you may be worried about the marked white stone (3 in Diagram 1). So what happens if Black cuts at 1? White 2 is the answer. After black 3, White follows up with 4. If Black plays at 5, White just gives atari (making a checking move) with 6 and 8. Black connects at 9 where he captured the marked stone. White should not attach a stone at 2, which is an unimportant stone. Defending the cut in the center with 10 is more important. If Black cuts at A, this would be followed by white B and black C. White sacrifices two more stones but builds a strong shape in the center. This is a disaster for Black.

Diagram 3: White 1 is about the worst move White can make. Although it connects his marked stone, Black would respond with 2. Connecting with 3 is natural, but after 4, the entire white group is under attack. White's group is heavy because he was too attached to his stones.

Solution to last week's problems

Solution 1A: White 1 is the correct move. No matter what Black does, he cannot cut off White's stones. In the sequence through 7, Black is dead.

Solution 1B: At first sight, white 1 seems to be the only reasonable move. However, black 2 is a tenacious response. Whatever White does, he cannot avoid a ko.

Solution 1C: After the sequence through 8 in Solution 1B, wherever White plays, at A through D, it will be ko. Playing at A or B leads to a simple ko. Obviously, this is a bad result compared to Solution 1A. If White tries to limit the damage of the ko by playing at C or D, Black will play at A and no matter how many ko threats White has, Black can always continue the ko with B. This is called a double ko and since White cannot win it, Black is alive.

Solution 2A: Black 1, 3 and 5 are the right combination. Next, black 7 forces White to capture with 8.

Solution 2B: Throwing in at 9 is an important tesuji (skillful move). This ensures Black will win the semeai (capturing race). White has no choice but to capture with 10. Black 11 decides the outcome. If White answers at A, Black responds with B, while white C is answered at A. Either way, Black wins.

Solution 3 (Black 3 captures white 2 by playing where the marked stone was taken): This is a cute problem because Black does not defend his two stones. After white 2 captures these stones, Black captures this stone by playing where the marked stone was. After 5, Black has two eyes at A and B.

Reference 1: If Black foolhardily tries to save his two marked stones by connecting at 1, white 2 and 4 kill the lot. Obviously, it is better to abandon the two marked stones to save the rest of the group.

Problems

Problem 1: Black has a strong combination that threatens the white group. Where should he play next and what is the best result?

Problem 2: In a game between two top pros, the situation became hairy when Black attached with 45. What is White's best response? This is a difficult problem even for top amateurs, but do your best. Try some variations, using a board if necessary.

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