Spot The Move - Answers

British Go Journal No. 65. July 1985. Page 27.

Richard Granville

The problems for these solutions are on page 8 of BGJ 64.
This month's problems are on page 5.
The answer to problem 1 may be found on page 26.

The original article used coordinates (such as K10) for most of this article. It has been altered to use marked up diagrams for the EBGJ.

Problem 2 - Marks

Marks for various black moves.

Diagram 4

Problem 2 - Commentary

Diagram X2

Panelists replies:

• E - Jeff Ansell 2k
• E - Andrew Daly 3d
• D - Toby Manning 2d
• A etc - Matthew Macfadyen 6d
• K - Francis Roads 3d
• J - Piers Shepperson 3d
• F - John Smith 2d

Shepperson sums up the nub of this position: "The main problem seems to be for black to find the best sequence in the bottom right-hand corner." Unfortunately the panel does not agree which moves are best, while the British Champion doesn't consider it worthwhile to think too hard about the issue.

Macfadyen: "The top left corner is small - if white extends down the side, black can easily live at the top, while if white plays at the top, black can approach from the outside, which is probably what he would do given first move there."

"So it seems normal for black to play a joseki in the lower right. Black has facing stones in both directions so he doesn't mind a fight. I suggest that he should choose one of the moves in that area that are marked in Dia 4. I can imagine myself choosing any of them, and can't find a clear reason for rejecting any either."

I suspect that there is indeed little to choose between the various possibilities. In the actual game I played the two-space pincer at A, and the continuation was reasonable for both sides. But here are the panel's ideas.

Manning: "The three possible moves are B, C and D. Of the three, D - or a point thereabouts - is both a pincer and an extension, and is the best of the three."

Diagram 5 Black K

Roads: "I think that black should play the joseki in Dia 5, and leave the upper edge for later. To make use of his influence white has to play uncomfortably close to the upper right black group. Perhaps white will play 2' at the 3-3 point, but Black can still obtain a reasonable result."

Ansell: "I prefer to play the knight's move at E, after which the standard joseki already played top right can be expected, with black ending in sente."

Daly: "The black stone reduces the value of a pincer for either side, so black should begin with E. The avalanche joseki (black F, white G, etc) can also be considered, since black is happy if white answers F with H."

Diagram 6 Black F

Smith: "Black can just play 1 in Dia 6 with the sequence to 6^* in mind. This gives a close game." However another panelist does not agree.
*BGJ: "the sequence to 11 mind" !

Shepperson: "Black must not fall into the trap of playing 1-5 in Dia 6, where white settles himeself easily on the right-hand side. A pincer is called for using black's thickness above to attack the White stone. I choose J, mainly because I haven't played this joseki for some time, but also because it forces the kind of game that black should be seeking (ie a fight)."

Shepperson's first reason for playing J seems as good as any to adopt in this type of position.

The answer to problem 3 can be found on page 28.