It Should Be Ko

I played a game last night on KGS with a friend.

The game took us an hour and a half to play. We used time settings which are as generous as a typical face to face tournament game so we had plenty of time to think and play a serious game. 

I played white.

After black’s response at g3 I felt the need to address the lower left corner. I have been seeing such large corners in my opponent’s games, and they just seemed too large to me. They seem almost selfish. The question was how to invade, and what result to expect. I did not know the answers, but I decided to dive in and see what would happen.

I chose the attachment at d3, which did not work out well for me. I later came to find out that the correct invasion is at c3, and that the result should be ko. I discovered this from a lecture by Guo Juan on the Internet Go School. Details will follow, but let’s see the disaster that resulted for me in my game.

By move 45 it was pretty obvious to me that things were not going to go well here. It might have been prudent to leave the position alone and save it for ko threats later, but I struggled and tried to make seki with no success.

After the game was over I decided to look for a lecture in The Internet Go School which would answer my question about an appropriate corner invasion in the case of a small knight’s move and large knight’s move added to the 4-4 point.

I performed a search on the position

The second lecture in the search covers two corner positions, both of which can result in the position I was interested in studying.

The position came up within the first six minutes of the lecture. Jackpot!

The correct invasion point is at c3.

The result is ko.

Now I know.

I Forgot I Was Playing Ko

This game taught me a few things which I will enumerate.

However, first off let me say that I am not a fan of playing ko. I generally do what I can to avoid ko. I know that this is a weakness of mine that I should work on. I've played ko when it was forced upon me, but I don't think I have ever knowingly started a ko in the past.

I did knowingly start this ko out of necessity, and I believed that I could win it. I counted up my ko threats and I knew when I was going to finish the ko. I waited eagerly for my opponent's next move after my last ko threat was exhausted. I was able to be so sure of this because I had the time to think that a live game does not afford.

Before I show the particulars of the game, let me list the things I have learned:

1. When playing correspondence games remember to look at the whole board before playing. Do not look only at the local situation. (Do not forget you are playing ko.)
2. Do not invest emotionally in a game. It is just one of many.
3. Don't get angry. The English speaking go world is small, and opponents are not disposable. Be nice.
4. The special circumstances of any one game do not make it okay to ask for an undo if you are philosophically opposed to undo except in cases of obvious miss clicks which can happen in live play.

Let's see how this all started.

I am black.

My group on the left was still open toward the center, but it was on the small side. I decided to make at least one sente move with a13. I expected my opponent to play at a14. Instead he played at c12. After determining that I could endure the resulting atari I extended into the white territory in the upper right.

I eventually made two rooms with b10. This group would later offer white a ko threat. 

The game progressed. I made a grab for a big end game sente move by playing at m18.

My opponent ignored my move and played h8 to threaten the single stone at g8.  I knew that the single stone was small, and  I played k18 to jump into white’s territory. White answered at k17. Then I made a mistake as critical as white’s tenuki. I jumped to h18 instead of playing nobi to j18. I saw it immediately, but I wasn’t going to ask for an undo. We had each made a critical mistake, and a ko was definitely on the way.

White pushed at L18 as expected. I played under it to L19. White gave atari at j18. Before setting up the ko I played at h15 to make the two black stones at h14 and g15 useful. I might actually catch nine stones. The atari was indeed sente. White had to answer.

Edit: A comment from the Facebook Go group provided this variation that eliminates the need for ko altogether. This is beautiful.

Edit: Someone else suggested that since I missed the move at j16, I should have saved h15 as a ko threat, and should have started the ko immediately.

White did answer at j16. I set up the ko with j19, and white initiated the ko with k19.

By my estimation I had three ko threats, all of which were against the p13 group. I played to threaten to cut the group with q10.

White responded at q11. I retook the ko. White threatened my left side group with a10, which I had anticipated. 

Edit: It turns out that a10 is no threat at all. The worst that white can do is make seki, so I should have resolved the ko right then and there instead of answering white’s “threat” I was told about this in the Go group on Facebook.

I responded to white’s threat at a9. White retook the ko. I then used my second ko threat at s10 which threatens to destroy white’s second eye.

White answers at r10, and I retake the ko. White makes a threat at n4. If I did not have another good threat I think I could afford to ignore this threat because the two groups it would threaten could line independently. However, since I had another powerful threat I chose to answer.

I decided that the best response was at n3. White retook the ko and I played my last viable threat at t8.

White answered my threat by taking at t10. I retook the ko. Then the waiting began. I waited and waited and waited for what seemed like an eternity. In the mean time I was playing other correspondence games. I had every intention of ignoring any ko threat white would make, but that is not the way it went.

I remember vividly that I was sitting on my front porch enjoying the outdoors with my iPad in my lap. A blizzard of games came up. I responded to them quickly, in uncharacteristic fashion for me. This game was the last in the series of games. I looked at the local situation, evaluated it, and answered the threat unaware that the game I was playing was the one I was so anxiously awaiting. Big mistake. I answered at s14.

Emotions ran high. I realized my mistake immediately, and did something I never do. I asked for an undo, and explained why I was asking for it. I was ashamed to admit that I had forgotten the game I was playing. Apparently my opponent had taken his move before he saw my text. He explained later that he would have granted the undo if he had seen it in time, which was very nice of him.

His comment, however, was ambiguous as it was, “Sorry. Saw it too late”, which I interpreted to mean that I had seen my mistake too late, rather than that he had seen my request too late. I saw red, and responded with, “Fine. If that’s the way you want to be.” I then proceeded angrily with the rest of the game until we chatted at the end, and it became clear what he had actually meant by his comment. Chat is so easily misunderstood.

With the undo not granted I considered resigning, but I knew that was rash and immature. It was more immature than even asking for the undo. Besides, it was still a game, and it ended up being only a 7.5 loss. It turned out to be even on the board at the end. White won only by komi.

The move I played was at e17. (See above) It was not meant to be a ko threat. I knew he would finish the ko. I thought I might have a chance to live on the left side. AI likes N7 (above) and showed a variation I will not bother you with here. AI knew he would finish the ko too. These screen captures were taken after the game was over. No AI was consulted during the game.

Above AI told me what I already knew about my move at s14. I should have taken the ko. Yeah. Rub it in, AI.

AI did not like white’s response at m19 either, preferring the take at h19, probably because of the aji of my move at e17.

I struggled to live in the upper left, but failed. Here is the final position. AI recommends filling dame, probably because we are playing with AGA rules. I could have snatched three points I guess.

This was a loss by 7.5, which is an even result on the board. White wins by komi. It was a good game. I’m glad I finished it, and that I spoke with my opponent at the end.

When I went back to review the game I saw that my opponent had suggested a rematch but wanted to know if I wanted it with undos or without. I responded that I wanted it without undos because I am philosophically opposed to undos on principle, and that I had learned my lesson. I then told him that I was planning a blog post about our game. 

The game can be found here.

Any comments are appreciated.

OGS Game With Fred8 Reviewed by Cornel Burzo

You can find this review here.

One of the things I like about OGS correspondence games is that sometimes you end up chatting a bit with your opponent and making friends. Such is the case with Fred8. We have played three games together so far, the last of which I was able to win. This is that game.  It was a fairly close game, throughout,  but he appears to have lost a bit of concentration near the end. Therefore, I was able to take the lead.

We finished this game yesterday, and much to my surprise, the review was up on YouTube this morning. I found a link to it on Facebook and watched it with pleasure with my morning coffee.

I enjoy Cornel’s review style. He explains clearly, covers a lot, and goes slowly enough that I can follow without pausing the video. I like that. I will be watching it again along with others of Fred8 so I might get more familiar with his style. 

Fred8 and I are working on our fourth game together already. I fully expect to lose this next one, but I shall try my best to give him an interesting game.

Love a Nice Resignation

My next blog post was supposed to be about the shame of forgetting that I was playing ko. However, I got a really nice resignation today, so I am going to celebrate that here.

This is the final board position. I’ve got to admire someone who knows when to move on to the next game. Though I, myself, have been known to struggle.

I have killed the large white group in the lower right. Let’s see how this started.

It started with a peep. I was not sure I could get that group, but I was going to go after it. I figured that the move was at least sente, and once it was answered, the stone at p6 would be light.

After another peep at n8, and a few exchanges in the o13 area, I enclosed the group with a move at o10. It still wasn’t  a sure thing, and did have potential to connect to the center stones, but the attack was looking better.

A couple of moves later I played at n10 to avoid a cut. I was getting more hopeful. It would prove to be fun if nothing else.

A few exchanges later and the group was completely cut off. Now it was a matter of seeing whether White could live. I believed I could make the eye at the top of the group false with a play at p9 if I got to play there first.

White tried to increase eye space with the hane at r1. The throw in at s1 felt right, and so that is how I responded.

White followed with s4, after which I did hane at t4. White’s cut at s7, followed by my Atari at s8, brought us to the end of the game.

If you have read this far, thank you. The full game can be found on OGS here if anyone is interested in seeing how things began.

Painful Realization That I Could Have Reversed A Close Game

I have used this blog as a means of memorializing some of the things I have done right. Today I am going to memorialize something that I missed. My opponent must have missed it too, or she would not have made a move I could have punished severely.

We are both taking group lessons with Hwang In-seong, and are in the same league. We have moved up and down together through the leagues in the past three months.

Here is the end position of our game from Thursday night.

I am White. Black won this game by 6.5

It was a close game I would like to have won, but I was happy for Black. We have had a bit of a rivalry going on for a few months. Although I believe that she is a stronger player than I, up to this point I had won all three of our games in the league. It was something I knew I could not maintain, but it was hanging in the air, and it was nice to have the tension over,

In-seong had many interesting points to make about our game, but the first thing he showed us blew both of our minds. White could have easily reversed this game.

It turned out that 31 is a mistake. 

It turns out that my response at “a” is an even bigger mistake.

The throw in works! YES! The throw in works!

White throws in. Black takes. White gives Atari. When black connects there is damezumari (shortage of liberties) and white takes 12 stones. That is more than enough to reverse the game. It is easy enough to read. When you are told about it you see it right away. Neither of us imagined that the throw in worked with that one liberty left. Now we know.

One other thing. I had been looking at the throw in for a while, but I was also concerned about my own weakness, which is what I do. If I had been more focused on my opponent’s weakness I may have seen it. 

Now, your assignment is to share in my shame, and observe every painful move of what could have been. I want this seared in my memory.

That’s all folks.

Another painful moment coming soon.

I will tell the story of how I forgot I was playing ko.