JAL Cup World Amateur Go Championship

The 22nd World Amateur Go Championship took place last month in Sendai, where a record 56 participants representing the same number of the countries battled an eight-round tournament. The favorites were as usual Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and China. Knowing that he regularly beats mid-range professionals and sometimes even snatches a win from 9-dan professionals, it was no surprise that Japan's Hideyuki Sakai took first place with eight straight wins.

North Korea's Ho Gil Pak and South Korea's Mal-Eun Saem Hong respectively took second and third place with seven wins each. The places four to eight all finished with six wins, with fourth place taken by 14-year old Zhen Yu Zhou from China. Fifth was Say Boon Ng from Singapore while with a respectable sixth place, Geert Groenen from the Netherlands topped the ranks among the non-Asians. He was followed by David Schoffel from Germany and Ion Floresco from Rumania.

All in all the total level of the tournament is going up steadily. Compared to 10 years ago, the top level has gone up about 1 stone.

Masaki Takemiya, the head referee, pointed out that once the Europeans find out what the correct direction of play is, they may be breaking through to the top ranks.

A Sense of Direction

This is the game between Hideyuki Sakai representing Japan and Zhen Yu Zhou of China in the fourth round. The latter holds the black stones.

Diagram 1 (moves 1-53): I think most professionals would agree the game has already been decided in this diagram. The 14-year-old Zhou shows his inexperience in the fuseki (opening). The first problem is move 9-known as the Shusaku kosumi (diagonal move). Locally this is a good move, but in combination with 7 it's a doubtful strategy, because of the splendid invasion at 22 that White launches the moment he has the opportunity.

Reference 1: The usual idea would be to pincer around 1. If White plays 2, the sequence to 11 starts a fight. But whatever happens, it seems that the location of the two marked black stones will steer the fight in favor of Black.

Reference 2: Here is another alternative. If White opts for the more old-fashioned kosumi at 2, black 3 is just right. The moves to 15 are a joseki (standard corner pattern), but again the marked black stones seem to be in the right place.

Reference 3: Black 11 might be better placed at 1 here. If White then responds with 2, Black defends his upper right corner with 3 while slowly putting pressure on the white stones on the right side. This will make a difference later when White invades in Black's bottom area. The moves to 20 are just one example. Incidentally, the moves 16 and 18 give Black a slightly cramped position, which accounts for Black's answering with 25 in the diagram (hoping White responds at 29) after which Black can play 5.

Reference 4: When White invades at 1 (22 in the diagram), Black first plays a yosumi (probe) with 2. When White answers with 3, Black can then later play as in the diagram (31 to 45), which is large in terms of territory but doubtful as White ends up with a strong position. In answer to 4, white 5 here is just right. Now Black can try to resist with 6, etc. but in the moves to 27 it's not clear whether this is a good choice. After this sequence, White threatens to play either A, encircling a large chunk of territory on the left, or B, setting up a fierce attack.

Reference 5: There is no guarantee either that White will play at 7 in Reference 4. White 7 here is a good alternative. If Black keeps resisting, he will find himself into trouble as in the sequence to 23.

So the best Black can do is 27 and 29. White already scored his first battle win.

All in all this means that the configuration of 7 and 9 was not optimal.

Reference 6: Instead of 31, etc. in the diagram, this figure provides a good alternative. Once Black has played 1, White must reinforce with 2 after which 3 for 4 is a good kikashi (forcing move). Note that black 5 is necessary now.

Reference 7: If Black switches to another point on the board, White will immediately attack with the moves 1 through 11. The moves after black 12 are optional and become possible once Black's group has been totally closed in. The white moves make territory while attacking Black and defending his own stones while Black is just defending. A move like white 1 is worth about 30 points for that reason.

Reference 8: When White played 46 in the diagram, the usual idea would be to play black 2 and 4, a technique for making White's shape overconcentrated. White 5 is one example of what can happen. In the sequence to 16 white 13 and 15 end up being too close to the marked white stones (called korikatachi or overcontration).

This game illustrates why a sense of direction in the fuseki play such an important role when go is played at a high level.

Reference 9: Here is another variation that White could opt for. After playing 5 and 7, the sequence to 17 is more or less forced. Again White ends up with an overconcentrated position.

Of course there is no telling as how White is going to answer black 2 and 4, but he is in acute danger of getting overconcentrated whatever he does.

I believe that black 9 was to blame for falling behind. After this diagram, Black fought well and White played a few slow moves, which accounts for the fact that White won by only 3-1/2 points.