Alison Props Up Team Against Germany

Germany had been struggling in this year's B-League, but the grades of the team they fielded against the UK suggested this match was likely to go their way. Four interesting games ensued and the top three boards were won by Germany. However Alison Bexfield was the team's star player, with a very entertaining game giving her the only UK win of the evening. The loss meant the team slipped to fourth position with two matches to go.

League Page with game records

Daniel Hu wrote of his game: I lost by resign to Benjamin Teuber after losing a large group at the end. The game was mostly good for my opponent, but within +/- 5 points. This was after I backed down from an early fight, failing to punish an overplay in the lower left joseki and instead sacrificing my stones. The variation on the right was probably questionable, and in several variations I was probably too willing to sacrifice my stones. My sabaki on the lower side turned the game around when my opponent accepted second line territory in his big moyo and I was even able to counter-attack his group in the process. However, I had used up all my time early on and misread a critical shortage of liberties in the centre when trying to cut his groups. I should have just connected my groups and taken profit. The AI says I was still only 4 points behind, but I rapidly collapsed when I took an endgame move rather than defending my two large weak groups. My opponent played accurately enough to kill me.

Alex Kent wrote of his game against Jonas Welticke: I ended up losing by resignation after an exciting game. There was a complicated fight right out of the opening, where I ended up making sabaki and killing a corner in exchange for an area that was already partly owned by my opponent. It's pleasantly surprising that Katago agrees that the result is pretty even! I felt like the game was pretty good for me so perhaps played a bit too peacefully for a while. When my opponent invaded my right area I needed to respond strongly, but this ended up backfiring and the game got very complicated. I think I should probably have died in the centre, but my opponent had used a lot of time early in the game and misplayed it. I was rather relieved when I survived and probably attacked the wrong group in the aftermath, before missing an opportunity to cut off a stone and make the game close again. I then had trouble with a spicy ko in the lower right which I really couldn't fight.

Jamie Taylor wrote of his game against Arved Pittner: I started out getting a bunch of territory in exchange for letting my opponent get a big moyo. My territory was a bit dubious, and I had a sense I was falling behind, then I erased all doubt by dying uselessly in the bottom left due to a misread. I tried to recover with some bold invasions, but they didn't amount to much and I resigned.

Alison Bexfield wrote about her game against Martin Ruzicka: Playing white against a much stronger opponent I had nothing to lose and no pressure on me. So I played a calm opening, setting up a large moyo for me while my opponent mapped out three corner positions. With a large and strong moyo extending out from my bottom left, he cut off some of my stones near the top. I overplayed slightly trying to take them out into the centre while not letting him take too much. He attacked strongly and I was short of half an eye on a thirty stone group, so created a counter attack. I think he made a mistake. It ended in a liberty race where I was ahead, killing 35 of his stones, and he resigned.