British Championship - Game 2

British Go Journal No. 61. March 1984. Page 8.

Terry Stacey, 5d
White: Black: Matthew Macfadyen, 6d
Time: 3 hours. Komi:5½
The game-file in SGF format.

Game 1 is on page 6.

The second game was played on 15^th October, with Matthew, appearing cool and arrogant, taking white against Terry, quiet and laconic. Andrew Grant was the referee. the comments are by Toby Manning, based on analysis and discussion with other spectators during the game and Matthew afterwards.

Figure 1 (1-41)

• White 12: Immediate interest was generated by this, which is not in any of the standard joseki books (it was recently invented by Korean professionals and came to Europe via Mr Yoo in Cologne).
• White 20: However any intention Matthew might have had of rapidly gaining an advantage with White 12 were overturned with the sequence to 20. The result was obviously good for black (white 8 and black 13 effectively cancel each other out, leaving white 12 as a superfluous stone). Matthew's mistake seemed to be 18; to be consistent with 12 he should play at A.
• Neither of the stones 8 and 13 were dead yet, and the reader should note how black 21 and 25, and white 22 and 26 were designed to reduce the aji remaining in these stones while capturing them on a large scale.
• Black 31-35: Black rapidly used some of this aji by playing 31 and 33, and then cutting at 35. White cannot capture this stone in a ladder due to 31 and 33.

At this point each player had used about 30 minutes.

Figure 2 (42-118) 118 at 68.

• White 42: The exchange of 42 for 43 allows black to strengthen his corner but restricts black's expansion along the lower side - on balance probably worth it.
• Black 49 seemed to be a major mistake - it should be at A. If White protects his group on the side, Black plays at 50 and it does not seem possible for white to kill the corner. Black 49 is too slow since it does not even kill two stones cleanly.
• Black 55' would be better wedging in between 54 and 52^*.
  * BGJ had 56 which is adjacent to 54. 52 seems more likely.
• White 58 was a good counter attack to 57; he cannot simply protect the upper side, since black 60 would become too effective. Play continued naturally up to 64 but black's corner is barely alive.
• Black 65-67: Terry attacked with 65 and 67, but white 68 threatened to play 69, saving the two stones on the side and preparing a counter attack against Black's group 45, 47 etc.

Matthew had now taken one hour and Terry 1 hour 20 minutes.

At this stage a rough count gives Black about 60 points, while White has 50 plus the lower left corner plus the komi. Black therefore needs a successful invasion of the corner without sustaining a major loss elsewhere.

• Black 73 is just a little too loose - it should be one point lower.
• Black 75 successfully invades the corner.
• White 86' could start a ko at 88, but this would be too dangerous - if black won the ko he could continue at 86 himself and kill most of White's stones in the area.
• White now counterattacked against the black group on the lower side, and after Terry's mistake at 99 (it should be 100 or 101), white has enough on the lower side to compensate for his loss in the corner.
• White 116: The sequence to 116 seemed to be an overplay, giving Terry chances to come back - Matthew could not resist the squeeze.

Figure 3 (119-160)

• Black 119 was nicely timed to increase his strength on the upper side - this could be useful in the following fight - but...
• White 124 was a crushingly effectiveway of saving the white group. In all the sequences (including the somewhat despaeate one Terry chose) black has one liberty fewer than white.

After 144 Matthew had taken 1½ hours and looked invincible. Terry had used 2½ hours but is always at his most dangerous when he is behind.

• Black 145 - 149 seemed to the spectators to be the beginning of the end, but it was not to be.
• Black 151 - 153 is a capture which is larger than it looks (worth 19 points). Had White played 151 then 155 would be sente for him.
• White 154, Black 155: Both are sente moves, but 154 is probably bigger.
• White 156 gives the possibility of killing the black group 129, 131 etc or of rescuing the two stones 8 and 12, while black 159 is worth approximately 20 points. However, as Terry was behind it was reasonable to exchange a definite gain at 159 for a potential loss at 156 - and to hope Matthew would make a mistake.

Figure 4a (161-200) BGJ had Fig 4a and 4b as one diagram, Fig 4.

• White 164, Black 165 : Matthew duly erred with 164. This encouraged black 165 which he wanted to play anyway. 164' should simply be at A.
• Black 167: Black retained much of his territory on the left with 167 while white came into the centre, which was rather small. Terry was still a few points behind though.

Figure 4b (201-266) BGJ had Fig 4a and 4b as one diagram, Fig 4. 246 ko at 240, 249 ko at 243, 252 at 240, 255 at 243, 266 connects at 247.

• White 236 was sente, but at the time neither player noticed it. Matthew was the first to spot that 240 starts a ko.
• White 256 had to be ignored by Terry in order to save his group.

Matthew won by 8½. If black 239' had defended at 257, then he would still have won, but only by 2½

Game 3 of the championship is on page 10.