Filling in the gaps

amatterof · Post by **amatterof** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 5:00 pm

I had planned to do a different topic for this week, but after working through my selection for a professional game for this week a few times, I've been struck by this shape that almost never occurs to me to play:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B Elephant Jump $$ . . . . . . . $$ . . . . . . . $$ . . . . X . . $$ . . . a . . . $$ . . X . . . . $$ . . . . . . . $$ . . . . . . .[/go]

Since I almost never play it (because of the obvious weakness at A), my understanding of it is pretty minimal, but after looking at how it arises in professional play, here are some basic things (I think) I've learned about it.

First, even though it has the obvious weakness at A, the Elephant Jump is often very useful for creating thickness, even when the opponent hits that weak spot. For example, you can imagine a sequence like this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W Black creates thickness $$ . . . . . . . . . $$ . . 6 . . . . . . $$ . . . . 4 2 X . . $$ . . . 5 3 1 . . . $$ . . . . B . O . . $$ . . . . . . . . . $$ . . . . . . . . .[/go]

If Black can continue to make use of the marked stone, then this thickness is especially good. This is the core idea behind the joseki I examined in my previous study-post. Perhaps an even better example of this is in this Iyama Yuta game. Iyama makes the elephant jump with :w14:

and

then from

-

sacrifices the one stone in order to build thickness. The aji from the stone continues to linger, however, as seen with :w56:

.

Relatedly, this Elephant Jump is often played as a cap in a jumping fight. Something like this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W $$ ---------------- $$ . . . . . . . . . $$ . . . . . . . . . $$ . X . O . X . . . $$ . . . . . . . . . $$ . X . O . X . . . $$ . . . . . . . . . $$ . . . B . . . . . $$ . . . . . . . . . $$ . . . . . . . . . $$ . . . . . . . . .[/go]

A good example of this is in last week's game, when White played the cap of :w66:

.

To avoid this result, an opponent will often not want to play at this weak point. This especially seems to happen in certain joseki sequences like these:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B $$ -------------------------------- $$ . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . | $$ . 6 . . . . . . | . . . . . . . | $$ . 3 . . . 4 . . | . . . 1 . . . | $$ . . . 2 , 1 . . | . . . , . . . | $$ . . . . . . . . | . . . . 2 . . | $$ . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . 5 . . | . . 4 . . . . | $$ . . . . . . . . | . . . 3 . . . | $$ . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . |[/go]

In these joseki sequences, it's notable that playing at the midpoint weakness in the elephant jump is wrong. In fact, in most examples of this that I found in (my limited review of) professional play, the opponent's response was to play somewhere other than this weakness. (Iyama's :b67:

in last week's game seems to be the exception, and prompted a bit of an exchange.) You can see this happen several times in the game I'm memorizing this week (notably at :w20:

and

):

Now that I'm looking for it, I'm seeing this shape everywhere, but still wish I understood more. Can anyone add anything further?

Uberdude · Post by **Uberdude** » Tue Jan 06, 2015 5:15 pm

I play it if I want to look cool.

P.S. Another common situation it is a good haengma is when you have one/both of the one point jumps to aim at as attaches which bulk up the shape, but you might want to keep that in reserve as it's good style not to play moves you don't need to in case you want other options later.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$Wc $$ ----------------------+ $$ . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . 1 . X . . X . . | $$ . , . . . . . X . O . | $$ . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . 2 . a O . . | $$ . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ . , . . . . . , . . . |[/go]

Another common shape (maybe some black pincers like marked, they vary):

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$Wc $$ ----------------------+ $$ . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ . . B . . . O X . . . | $$ . , . . . . O , X . . | $$ . . B . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . 1 . a X . . . | $$ . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ . , . . . . . , . . . |[/go]

drmwc · Post by **drmwc** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 9:47 am

Thanks for pointing out Haylee's youtube channel (although my pony has been a little slow). Haylee's channel is the first youtube channel I have subscribed too.

amatterof · Post by **amatterof** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 7:50 am

Uberdude wrote:Another common situation it is a good haengma is when you have one/both of the one point jumps to aim at as attaches which bulk up the shape, but you might want to keep that in reserve as it's good style not to play moves you don't need to in case you want other options later.

Thanks! These are excellent examples.

amatterof · Post by **amatterof** » Sat Jan 10, 2015 7:08 am

Week 2 Update
I consider this to have been a successful week. It had the bonus of the AGA Professional Qualifying tournament going on, which was quite fun to watch. I was also happy with my own play this week, and I managed to go 3-0 in slow games. On the other hand, in reviewing those games, I still found tons of embarrassing mistakes, so it's clear that I have a long way to go.

I was able to continue my daily tsumego, and am now more than halfway through Cho Chikun's Elementary Life & Death. I was particularly happy to notice how quickly I could go through the small-L shape problems that popped up this week, which I credit to my previous study-posts (here and here) on the shape.

For professional games, I was feeling optimistic this week and went ahead and did two games. First was a fighting game between Iyama Yuta and Park Junghwan that I mentioned above. After spending a few days looking at it, I found Go Game Guru's commentary on the game, which proved very helpful to my deeper understanding of it. That said, a lot of what I hoped to get out of professional games is improving my fuseki and direction of play, and crazy fighting games like this are not as useful in that respect. If this game ends up being one of the first ones I start to forget, I won't be heartbroken.

The second game I thought was a good example of how modern professionals treat the orthodox fuseki.

amatterof · Post by **amatterof** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 1:28 pm

For this week's post, I want to look at a shape that has always given me headaches.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W The Carpenter's Square $$ ---------------- $$ . . . . . . . . | $$ . O . O X . a . | $$ . . . O X . . . | $$ . . . O X X X . | $$ . . . O O O O . | $$ . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . . O . | $$ . . . . . . . . |[/go]

There is an obvious vital point in the shape at A, and by playing there, Black can easily live. However, if White plays first, the best result she can achieve is a ko, and the far more challenging aspect of this shape for me has been figuring out the various paths to this result. So many of the moves that seem obvious to me turn out to be wrong, and the correct moves strike me as unintuitive initially. To help with this, I found it useful to first look at the common results of many patterns. First, the ko result:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W Ko for life $$ ---------------- $$ . . . . . X X S | $$ . O . O X W O X | $$ . . . O X . X O | $$ . . . O X X X O | $$ . . . O O O O . | $$ . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . . O . | $$ . . . . . . . . |[/go]

The ko occurs around the 1-1 point, and generally follows from a shape like this. In some instances, the marked White stone may not be in place.

When White fails, it's usually because Black has managed to create a seki with a shape like this.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W Seki $$ ---------------- $$ . . . . O . X . | $$ . O . O X X O O | $$ . . . O X . O X | $$ . . . O X X X X | $$ . . . O O O O . | $$ . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . . O . | $$ . . . . . . . . |[/go]

Of course, in some circumstances where White knows she has a lack of ko threats, seki may be better, but following the common practice of tsumego, I'll consider this a White failure.

When Black fails, it's usually because White has managed to create a dead shape inside, something like these:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W Black dies $$ -------------------------------- $$ . . . . X b a . | . . . . X X O . | $$ . O . O X O O O | . O . O X O O X | $$ . . . O X . . X | . . . O X . O X | $$ . . . O X X X . | . . . O X X X . | $$ . . . O O O O . | . . . O O O O . | $$ . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . . O . | . . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . . |[/go]

Because Black has no outside liberties, the throw-in tesuji at A does not work. When Black plays there, White merely responds at B, and Black will not be able to capture the White stones before running out of liberties himself. And, if Black does not play at A, White can play there, creating both a dead shape and an eye to win any capturing race.

Keeping these in mind, it's a bit easier to see why Black's response at the 2-1 point is the right answer.

Another proper way for White to create a ko is with this initial move:

Things get even trickier with less conventional moves from White initially. In particular, White can also create a ko with the simple hane, and Black's proper response is not easy to see at all.

Finally, it's worth noting that White cannot create a ko with these plays:

There are, of course, many other variations of the Carpenter's Square, such as those where Black has extra liberties or hanes/extensions in place. I plan to look at those in a future post. Let me know if you spot any errors/omissions, or anything that is unclear.

amatterof · Post by **amatterof** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 3:53 pm

Week 3 Update
I've always found weeks 3 and 4 to be the most difficult in creating new routines/habits. That said, I still seem to be on track. And, while my play this week didn't feel as sharp as last week, I still managed to go 4-1 in slow games.

As far as tsumego goes, I've continued my daily streak. Now, however, the problems are getting a bit more difficult, and I can't get through nearly as many in one day. I'm also getting to the point where I wish I had the answers, since, while I'm trying to force myself to read out all of the variations, there are beginning to be so many that it's tough not to miss one. But, I guess that's a good thing to practice too.

I also got a study post in (immediately above) on the Carpenter's Square. I had hoped it would be more comprehensive, but I ran out of time to do some of the related shapes.

My daily work memorizing professional games has also continued. This week I wanted to look at something with a Mini/Micro-Chinese fuseki, and this summer's deciding match between Iyama Yuta and Ida Atsushi in the Honinbo final provided that. (It also had the bonus of good commentary from Go Game Guru, available here.) The endgame in this match still trips me up sometimes, but not too badly. I was amazed at the shape that Iyama created in the bottom, but I guess small life is the price he paid for switching directions with :b21:

.

Here is the game record:

Dragonfist · Post by **Dragonfist** » Sat Jan 17, 2015 6:10 pm

About the move I showed earlier, i don't think it's any good. First of all, the opponent can just let you live in the corner, which I think is rarely good for you since he breaks the side. Secondly, if he wants the corner he can just play the hane instead of pulling down, and it reverts to one of the 2 normal variations. There is no way for you to live in the corner now so you have to play the normal variation after the hane. Here is what I mean: http://eidogo.com/#xNQTfhpA

amatterof · Post by **amatterof** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 1:09 pm

Week 4 Update
This was a busy week for me at work, which, combined with feeling a bit under the weather, made it tougher to stay on top of my goals. In particular, I didn't get to do a study post this week. On the other hand, I did watch a number of Level Up to 5 Dan videos on BadukTV English, thanks to the AGA's recent promotional offer (see here). I guess I could have written up some of the interesting things I learned about the Chinese opening from those videos, but I didn't have much to add beyond their helpful lines/explanations. I also spent a bit of time looking at this old joseki, after seeing it come up in a few of my games this month:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$W $$ -------------- $$ . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . . . | $$ . . . . . . . | $$ . . . X . . . | $$ . . . b . a . | $$ . . . 2 1 . . | $$ . . . 3 4 . . | $$ . . . . . . . |[/go]

I often thought of B as the next obvious response, but after looking it up, there are some really nice lines after the tesuji at A. I'll have to remember this next time it comes up.

On the positive side, I did manage to stay on track with daily tsumego, and have nearly finished Cho's Elementary problems. I'll probably move on to his Intermediate set next, but if anyone has better suggestions, I'd love to hear them,

I also successfully kept up with my review of professional games. I still remember >95% of each of the previous weeks' games, which is nice to see. For this week's game, I wanted to stay with the mini/micro-Chinese idea. It's sad that this game ended with a mistake, but perhaps comforting to see that even in title matches with very long time limits, pros still make these mistakes too. The game record is below, and GoGameGuru's helpful comments are here.

amatterof · Post by **amatterof** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 6:08 am

Week 5 Update
This was slightly disappointing week for me. I played fairly poorly, but at least I mostly kept up with the resolutions. The study-posts have largely faded, which seems unfortunate. I've been telling myself that the detailed study of my correspondence games has taken its place, which is somewhat true, but those positions aren't always as generalizable as what I was doing in the study posts. Hopefully I can find time to bring them back.

I did continue with the daily tsumego, and finished Cho's Elementary. I've moved on to his Intermediate set, and I'm finding these quite fun.

I also continued with my goal of memorizing pro games. This week I selected a game that had previously appeared in one of my study posts (on the elephant jump):

A few things I'm hoping to change up for February:

Chinese Opening - I'd like to be more focused in what I'm studying, instead of just bouncing around from idea to idea. So, this month, I'm going to try to focus on the Chinese opening. Each of the professional games I'll select this month will have this opening, and hopefully I can do a study-post or two regarding it. If I can find time, I'll also re-read Kato's book on the Chinese opening.
Tygem - In January I mostly played on KGS, but I'm going to switch over to Tygem this month, partly because I'd like to continue developing my fighting strength, and partly just for a change of pace.

Life In 19x19

Filling in the gaps

Tesuji: Elephant Jump

Re: Filling in the gaps

Re: Filling in the gaps

Re: Filling in the gaps

Study Tracking: Week 2

Life&Death: Carpenter's Square

Study Tracking: Week 3

Re: Filling in the gaps

Study Tracking: Week 4

Re: Filling in the gaps