Noriyuki Nakayama 7p, Tales of Men Crazy about Go, trans. John Power (Abridged) wrote:Some years after I had learnt to play go, I encountered an extraordinarily strong player in a Shinjuku go club. [H]e was a descendent of a samurai.
He sat down heavily on the tatami mat, placed the bowl with the white stones between his knees, looked doubtfully at me and muttered: "Shall we have you try three stones?"
I was stupefied. I played on even with Takeda Toshiro, the strongest player at this go club. With three stones, I was confident I could hold my own even against Go Seigen, who at this time was at his peak.
This game took place 30 years ago, but I still remember the fuseki. The moves up to 22 are the perfectly ordinary two-space pincer joseki. While I was wondering how White could expect to win playing straight forward moves like this, the samurai played in a strange place with 25.
I now realize 25 is a magnificent move. I had no idea how to answer.
"What's up? You're taking your time," laughed the samurai. I don't remember how I played after this, but I do remember that White forced me to resign.
This samurai was Takehara Kintaro, known and feared throughout the amateur go world as 'Devil Takehara'. He enjoyed his heyday in the period before the Kikuchi-Murakami group came to prominence.
Some people dismissed him as a braggart, but this was because of his unconventional personality. Year later, at a function organized by the magazine, he scored an easy win on black against Watanabe Shokichi 9-dan, which shows that he was no mere braggart.
So where did White play 25?
Re: White to Play
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 8:43 pm
by moyoaji
I would guess the upper right 3-3. I've seen that as an important point in one of Nick Sibicky's lectures. When your opponent responds to the cap of a 10-3 stone with the the knight's move he said you should take the 3-3 right away. I don't see that being different with the stone being a 9-3 stone.
Re: White to Play
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 5:03 am
by Shenoute
I remember reading this in a Go World
"You've played 10 moves and all you've done is create a target for white to attack" (or something like that, I'm quoting from memory).
Re: White to Play
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:39 am
by skydyr
I'm looking at the cap at E8
Re: White to Play
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 12:38 pm
by Uberdude
h11 seems cool (or can we h10 with the f11/13 peeps in reserve) but then black c9 or d9 so maybe we should just boldly cap at e8. b runs and splits the top group but that has k17 for sabaki.
Re: White to Play
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:20 pm
by logan
I'll post the solution tomorrow. Give you all another day
Re: White to Play
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:49 pm
by DrStraw
This game does not look familiar so I looked in the Treasure Chest Enigma. I cannot find it in there. Are you sure that is the source?
Re: White to Play
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 3:20 pm
by logan
A slip, it was taken from Tales of Men Crazy about Go, the sequel to the source of the The Treasure Chest Enigma.
Were you trying to cheat DrStraw?
Re: White to Play
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:15 pm
by DrStraw
logan wrote:A slip, it was taken from Tales of Men Crazy about Go, the sequel to the source of the The Treasure Chest Enigma.
Were you trying to cheat DrStraw?
No, I just was pretty sure I had not seen it and also was confident that I would remember it had it been in that book. In other words, had your reference been correct I probably would already know the answer.
Re: White to Play
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:21 pm
by logan
Well, now that you know that you don't know I want to know: can you figure it out so you'll know?
Re: White to Play
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:32 pm
by DrStraw
logan wrote:Well, now that you know that you don't know I want to know: can you figure it out so you'll know?
No. I stopped studying 25 years ago. And this is the study group so I don't have a chance.
Re: White to Play
Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 11:49 am
by oca
tengen
Re: White to Play
Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 12:27 pm
by logan
oca is right, the answer is tengen once again. Let's see the reasoning:
jk
Here's the real answer with an explanation from Noriyuki Nakayama (Black).
Noriyuki Nakayama wrote:Whether Black plays the next at 'a' or 'b', White gets the nasty peep at 'c'. Black could swallow his pride and make the 'dog's face' move of 'd', despite its inefficiency, but then White 'e' would be annoying.
After the game, I asked the samurai how I should have played with 26, but instead of answering directly he just made the comment: 'I don't like the moves to Black 22. You've played ten moves and all you've done is create a target for attack.' He then abruptly departed, as if he'd just remembered an appointment.
Nice memory Shenoute
Re: White to Play
Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 12:50 pm
by skydyr
logan wrote:...
jk
Here's the real answer with an explanation from Noriyuki Nakayama (Black).
Noriyuki Nakayama wrote:Whether Black plays the next at 'a' or 'b', White gets the nasty peep at 'c'. Black could swallow his pride and make the 'dog's face' move of 'd', despite its inefficiency, but then White 'e' would be annoying.
After the game, I asked the samurai how I should have played with 26, but instead of answering directly he just made the comment: 'I don't like the moves to Black 22. You've played ten moves and all you've done is create a target for attack.' He then abruptly departed, as if he'd just remembered an appointment.
Nice memory Shenoute
So close, and yet so far...
Re: White to Play
Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 2:57 pm
by DrStraw
logan wrote:oca is right, the answer is tengen once again. Let's see the reasoning:
jk
Here's the real answer with an explanation from Noriyuki Nakayama (Black).
Noriyuki Nakayama wrote:Whether Black plays the next at 'a' or 'b', White gets the nasty peep at 'c'. Black could swallow his pride and make the 'dog's face' move of 'd', despite its inefficiency, but then White 'e' would be annoying.
After the game, I asked the samurai how I should have played with 26, but instead of answering directly he just made the comment: 'I don't like the moves to Black 22. You've played ten moves and all you've done is create a target for attack.' He then abruptly departed, as if he'd just remembered an appointment.
Nice memory Shenoute
Well, I didn't analyze it but based on the context of the thread I looked for something really bizarre. I thought of the attachment one point above and to the left of the real answer. But, as I said, that was so bizarre it could not be correct.
Nice to see that with my declining ability I can still be in the general area.
