Diagram 1 (1–12)

This time, I would like to introduce you to two giants of the Japanese Go Players: Shuei and Shuho. The game is from March 25, 1866. Shuho played with white stones and give his opponent 3 stones of handicap. In my opinion, it is a perfect example of how to play the handicap game, not only from black perspective but also white.

The game start with a very rare sequence in modern Go. Black play very active from the beginning.

Variation 1

If white try to develop on the top, black will get overwhelming influence, which in combination with handicap stones is very dangerous.

Diagram 2 (13-18)

White 13 is perfect example of “Japanese Go”. It is common to play A-B exchange first, but it will make “bad shape”. Black answer with very tight move and the first big fight started.

Black 14 and 16 works very well with handicap stone in upper right corner.

Diagram 3 (19-26)

In the upper left corner, black play very rare move – Black 22. Today you can said it was mistake. Why?

Variation 2

Black 1 don’t give him two eyes :( Today players prefer to play Variation 3.

Variation 3

Black 1 is tesuji. Unfortunately in Shuho-Shuei time this move wasn’t known.

After complicated fight in the center situation was more clear:

Diagram 4

Situation looks even but, black find very nice tesuji to grab the lead:

Diagram 5

Black sacrifice one extra stone (Black 1 on the Diagram 5) and get nice extension on the right side.

Diagram 6

After 140 moves white was in very hard situation. His groups are in the pieces but Shuho found very nice move:

Diagram 7

White 1 on the Diagram 7 is nice tesuji. Next white 9 is another tesuji to link up all white stones on the bottom side.

Sequence is beautiful, unfortunately black lead was too big and Shuei finally won the game by 10 points.

Zapis gry

Download SGF File

Related posts:

1. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki #2
2. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki #5
3. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki #3

Hello again, this is Whiteboard Sunday #5. We’re slowly coming to the end of our topic — the “First Joseki”. There are many more variations, but soon let’s move on to something else. What will it be? You can ask for joseki, openings, direction of play or any area where you’d like to be more comfortable.

Dan players may not learn as much from this column, but kyu players should benefit. In other words, this is for you kyu! Please leave your requests in the comment section below the article.

Diagram 1 — 4th line

This time I want to change a little basic shape in our “first joseki”. Here black 3 is played on the 4th line instead of the 3rd line. What is the basic difference between moves on the 3rd and 4th lines?

1. Black has a weak spot at A. Black’s territory is open. White can play at A and aim to break into black’s corner. Goodbye territory.
2. When the territory is open, expanding it is much easier. Black can play a big extension at B and still have solid shape.
3. When one has a stone on 4th line, escape to the center is much easier. That is why black doesn’t fear white’s move at A.

Diagram 2 — Basic Shape

OK, armed with some basic knowledge about the difference between the 3rd and 4th lines, it’s time to look at our diagram for today’s Whiteboard Sunday. Diagram 2 shows a situation which happens a lot in real games. I added two white stones in the upper left corner to make the white invasion more severe.

If you manage to master this situation from Diagram 2, then the invasion at 1 won’t be a burden to you anymore. Let’s examine what black can do.

Diagram 3 — Greed

Black can try to play a severe-looking move at 1 in Diagram 3. At first this looks like a tesuji. Unfortunately, white won’t fight like hell when he can just build life on the side. After white 8, black has lost all territory on the upper side and leaves a weakness at A.

If only black could use the wall efficiently! But the two white stones in the upper left corner are reducing black’s thickness to zero. This variation is a disaster for black.

Diagram 4 — Tsuke

Black can also play the most natural and most popular move. Black’s tsuke — contact play — seals in the white group. White has 3 standard responses: A, B and C. Let’s start with white A.

Diagram 5 — Hane

A famous baduk proverb says “Respond to an attachment with a hane”. In this situation, hane is an unexpectedly bad move :( Black’s shape only gets thicker.

Diagram 6 — Extend

Another very common answer by kyu players is the extension to 1 in Diagram 6. The purpose of this move is to make life on the side without a fight. Unfortunately, black has a nice tesuji. Double hane at 4 is a sacrifice tesuji.

Black defends his territory, and white gets a ponnuki on the second line. The real value of the ponnuki is very small; the two white stones in the upper left corner are too close to it. White has failed again.

Diagram 7 — Wedge

White 1 in Diagram 7 is an actual tesuji. This move is very strong. Of course, there is some drawback with this move. White needs the ladder to be favorable…

Diagram 8 — Ladder

If white can get a good result, it’s all thanks to the ladder. If the ladder is good for black, white will get a very bad result.

Diagram 9 — Variation

Black can try to play the atari at 1 in Diagram 9 instead of connecting with 3 in Diagram 8. This variation also gives white a chance to capture one black stone. This situation looks almost the same, but it isn’t…

Diagram 10 — Iron wall

White gets a lot of forcing moves and builds the almighty iron wall. This is a very bad result for black. Black 1 in Diagram 8 is only possible if black is good in the ladder.

Diagram 11 — Black only choice

When the ladder is good for white, the only good answer to the wedge at Diagram 8 is the atari from the outside in Diagram 11. This and the following moves will be the topic of the next Whiteboard Sunday.

Diagram 12 — Black to play

Like always, I have problem for you. This problem looks difficult but it should be very easy ;p (If the problems are too hard, please let me know in a comment or message).

I want to publish problems from real games. Sometimes they may not be as easy, but they are worth the time to study them.

Related posts:

1. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki #3
2. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki #2
3. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki

Hi everyone, we’re in the 4th edition of Whiteboard Sunday. Last month I started this new column on Haengma — but I don’t want to publish only short lectures on how to play baduk. I want to publish baduk book reviews and tournament/event reports. For this reason, I want you to join the Haengma team. You can help me build this website! I’m open to any ideas. If you are interested, please leave a comment or send me an email.

Diagram 1 — Endgame perspective

Now let’s get back to joseki. In the last articles, I discussed weak and strong points of this “first joseki”. I mainly looked at the situation from a middle game perspective, when the strength of the group is the most important thing.

Today I want to discuss the same shape, but from an endgame perspective. Let’s assume that both the white and black groups are alive. How many points is the move in Diagram 1 worth?

Diagram 2 — Simple endgame

We’ll start from the easiest variation. If black starts first white will defend with 2. Now white has 7 points and black 9 points. The key is to understand that black’s hane at T16 is gote and white T17 is sente. It’s very likely that players will play: white T17 – black T18 – white T16 – black S18.

Diagram 3 — Huge move

Let’s go back to the first Diagram. White 1 is sente. White not only shrinks black’s territory, but also extends his own. Now white has 9 points of territory and black has only 5.

The difference between this and Diagram 2 takes a little calculation. White’s territory is increased by 2 points, and black loses 4 points. Add those together, and white gets 6 points in sente. And because this is sente it’s twice as valuable. The move itself is really worth 12 points.

Diagram 4 — White Gote

Of course, white’s move from the last diagram is not always sente. Sometimes it’s gote. How can we judge whether it’s sente or gote? Let’s calculate how many points we would get if opponent played tennuki.

White would play the sequence 1-5 in Diagram 4. This time the black territory disappears, and white builds a huge territory worth 12 points. In a normal situation where black has some points in the upper side, white would get one more point at S19, because Q14 would be sente for white. In Diagram 4 we can’t count S19 as a point :(

By comparing this situation to Diagram 3, we get a difference of 8 points. This is made in the second move, so we need to divide its value by 2 and add it to our first move. Now we have 6 + 4 = 10 points in gote. More calculations are necessary to see how many points black can get if white plays tenuki after black 1 in Diagram 2.

Diagram 4 — Black Gote

Black captures one stone and increases his score by 5 points. In the meantime, white lost all his points because T14 is now black sente. The difference is 12 points. It’s again in the second move so we divide the result by 2 and get 6 points.

We can add all these results and get a final value of the move from Diagram 1. Diagrams 2 and 3 give us 6 points in sente, so 12 points in total. Diagrams 4 and 5 give us 5 points and 6 points. So we have: 6 + 5 + 6 = 17 points in gote.

Conclusion: If there is no other move bigger than 17 points, the move from Diagram 1 is worth 12 points (6 points in sente). If there is, then it’s worth only 17 points in gote.

Diagram 4 — Black to play

At the end of this short Whiteboard Sunday, I give you a real game tsumego. This shape happens really often in high handicap games after the tsuke-nobi joseki.

Related posts:

1. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki
2. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki #5
3. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki #3

Welcome to the 3rd edition of Whiteboard Sunday. You didn’t write in the comment section what you wanted to see next, so I’ll continue analyzing the first joseki in the next few articles. This joseki is one of the most often played, so mastering it, will give you an advantage in real games.

Diagram 1 — Basic Situation

Last time I added few black stones and discussed black follow-ups. It’s time to look at white follow-ups. For this I will add one white stone to the basic diagram from a week ago. The topic of this article is Diagram 1.

Diagram 2 — Placement Tesuji

If black doesn’t defend the corner, white can attack it very severely. White 1 is basic move to shrink black’s eye space. Next white 3 is a tesuji. Black is in big trouble. What can he do?

Diagram 3 — Basic Answer

The first thing that comes to mind is connecting to black 1. Unfortunately thanks to the marked stone, white can connect very easily. The outcome is very bad for black. There must be another way to handle the situation.

Diagram 4 — Black Tesuji

Black 1 and 3 are tesujis to handle the situation. This way the white attack is not so severe. It is important to descend with black 3 and not at T18. The next diagram will show why.

Diagram 5 — Greed

If white blindly tried to capture one black stone, he would be trapped after black 6 in Diagram 5. As you can see black 3 from the previous diagram is important for black 5 at Diagram 5 to work. Of course white won’t play this way.

Diagram 6 — White success

Instead of white 3 from the last diagram, he will play the hane. This way the outcome is decided by the ladder at A. If the ladder is good for white, then black can’t defend two points (A and B) at the same time. In such a situation black 2 from Diagram 2 is mistake.

Diagram 7 — Black choice

If the ladder from Diagram 6 is bad, black can play the exchange of B for C, or jump to D instead. The B-C exchange is pure and simple, but the jump to D needs more study.

Diagram 8 — White disaster

Thanks to the marked stone, the ladder at A doesn’t work. The result is very bad for white. This diagram closes this week’s topic. Next I will discuss this joseki from a territorial perspective.

Diagram 9 — Black to play

Of course, there is also a problem for you to solve. Like always it’s black turn to play.

Related posts:

1. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki #5
2. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki #2
3. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki

This week ended very quickly and now it’s time for the 2nd Whiteboard Sunday. After the first edition a few peope wrote that they like the joseki explanation. I decided to continue this topic and today I want show another follow-up to the last joseki.

Diagram 1 — Extra stones

This week I’ll discuss a tricky little follow-up. The main topic for this post is Diagram 1. I added some black stones to the situation from last Whiteboard Sunday. The question is: “Can black find a better follow-up that uses these extra stones?”

Diagram 2 — Tesuji

The answer is black 1. This tesuji gives black a local advantage. Of course, you can only use it if you have the extra stone at R9. Let’s check a few possible white answers to this tesuji.

Diagram 3 — block from the outside

The most natural answer is to seal in black and block from the outside. Unfortunately, this is wrong. Black can steal the whole white territory and connect with his stone at R9.

Diagram 4 — block from the inside

Defending from inside looks solid, but black has another great move – the crosscut tesuji. After black 2 from Diagram 4, white can play atari from either of two sides. Which to choose? Let’s start with white 3 from Diagram 4. This gives white a very strong shape (ponnuki – shape after capturing one stone), but black gains a big territorial profit. This looks too good for black.

Diagram 5 — atari from the second side

An atari from other the side is also not so great. Black again takes solid profit. This variation is very painful for white, because black has a nice follow-up at Q14 which will seal white inside and build a powerful black wall. Before we lose all hope, let’s back up a few moves and search for the mistake we made.

Diagram 6 — White counterattack

Instead of capturing a stone with white 3 on Diagram 5, white can play a counter atari. This tesuji leads to a ko, and the fight looks even. Unfortunately, black can extend on the second line and connect to his R9 stone. This is why black needs the stone at R9 to play the tesuji in Diagram 2.

Diagram 7 — Answer

The proper move is white 1 in Diagram 7. This is an awesome tesuji which connects all the stones. Of course, black can build some thickness, but the final outcome looks even.

Diagram 8 – Black’s greed

If black becomes too greedy and tries to cut the white stones, he will incur a big loss. A and B are miai points for connecting the white stones.

Diagram 9 — Joseki

The best that both sides can do is Diagram 9. White secures territory and black gets some nice forcing moves to build a small wall. The result is acceptable for both sides.

Diagram 10 — Black to move

This time I’ll leave you with a very famous life&death problem, which happens very often in real games. White wants to live inside, but it’s black’s move. Can you kill the white group unconditionally?

I have decided to cover the shape from this post (and the previous post) for a few more weekends, so if you want to master this joseki stay tuned!

Related posts:

1. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki #5
2. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki
3. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki #3

Hello guys and girls :) Haengma is changing dramatically! It will have more tutorials and interesting columns.

The first new column will be called Whiteboard Sunday. Why Whiteboard Sunday? Because I won’t use Eidogo in this column, but instead I will make black and white Diagrams. I think this is a better way to teach. Every Sunday I’ll post about some small topic and give one problem to solve in the following week.

Diagram 1 — First Joseki

In the first Whiteboard Sunday, I want discuss one of the most common joseki in the corner. Diagram 1 shows that joseki. The sequence itself is easy to remember, but afterward the situation becomes complicated if you want to find a nice follow-up.

Diagram 2 — Black tesuji

From black’s perspective, a follow-up is very easy to find. Black 1 from Diagram 2 is a tesuji. In 99% of games white will answer with 2 and next black will link all his stones with black 3. Now white has two major moves: A or B. Most players play next at A, because B looks a little passive.

Diagram 3 — White wedge

White 1 in Diagram 3 is the most popular answer. This way white puts more pressure on the black shape. After move 4 black gets a nice strong wall but loses sente. This is the purpose of white 1. Sometimes Black keeps sente by skipping black 4. Of course this is not as good, because after connecting at 4 black gets a wall without any weaknesses.

Dia. 4 — White mistake

White 1 at Diagram 4 is a mistake. There is no chance to break this huge wall. White gains very little and black gets an iron wall. This sequence is possible, but only in the endgame stage when there isn’t any other way to reduce the black territory in center.

Diagram 5 — Hard time

White can also try to play atari form the other side, but after black 4 in Diagram 5 the situation becomes very hard. As you can see, the white wedge from Diagram 3 gives black a very nice wall.

Diagram 6 — Calm response

Some people don’t like the previous outcome. They prefer to play more calm and thick with white 1 in Diagram 6. This move doesn’t give black too much strength. It’s also very good from a territorial perspective. The black endgame move at A is no longer sente, so we can say that locally white gets a nice profit from this exchange.

Diagram 7 — Break out

If black plays tenuki after Diagram 6, white will break out to the center with 1-5. This makes black’s first move meaningless. White 1 in Diagram 7 is a tesuji and worth remembering.

Diagram 8 — Black to play

At the end of this Whiteboard Sunday I’ll give you problem to solve. Also please leave comments. What do you think about this column? Which topics do you want me to cover next in Whiteboard Sunday?

Related posts:

1. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki #5
2. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki #4
3. Whiteboard Sunday – First Joseki #2

I can’t find any words to describe what happens yesterday. Whole Polish nation is in big sorrow.

Haengma won’t be updated in next two weeks or maybe even month until I will reconcile with the loss.

No related posts.

I want to wish all Haengma readers very pleasurable, bright, entertaining, and peaceful Easter holiday! I hope you have a very Happy Easter!

In Poland Easter is one of the most important holiday in the year. Easter give everyone hope there is another life after the dead and our journey isn’t meaningless. This is also very important for all Baduk players, because it give them hope that in next life their will have enough time to understand this beautiful game and maybe even get a chance to play a game against the God.

Related posts:

1. Marry Christmas and Happy New Year

After year of hard work of Polish Go Association brand new Baduk Magazine was published with 1 thousand copies. First edition of magazine cover all major tournaments in Poland + some interesting articles with beautiful photos. Overall impression is very high but I found some technical mistakes, but first I’ll discuss what is inside in 1st edition of PSG Magazine.

There are 32 pages. Main topic of this edition is World Mind Sports Games 2008. On first pages you would find organizer and captain of Polish team at WMSG’08. A lot of nice photos and few kifu of author games. Next important article is dedicated tournament of Korea Prime Minister Cup. This time author (Leszek Sołdan 5d) add nice commentary to kifu of his game against Wei Zhao 7d from China. Other tournaments (Polish Champinship League, Polish Youth Champions League, Polish Female Championship + interview with winner) are covered in smaller but decent articles.

For me the most interesting was articles written by Jurek Tomiak about mental approach to the game. He show that two most popular approach aren’t the best (aggressive and passive approach to problem) and the best solution is not to fight with stress but play with it. Great article!!!

There are also two games with deep commentary, but in whole magazine I found that reading diagrams without board is impossible :( In commentary authors are using coordinates but diagrams don’t have them. Another minus is that ko moves and captured stones aren’t described at all. Also one Diagram for whole game is too much for me. I used to read a lot books with max 50 moves per diagram so I had hard time reading this games.

Overall magazine is great. I hope in next release all bugs will be fixed and number 2 will be even greater.

No related posts.

I want to wish all my reader Marry Christmas and Happy New Year 2009. Recently I’m working in some new project and don’t know if I will have time before christmas to write another post. Recently I also trying to promote starbaduk.com - Lee Hajin 3p personal site – and I want to ask you for a fovour. If you know how to put information about starbaduk on news section of Gobase.org site please help.

On other hand 22 Decmber this blog will have it’s first birthday. One year :) Blog transform from Baduk School Site to personal blog with promotion baduk strategy. This year was very good for the start, but I have some interesting plan for the future. I want write more articles about baduk and from time to time some advice for begginers. Of course my time is limited so you won’t see many review from Korea baduk scene. If you miss it, go to Starbaduk.com. You won’t be disappointed. 

If you have idea how to make this site better please comment in this post. One more time:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Tomasz Ślązok

Related posts:

1. Happy Easter 2010
2. Lee Sedol beat last year champion
3. Lee Hajin 3p – new baduk blog