1, 2, 3, (Ren)Go

British Go Journal No. 66. November 1985. Page 28.

Matthew Macfadyen

Black:

Iwata Hajime, 6p, Japan
Don Potter, 4d, Ex-USA
Lauri Paatero, 1d, Finland

White:

Matthew Macfadyen, 6d, UK
John Given, 5d, USA
Bernd-Jan Buit, 3d, NL

The game-file in SGF format.

One page review of Go in Taipei omitted.

A good deal of Go playing and other activities happened outside the main event, and the game given below comes from one of these. It is a rengo (team game) in which each player had three successive moves for his side. This seems to be a highly satidfactory way of playing Go, and is recommended to anyone who wants a light hearted but instructive game.

Figure 1 (1-50)

• White 10: The first problem. It would be best to play at 13, waiting to see how the top corner develops before playing at the bottom.
• Black 19-37: A typical rengo sequence. The black players have three different ideas about how to rescue their group. 37 was played by Iwata, and was designed to help the rest of his team know what to do.
• White 38' should be at 39, since white ends up in bad shape. 40' could be at 41, but then black 40 would make the capture too small.

Figure 2 (50-99)

• White 50, 52, 54: These plays show the advantage of giving each player three moves, they were all played by Buit, and develop a promising attack on the black group. Unfortunately I spoiled it for him with 56, which should be at 57.
• White 62: This play caused much discussion after the game, as to whether it made white magnificently thick or overconcentrated. Iwata approved of it, and confessed that he had considered playing 55' at 62, abandoning the upper group.
• Black 67, 69, 71: Paatero, nominally the weak link in his team, was reponsible for these three brilliant plays which more or less wrapped up the game.
• White 76: The corner group can't be saved directly, and it seemed to be good to force Iwata to make bad shape (I played 76, and had expected 77, which is the only way to stop any fooling around.
• White 80 aims at a big territory in the centre, but it can't be big enough. White should play below 63 and try to live.
• White 92: Last chance. 94 was just a forcing move so that Iwata wouldn't get to answer 96. Black obediently erred with 97 (they should atari above 96 first). But 98 was the final aberration. The other two White players immediately resigned. If 98 had been at 99, there was still a chance of killing the whole black group at the top.