number 184 summer 2018
TRANSCRIPT
Number 184 Summer 2018
Bar Low 2018
EYGC - The Group Meal
British Go Journal 184 Summer 2018
CONTENTSEDITORIAL 2EYGC 2018 - KIEV Martin Harvey 3WORLD NEWS Tony Atkins 8FEELING STUPID Mr Stupid 10A COURSE IN GO – 06 Bob Scantlebury 13PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Toby Manning 17UK NEWS Tony Atkins 20BGA ANNOUNCEMENTS 25SOLUTIONS TO THE NUMBERED PROBLEMS 26ASSOCIATION CONTACT INFORMATION 32COLLECTING GO XXXVII: GRADE BADGES Tony Atkins – Rear Cover
Copyright c© 2018 British Go Association.Articles may be reproduced for the purpose of promoting Go and not forprofit, providing that the British Go Journal is attributed as the sourceand the permission of the Editor and author(s) have been sought andobtained in writing, in advance.Views expressed are not necessarily those of the BGA, nor of the Editor.
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Welcome to the 184th British Go Journal.
In This IssueThe main feature of this edition is an excellent report from Martin Harveyabout the Youth Team’s trip to the EYGC in Kiev. Many of you will alreadyhave seen Martin’s reports on the website and will know what to expect. Thespelling of Ukraine’s capital is a somewhat controversial issue, as you can seefrom the cover logo which uses the transliteration ’Kyiv’. The jury is out.There is an article we can all relate to by an anonymous Go player who callsthemselves “Mr Stupid” – even strong players are sometimes guilty of makingreal howlers!After a brief pause in the last couple of journals, I have continued my serieson Go for Double Digit Kyu players. I know I am in danger of “teaching mygrandmother to suck eggs”, as the phrase has it, but hopefully there will besome new principles of Go for some players.It has been some time since we had a game review in the journal. Can I ask thatif anyone has a game record and a volunteer to review it, they get in touch withme in the usual way? We can all learn from such an exercise no matter whatlevel the game was played at.
Bob Scantlebury
Credits
My thanks to the many people who have helped to produce this Journal:Contributions: Tony Atkins, Paul Barnard, Martin Harvey, Liu Yajie, TobyManning, Ian Marsh, Mike Medaglia, and Bob ScantleburyPhotographs: Front cover, EYGC 2018 (Kiev) logo. All other photographs inthis edition were provided by the article authors or sourced from the BGAwebsite.Proofreading: Tony Atkins, Rich Bentley, Barry Chandler, Mike Cockburn,Brent Cutts, Martin Harvey, Richard Hunter, Pat Ridley, and Nick Wedd.
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EYGC 2018 - KIEVMartin Harvey [email protected]
UK Youth team at the 23rd EYGC, inKievReaders may have seen the four reportsthat I posted ’live’ to BritGo in March1.The story here builds on those reports,whilst taking a look back in more detailat how the 3,000-mile round trip wasplanned, how it went and how we allenjoyed it. For those who may not know,the European Go Youth Championshipis an annual youth tournament which,like the adult-inclusive EGC, movesto a different European country eachyear. FYI, its last UK appearance was atBognor Regis in 2014.
Asked to be Team CoachesIt was a great honour for my wife andme – tinged with some trepidationdue to Ukraine’s much-publicisedproblems on its SE border – to beasked by the BGA to lead the UKYouth group to Kiev this March.This followed on from my headingup the team for Grenoble the yearbefore. Helen and I wondered howmany parents could be persuaded toovercome apparent difficulties, andallow their children to travel so far,to a country in a real battle with itsneighbour. This would not be as easya ’sell’ as Grenoble had been!The BGA took the decision at theoutset that our players should haveone hotel as a base for the squad, andthis worked out well. Some parentswere put off sending their kids, butCheadle Hulme School (CHS) – whereHelen and I volunteer – again sawfour lads travel. These were threeof the four lads I took to France
(encouragingly) and one replacement.Also flying from Manchester werethree CHS girls, encouraged by Helenbeing able to take time off to join usthis year. Completing the UK squadwere a lad and lass from the South-East and – last but not least – our onlydan-player, Jayden Cheung, fromHong Kong but attending schoolin the UK. So, we’d mustered tenyoungsters – quite pleasing, as thatmatched the team size we had inGrenoble last year which was, incomparison, a mere ’hop over theChannel’ to a country and languagewith which many of we Brits arefamiliar and fond.
Four Mums went too
We were delighted that a mother oftwo of the CHS seven (Shirley Jones)travelled too, joined three days laterby three more mums from the SE –Caris Cheung, Alison Bexfield andAndrea Smith. We all managed tobook into Hotel Salut, a mere two-minute walk to the event venue – the’Children’s Palace’. This proximitymade us feel more comfortablelooking after our charges.
The event this year had pleasinglydoubled in length; still the samethree days of play (so, six rounds)but preceded by three days of host-organised sightseeing and workshops.The seven CHS kids were allowedto skip the last two-and-a-half daysof term, to enjoy these three days’acclimatisation, and some of theUkrainian capital’s impressive
1http://www.britgo.org/views/news
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historical sights and places – good forgeography and history anyway!
Arriving in the capitalAlong the trip from the airport, theteam encountered mounds of snow,as it was still freezing overnight inlate March. Also strange, of course,were the signs – mostly in Cyrillic –plus Ukrainian and Russian words.Shirley and CHS’s Jack had both beenstudying local spelling, and Jackpointed out a sign for me for us totranslate, having told us that their His our N, and their P is our R. It wasnice to be able to do modest decoding!
UK Youth Team in Kiev
On the first of the three pre-competition days, Natasha – a Kievresident and part-organiser of thetournament – kindly took us on atour of the wonderful, quaint anddeep metro; we also climbed the belltower at St. Sophia’s monastery andate near the Maidan square. The UKcontingent was grateful to Natashaas she’d also come to pick us up atthe airport, and greatly facilitatedour hotel and other planning, withher great English. We were pleased tomeet her two sons, who played in the
EYGC. That afternoon we joined 40Ukrainian children for a Go lecturefrom Artem Kachanovskyj2, thegenial Ukrainian 1-dan professional– clearly popular with the country’syoung players. After that, seven UKyoungsters, two Ukrainians and oneRussian played simultaneous gamesagainst Artem and, although he wonthem all, he gave players some goodtips on their play.The second day, we attended anotherArtem lecture, then played UKvs Ukraine friendlies, which werecorded, for analysis and reviewlater by UK coaches Martin and HelenHarvey and by the strongest players,all great practice for competition daysahead. There, we’d be outnumberedand outranked by Ukrainian andRussian players, but the event isanother great opportunity for allthe group of top UK youngstersto improve their Go skills, whilstteam-bonding and experiencingnew cultures in one of the furthestEuropean countries from home.
Proudly sporting their hoodies
Following Michael PortilloThe highlight of the 3rd day, apartfrom some Go reviews, was ourtourist trip emulating Michael
2http://www.europeangodatabase.eu/EGD/Player Card.php?&key=12662870
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Portillo’s experience from his “GreatContinental Railway Journeys” TVseries3.Thus we derived a huge amountof exercise, walking to and roundPechersk Lavra, the “Monastery of theCaves”. This is Kiev’s World HeritageSite4.The Orthodox Christian monasterydates from the 11th century, andboasts many fine ornate buildingsspread over a large area. There, weadmired the inside of the Saint SophiaCathedral and, candle-holding likePortillo, we followed his footstepsdown into the underground Caves, tosee preserved remains of 12th centurysaints. Later, we all climbed up atopthe Great Lavra Belltower. It’s oneof the most notable features of theKiev skyline, and afforded us veryfine views over the capital and acrossthe River Dnieper.
The remaining three squad members,and their respective mothers, arrivedsafely on Wednesday afternoon, theeve of the main tournament. We allwent to by now our favoured pizzarestaurant, so the new arrivals couldget to know the early-birds.
Opening Ceremony, thenTournament proper (six rounds overthree full days)The tournament was kicked offsplendidly with an elaborate openingceremony. This featured firstly a longand colourful Chinese dragon, thena superb circus troupe of youngsters.There were gymnasts, trapeze artistsand girls climbing up silk ropes, thenacrobatically spinning back down; allvery well rehearsed.
Then onto the stage came variousUkrainian dignitaries, for whomArtem did some translation intoEnglish as they welcomed allparticipants, wishing them good luckand enjoyable games.Next came the first of the day’s games.For the UK, girl power ruled inthe morning, with all four femaleswinning their games. This put thelads to shame, as only Jayden outof the six won. In the second roundin the afternoon, sisters Amy andMegan won again, with Zaki andDaniel picking up their first wins,leaving the UK on a creditable ninewins out of twenty thus far, againststrong opposition.
Team UK’s HQThe BGA this year, as last, isbenefiting from generous sponsorshipfrom England’s own famous AIcompany DeepMind5.As all know in the world Gocommunity, DeepMind createdAlphaGo and its successors, theall-conquering Go software. Thus,the BGA was able to allocate a not-insignificant amount towards theteam’s expenses, to support theyoungsters’ trip. Part of this wenttowards Helen and me having a largesuite rather than an ordinary room.This meant that, walled off from ourbedroom, we enjoyed a large lounge.This was, by our design, a big boonfor Team UK, as the whole squadgathered there a few times per day.We used it as a gathering point, andfor some simple meals.The team had also kept paper recordsof their games, meaning we wereable to use the lounge additionally,
3https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b3pd0m4https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev Pechersk Lavra5https://deepmind.com/
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to give some review/analysis teachingfeedback to nearly all players. Thosegiving such well-received feedbackwere Alison Bexfield (squad captain),plus coaches and strong players. Thefinal use of the team lounge, at theend of each day, was for the six adults.Once the kids were safely in theirrooms for the night, we six gatheredto discuss how the current day’s Goand sightseeing went, and to plan thenext day. And – would you believe it– we managed the odd glass of wineat that point – well, we all felt we’ddeserved it after each pretty long andfull day!
Rounds 3 and 4In the morning, the spoils went to ourfive U20 (under age 20) players, asfour won, and the loser was playingagainst one of our own! So we havenobody now on 100%, meaning ofcourse that virtually all our playersare correctly graded.It is important to play in tournamentsfrequently enough to stay ’well-calibrated’, and inter-country gameshelp countries’ grades align around acommon European ’norm’.The U16s had a round of – shall wesay – ’learning opportunities’! Thesewere capitalised on over lunch backat Team UK HQ, with the usual game-reviews by stronger UK Go-players.We had no players in the U12 groupthis year.In Round 4 the girls did well, withthree winning, leaving Megan andAmy happy on three wins out of four.The lads won 2.5/5, with Zaki alsonow on 3/4. It snowed all afternoon –a nice backdrop.So, after two days’ play, the UK had asatisfying 15.5 wins, to 13.5 defeats.Some mums went via the metro ona morning recce to the funicular,
checking out possible restaurants forevening meals. In the evening we tookthe metro four stops. This gave us agood view of the Dnieper River – verywide at this point – as it flows throughKiev, on its way down from Russia,south to the Black Sea.Then we all went round the aquarium,seeing lots of weird, wonderful andcolourful fish – even an alligator!
At the aquarium
We ended the evening with a groupmeal out. A nice meal except that thechef was surely not a Ukrainian, ashe/she needed two attempts to get theChicken Kiev cooked throughout !
Rounds 5 and 6Whilst the final day may have beenonly marginally positive, with 10.5wins to 9.5 losses, we were delightedto finish up, with 26 wins to 23 defeats– a good improvement on last year’sEYGC in Grenoble. Considering thestill very young squad we can bevery happy, as the bulk of the teamwill be young enough to play in theircurrent age groups for quite someyears yet. All our players won at leasttwo games out of six. This includesour joint-youngest player Edmund,who, despite a confidence-drainingstart of four losses, showed strength ofcharacter to win both his final rounds.
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Overall, the girls faired better than thelads, with three of them winning fourout of six – sisters Amy and Megan,and their schoolmate Lizzy.After round 6 the UK squad joinedthe other 199 players for a large groupphoto.
Team with new UK mascot: walrusMaggie
Then came the closing ceremony —not that the UK had prize-winners, asour young team doesn’t have stellarplayers just yet and we all entered onpretty much our correct grades.To complete the evening, we enjoyeda farewell Chinese meal near thehotel, but I dare not say what lengthswe went to to reach the restaurantwhich turned out to be ’just round thecorner’!
Flying home...stronger at Go, andwith many memoriesAs tour planes climbed into theclouds, I’m sure we were all lookingback on our trip, and surely thinking”onwards and upwards!” for UKYouth.We had collective satisfaction at howthe results went, and were takinghome many good memories of ourtrip to Kiev.
It had been a great opportunity for209 youngsters from across Europe tomix, have fun, see other cultures, hearAND see strange languages – and ofcourse improve their Go playing.
It had also been a great chance for UKplayers to get to know their Squadleader – Alison Bexfield – better.Indeed, she’d taken the opportunityto watch several of their gamesand review them with the playersinvolved.
Still to come in 2018 we had manymore dates for youth Go. Principalamongst these is the SummerResidential — also kindly sponsoredby DeepMind, as was last year’sinaugural camp. Then there’s thetwo annual tourneys: July’s UK GoChallenge Finals and November’sBritish Youth Go Championship. Plustwo on-line competitions — the BGAOn-line League and the EuropeanYouth Go Team Championship.
Yes - a very satisfying Go trip allround6.
Team and coaches in their Deepmindhoodies
6http://www.britgo.org/news/2018/kiev4
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WORLD NEWSTony Atkins [email protected]
Pandanet
A great win in the eighth round on18th April - against the strong third-place team from the Netherlands -saw the UK guaranteed second placein the B League of the Pandanet GoEuropean Team Championship, unlessthere was an upset by Turkey againsttop team Germany in the last round.Andrew Simons lost to Gilles vanEeden. He made some errors in timetrouble causing him to fall behindand ended up resigning. HoweverAlex Kent ended up winning hisgame against Frank Janssen byresignation after a corner group died.Chris Bryant won his against GeertGroenen by a few points in a difficultgame, not helped by feeling unwell.Sandy Taylor also won by resignation,against Gelmer Bouwman, in a gamethat swung back and forth.
On the 22nd May the ninth and lastround of the season saw the UKbeat Sweden, again three gamesto one. This left the British total atan impressive seven wins and twodraws, in the play-off position behindGermany (who easily beat Turkey).Andrew Simons won by resignationagainst Martin Li in under two hours.Andrew used a computer-inspiredopening, found a cute little tesujiin time trouble and did not lose hisattacked corner. Chris Bryant beatErik Ouchterlony by 5.5 points aftera big trade left him still ahead. DesCann lost his game against AntonChristenson, but Jamie Taylor beatMarc Stoehr when Marc messed up ako fight.
Having finished second in the BLeague our team had to play a best-of-five promotion play-off againstthe second bottom A League team.At first it was thought this was goingto be Serbia, but Italy had their lostpoints reinstated after the allegationsof using computer assistance wereoverturned. Unfortunately, shortnotice at exam period meant someof our top players were unavailable,but the five players we did fielddefinitely stood a chance of winningtheir way to the A League, being notcompletely outranked. The first twoboards were played on 29th May,which were both won by Italy, andso the UK had to win all three games aweek later on 5th June. Chris Bryantlost his game against Carlo Mettaby resignation, feeling completelyoutclassed, but Sandy Taylor’s gameagainst Davide Minieri was veryclose, losing by 3.5 points, after a longgame. Alex Kent lost his game againstAlessandro Pace by resignation aftermisreading a semeai. Jon Diamondalso had to resign after mishandlingthe centre and top fighting againstTashi Walde. Andrew Simons lost toMatias Pankoke by 14.5 points in thelast game to finish. Andrew made ahuge moyo in which his opponentstarted to play. These managed to liveon a big scale, whilst Matia kept twobig corners, and Andrew could notcatch up. This left the final result aloss by five games to none and the UKremains in the B League next season.
Ireland ended sixth in the D Leaguewith two wins (against Iceland andMorocco), three draws (Kazakhstan,
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Cyprus and Belarus) and threelosses (to Portugal and top D Leagueteams Slovenia and Greece). Thestar performer for Ireland was KevinFarrell (6k) who was the one to getlucky and happy an amazing seventimes out of eight.Bulgaria won the C League, butsecond placed Lithuania lost toDenmark in the promotion play-off.The teams at the top of A League,heading for the over-the-boardfinals in Pisa, are Russia, Ukraine,France and Poland (on tie-break fromRomania).
WAGCAfter a few years in othercountries the World Amateur GoChampionships returned to Japan.The 39th edition had the restaurantreview website Gurunami as itssponsor, and was being held at theNihon Ki-in in Tokyo. 61 players fromaround the world took part between4th and 7th May.As expected after four rounds it wasthe big four that were unbeaten:Japan, China, Korea and ChineseTaipei; but several of the top European
players were on three wins and somewent on to finish in the top ten. Afterall eight rounds it was Chan Yi-Tienof Chinese Taipei who was unbeatento win the title. Kim Sangcheon ofKorea was second with seven wins.The next group all had six wins: ChenWang of China, Stanislaw Frejlak ofPoland, Fukashi Murakami of Japan,Juri Kuronen of Finland, Dusan Miticof Serbia and Jose Islas (aka AbrahamFlorencia1) of Mexico.The UK’s representative, BritishChampion Daniel Hu, ended on fourwins and in 26th place out of 61. Helost to Dmitry Surin of Russia, beatJose Islas and then Stjepan Mestrovicof Croatia, but lost to StanislawFrejlak. In the last four rounds he beatFrank Hestvik from Norway, lost toJuri Kuronen, beat Willem Pomstra ofthe Netherlands and lost to WichrichKaruehawanit of Thailand.Ireland’s Michael Thai ended withthree wins in 48th. He beat TheodorNedev of Bulgaria, but then lost to theplayers from Denmark, Indonesia andCroatia, before beating Azerbaijan,losing to Portugal and Brazil, andfinally beating Chile.
PROBLEM 1
Black to play and capturethe cutting stones
1See “Go Congress in Mexico” in BGJ 182
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FEELING STUPIDMr Stupid
Diagram 1
A sad but true storyWe’ve all been there. It might be thatyou played away from a group on therun, knowing that if your opponentenclosed your group, you could makea second eye. And they enclosedyour group, so you played your pre-prepared move, only to see it refutedby the most mind-bogglingly simpleand obvious response.Duh!Or maybe you played a sentemove, only to see it ignored asyour opponent played a big movesomewhere else, so you played yourfollow up, only to find that it wascomplete rubbish, and your opponentplayed somewhere else again.Or you counted liberties, but failedto see that one on the other side, anddied horribly having not played theobvious move which would haveworked.Or the ultimate classic of puttingyourself in atari.There are obviously many situationsthat can cause you to feel reallystupid. But it is unusual for any givenblunder to make you feel stupid
twice. I have just played a game andmanaged to feel stupid about the samething four times.It happened at the British Congress.My opponent (Black) had twoshimaris facing each other on theleft side of the board, with a stoneon the mutual 10-4 point as an idealextension from each. I felt I neededto invade both sides of the 10-4 point,and duly played a few hopeful stonesdeep in this enormous moyo. Notsurprisingly, Black kept my stonesseparated and set about attackingthem.I managed to make an eye for onegroup, and by threatening to contrivea second, I managed to connect underthe 10-4 stone and link my two groupsalong the edge of the board. But Ionly had one eye. Now under seriousattack I was chased out a bit, andthen capped. I ran the only way Icould, across the top of the 10-4 stone,which now had a few stones with it.I had the beginnings of a counter-attack! My opponent played on theoutside as much as he could, buildingup central influence. Maybe I couldreally get away with this! Now I wasthreatening to enclose his group at the10-4 point, and I expected him to runit to the nearby shimari. I would runwith it, and there would be a goodchance of getting my group out. Buthe didn’t run it out; instead, witha couple of peeks and pokes and aplacement, he formed a two-eyedgroup.I was desperate to connect mygroup to some friendly stones, andI carried out my threat to enclosehis group, and in so doing, connect
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to some white stones that werethere. I felt relief, and immediatelystarted worrying about the centralinfluence my opponent had builtup. Amazingly, it was not until afew moves later that I realised thatall I had done was complete a circlearound his group and connect to theother end of my own group. But hisgroup was alive, and I had taken goteto complete the encirclement. I feltpretty stupid; while going round incircles he had been playing influentialmoves on the outside. What had Iachieved by penning him in?
Diagram 2
Never mind, the game went on fora few more moves. Then suddenlyI had a major realisation. Yes, I hadconnected my group head to tail,but so what? How could I havehallucinated that connecting tothe other end of my group solvedanything? It still only had one eye!Yes, it had a few false eyes, but unlessit was a seki situation - and this wasn’t- it would seem to need two realeyes, and the false eyes were, well,false. I felt stupid again, but this time,monumentally stupid! If this groupdied, there was no way I could win.But maybe, just maybe, I could catchthat black stone and scrabble a secondeye.....With unseemly haste, and gote again, Imanaged to catch the target stone and
get a second eye, and the game wenton. Remarkably, I managed to win bya very small margin.It had been the last game of the day,and I headed home. It was only abouthalf an hour after the end of the game,as I trundled up the M32, that I hadanother realisation and felt stupidall over again – the third time now!I hadn’t needed to make my secondeye - because of the peculiar situation,one of my false eyes acted as a realeye. See Diagram 1 (illustrative, notthe game position) - Black could nevercapture anything at A, nor force me toplay there. What an idiot I had been!I groaned at myself for another coupleof miles, but was just managing toshake off the feeling of stupidity- I had won, after all - when I hadanother realisation and a fresh boutof feeling stupid. My group had beena double-headed dragon, and I hadn’teven needed one eye! How could Ihave not realised? It may be a veryrare beast, but surely famous enoughto recognise when presented in frontof you?See Diagrams 2 and 3 for anothercouple of examples.Deep, deep, sigh...
Diagram 3
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A COURSE IN GO – 06Bob Scantlebury [email protected]
Diagram 1
Strong GroupsThe essence of a strong group is thatit is difficult, if not impossible, tokill. This means it must have twoeyes already, or be able to make twoeyes fairly easily. To this end it willtypically consist of several stones(not just two or three) which are allconnected and make good shape. Inthis case by shape I mean there mustbe two or more ‘proto-eyes’; patternsof stones which very nearly make eyesas they stand.The white corner group containing�in Diagram 1 is an example of a stronggroup.Strong groups are secure bases fromwhich you can expand, and surroundand secure more territory. It is agood idea to make all your groupsstrong as soon as you can, thoughsometimes this is not easy and it maybe necessary from a strategic pointof view to have one or two weak orweaker groups on the board.In the early stages most of yourgroups will of course be weak. You
should aim to make your weak groupsstronger as the game moves on, and ifyou can do this whilst keeping senteso much the better.It is important that your stronggroups are useful to you by havingan influence on the board as a whole.Try at almost any cost, short of losingthe group altogether, to avoid beingtotally enclosed so that the groupis cut off from the rest of the board.About the only exception to this isthe 3-3 invasion which often endsup being shut in but at least deprivesyour opponent of the corner territory.
Weak GroupsThe converse of a strong group is aweak group, characterised by havingfew stones (perhaps just one or two)which are poorly connected, have badshape (being heavy or clumpy) andlittle or no space for eyes. Such groupsare prime targets for your opponentto attack and are in urgent need ofdefence. But whilst it is desirable toavoid making weak groups it cansometimes be necessary, for instancewhen invading potential territoryclaimed by one’s adversary.If you do have a weak group, youshould try to avoid creating a ‘dragon’– a shapeless group with fewer thantwo eyes, that is mercilessly houndedthroughout the middle game, andwhich, even if it eventually lives,results in your opponent gaining somuch territory or power that it losesyou the game. Rather than making adragon, you should exploit existingaji (potential) and employ the lightand skilful play called sabaki, perhapseven sacrificing one or two stones forthe greater good.
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For examples of weak groups, see thewhite group containing�, and theblack group containing , in Diagram1. As both groups are weak it is a fairfight.
Relative Importance of StonesNot all stones on the board are ofequal importance. Do not treat everystone you have played as if it shouldbe retained at all costs. Ask yourself ifthe stone or stones have already donetheir job and are now redundant. Dothey surround territory or do theyhave influence? Or could they begiven up with little or no cost?
If they can be sacrificed, can they yetstill serve a purpose and be made useof even though they may be captured?For instance, as mentioned in the lastsection, could they be used to helpa dragon or a weak group to makeshape or an eye, or to connect out to aliving group?
At the other end of the spectrum arestones which make up thickness; astrong group which radiates poweracross the board by virtue of havingwalls of stones without cutting points.Such power can be used to attackby pushing your adversary’s stonestowards it, and can be a haven towardwhich to run if your own stones are introuble.
Diagram 2
TradingTrading is not a well known or talkedabout idea especially with beginners.It is a fairly simple concept that onegives up stones and/or territory inone part of the board in exchangefor making a similar gain somewhereelse. If you can gain more in one areathan you have given up in the firstarea then so much the better. Butsometimes it is simply that you areseeking compensation for a loss that itis difficult, if not impossible, to avoid.Once again, you should be mindfulthat such trades are often possible,and you should not be too attachedto any particular group of stones. Youwill find, as you come across morejoseki, that some of them are tradejoseki and worth taking note of.
Diagram 3
An example of trade is given inDiagram 3, which is a variation onthe 3-3 invasion joseki started inDiagram 2. After the double hane of� in Diagram 2, White plays� and, threatening a double atari at.Then White trades the corner for theupper side which might be because itis more profitable.Trade is a fairly advanced weapon inthe stronger player’s arsenal. It needsto be used judiciously and when it iseither profitable or a way out of whatwould otherwise be a big loss.
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Diagram 4
ThicknessThickness is another word for stonesin strong groups which have walls,eyes and good shape. They are hardto attack and their influence can beused to launch attacks of one’s ownto capture stones or create territory.
However thickness should not beused to create territory directly; theterritory will arise incidentally whenone uses the power of the stones toattack.An example of a thick group is thewhite group in the upper left inDiagram 4.
Thickness radiates its power acrossthe board and it is wise to avoidplaying too close to thickness. Thisis equally true for both sides. Youavoid playing close to your ownthickness because it is not efficientand you avoid playing close to youropponents thickness because you willcome under attack.Your aim should be to build thicknessquickly and economically; growing awall or extending to create eye space.And if you can do this whilst harryingyour opponent and keeping sente, somuch the better.
EXPLANATION OF JAPANESE TERMS
Where space permits, less-common terms are explained in footnotes.If no explanation is provided then take a look at:
www.britgo.org/general/definitions
www.britgo.org/bgj/glossary
or search senseis.xmp.net/?JapaneseGoTerms.
Please let the Editor know if the term is still not found. One of theexperts can then write an article to explain it. ,
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PROBLEM 3
Black to play and kill
˜ ˜ ˜
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE JOURNAL
The copy date for the next issue of the Journal is 27th August.Contributions are welcome at any time. Please send them [email protected]. The Editor will be glad to discuss the suitabilityof any material you may have in mind.The BGA website has guidelines at www.britgo.org/bgj/guidelinesfor those wishing to contribute material.
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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGEToby Manning [email protected]
During June (and the last weekof May) we had four weekendtournaments in five weeks, in London,Durham, Edinburgh and Barmouth,with just under 100 people attendingat least one of the events. I wasfortunate to be able to attend threeof them.Each of them was notable for thesocial side of the event, with eventson the Saturday evening; Londonand Barmouth had organised groupmeals, Durham a barbeque while atEdinburgh the film ‘The SurroundingGame’ was shown. I believe thisemphasises an important aspect of ourwork; Go is not solely about playinggames, it is about the social side aswell.It was clear that a good time washad by those attending – can weencourage more people to attend theseevents?
Cheating?A disturbing issue has arisen fromthe Pandanet Go European Team
Championship (an internationalLeague played on-line), as an Italianplayer was accused of cheating by anIsraeli; a large number of the Italianplayers’s moves were identical tothose predicted by one of the strongestavailable apps, ‘Leela Go’.The evidence was purely statistical(even I will sometimes get the samemove as the App), but the refereeruled that cheating had taken place,a decision that was then reversedon appeal. For those interestedthere has been significant debate inthe forum ‘Life in 19x19’ about thecorrect application of these statistics.However, at time of writing there arestories that there is a further ‘appealagainst the appeal’, and we awaitdevelopments.It is sad – but perhaps inevitable – thatthis issue has arisen within Go.
GDPRMany of you were deluged bymessages under the ‘GDPR’regulations in late May, asking forpermission to continue to send youadvertising. You may wonder whyyou have not received anything fromus.The advice we have received is thatthe new regulations do not coverdata and communications whichare classified as ‘normal businesspractices’. The only data which wecollect and hold about you is thatwhich you would expect for anorganisation like the BGA. Your datais not shared with third parties. Moreinformation is available on the websiteat www.britgo.org/policy/policies14.
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THE BGA ANALYST [email protected]
I would like to remind BGA members about the Analysis Service.
Would it be helpful to have your games analysed?
If you think it might, just send me an .sgf file of a representative gameby email; I usually return the annotated game within a week.
Many Go players become stuck at one particular level and end upplaying essentially the same type of game over and over again. Thatis fine if you are happy to just enjoy playing, but if you have the desireto improve, then you will probably need to learn to ‘see’ the game in adifferent way.
I try to pitch my comments to the level of the player; never too technical,because there are many reference guides available for joseki and life anddeath. I pick out two or three positions where I feel the individual playerwould benefit from looking at the game slightly differently.
Hopefully, one day this leads to a eureka moment, ‘Ah, I get it’.
Paul Barnard
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UK NEWSTony Atkins [email protected]
British Go CongressThe 51st British Go Congress was heldin Bristol and the very modern FutureInns Hotel, just across from the CabotCircus shopping centre in the middleof the city.
It started on Friday 6th April with anafternoon teaching session and thenthe British Open Lightning in theevening. This was won by Alex Kent(3d); he beat the previous winner,Xunrui Zhao (3d) from London, intosecond place.However in the 58-player BritishOpen, played as usual on the Saturdayand Sunday, it was Xunrui Zhao whotriumphed, scoring victories in allsix games. In second place was JonDiamond (3d) from East Sussex andthird was Sandy Taylor (2d) from thelocal club. Winning five games wereRichard Bentley (3k), from Durham,Ai Guan (6k) and Chun Yin Wong(10k), both from Lancaster. The top-placed Single Digit and Double DigitKyu, on fewer than five games, werealso rewarded: Paul Smith (1k) andSongbai Wang (10k). All the abovereceived BGC engraved medals.As usual the AGM of the Associationwas held on the Saturday evening andthe tournament was the last roundof the annual Stacey Grand Prix;in a vital last-round contest, TobyManning beat Alistair Wall to take thetrophy by 27 points to 25.
Candidates’The Candidates’ Tournament startedon 5th May at the London Go Centre,continuing over the three days of thebank holiday weekend as usual. SamAitken and Boris Mitrovic headed
the field of 18 players with five winseach out of six. They were promotedthrough to Challengers’ League,along with Andrew Simons, CharlesHibbert, Alex Rix, Alistair Wall andTim Hunt, who won four, and SamBithell, who creditably topped thelist on three. Note that eight playerswere promoted through this year sinceDaniel Hu, who was in Japan at thetime for the World Amateur, electednot to defend his title and not take uphis place in the League.
Candidates’ 2018
Bar LowAlongside the Candidates’ the LondonGo Centre hosted the 21st Bar Lowtournament on Sunday 6th May. Thetournament is designed to give kyuplayers their chance to win an eventand also for those lower down thegrades to try a tournament with lesspressure than a normal open event, ithaving five rapid games. It achievedits objectives having 29 players, downas far as 24k, over half below 10k, sixnewcomers and several youngsters.As a result of anonymous sponsorshipthe Centre was able to offer a numberof prizes as well as certificates.Winning the top cash prize wasPeikai Xue (2k CLGC) and second
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was Alasdair Clarke (5k), who justbeat Michael Kyle (4k Manchester)into third by winning their game inthe last round. Yue Wen (9k CLGC)and Alexander Hsieh (9k Cambridge)won all five games; Lueming Yang(17k Oxford) and Caleb Monk (20kKings College Juniors) won four.Winning a box of chocolates for thebest result at a first tournament wasMaks Gajowniczek (5k CLGC). Finallyanyone who looked young enoughto deserve them won a large bag ofchocolate counters.
Bracknell Final 2018
BracknellThe Bracknell Tournament onSunday 13th May was held as usualat Woosehill Community Centrein Wokingham. Gong Cheng (3dLondon City) won, beating MinYang (3d Oxford) in the final. Of the29 players taking part in the event,those who won all three games wereNeil Cleverly (10k Bournemouth)and Lueming Yang (16k Oxford).The Team Prize was won by theyoungsters of ‘I like lunch’ and PaulBarnard was the winner of the Gopuzzle competition. Organiser IanMarsh claimed to be the winner in the13x13 side event as nobody played init.
WGC Winner: Min Yang (R)
Welwyn Garden City
On a warm Saturday 19th May, 20players defied the clamour to watchthe Royal Wedding and the FA CupFinal by playing Go at the BridgeCentre in Welwyn Garden City’sGosling Stadium. The overall winnerwas Min Yang (3d Oxford), whoincluded Lucretiu Calota (4d) inhis list of conquered. Also winningthree games were Edmund Smith(5k Cambridge), Aorja Harris (12kLetchworth), and Theodor Calota(16k St Albans). Prizes were presentedby Sheila Gabriel, deputy chair of theBridge Club.
Manchester SummerThanks to Peter Yim’s contacts, theBank of East Asia in Manchester’sChinatown allowed use of their topfloor for a new Manchester SummerTournament on Sunday 20th May.On a hot day this had the advantageof a shaded balcony space, whichalso allowed inspection of the GreatManchester Run in which Sir MoFarah was running (and winning).Aimed at providing a summer term
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event for local children, 22 playerstook part including local adults, agroup from Lancaster and two fromLondon. Unfortunately the plan forMartin Harvey to use a computerdraw failed and a manual drawensued with several oddities inpairings and handicaps as a result, butall mistakes were cheerily accepted bythe entrants.
Manchester Summer Winner (R)
Playing in his second event of theweekend the winner was AlistairWall (1d Wanstead) as expected,competition not being as hard as atWelwyn. Alistair also kindly reviewedgames and well earned his threebottles of wine prize. Two otherplayers won prizes for winning allthree games, namely Chun Yin Wong(9k Lancaster Royal Grammar School)and Emmanuel Ren (15k ManchesterUniversity). Fighting Spirit prizeswent to Isaac Vincent (31k CheadleHulme School), Adrian Abrahams(9k Lancaster) and Matt Arnold(16k Manchester), for carrying onregardless. There were even somechocolates and sweets left for playerswho had won two games.
Challengers’The eight-player Challengers’ Leaguegot underway at the London GoCentre on Saturday 26th May. Theplayers, selected at the Candidates’Tournament earlier in the month,played an all-play-all to find the twochallengers to play the British titlematch later in the year. After the firstday it was Sam Aitken and CharlesHibbert who were on two wins. Onone win were Alex Rix, AndrewSimons (who lost to Charles), BorisMitrovic and Sam Bithell. Alistair Walland Tim Hunt were yet to score. Theepic game of the second round wasBoris Mitrovic against Sam Bithell,which lasted for an hour and a quarterof overtime and saw Sam (1k) beatingBoris (2d).The League continued over the bankholiday until the Tuesday. Goinginto the final round, Sam Aitken hadwon all his games, but there werepermutations which could have led totie breaks and any of Andrew Simons,Alex Rix and Boris Mitrovic endingup with second place. In the end,Alex lost his game to Sam Bithelland Andrew beat Boris, meaningthat Andrew took second place onfive wins with no need for a play-off. Alex was third with four wins,Boris, Charles and Sam Bithell wonthree, Alistair two and Tim one. SamAitken, who also won his last game,and Andrew Simons will next play inthe title match games to decide thisyear’s British Championship.
Not the London OpenOver the first three days of theChallengers’ League, the LondonGo Centre also hosted the first Notthe London Open Tournament. 22players took part, but not all everyday. Winner was Weijin Chen (5dLondon) with six out of six. Second
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was Finland’s Jesse Savo (4d) with fivewins and Zihe Zhao (4d Oxford) camethird. Czech player Jan Adamek (10k)won five games, Alexandre Kirchherr(6k) won four and Sebastian Pountney(7k) won four out of five.On the Saturday evening theorganisers showed the documentarymovie ‘The Surrounding Game’,which follows the quest for thefirst American Go professional.Appropriately, also at the eventwas Pavol Lisy, who was the firstEuropean Go professional, analysinggames and giving lectures. They alsoheld a small lightning tournament onthe Sunday evening to complete a fullweekend.
British Pair GoOn Saturday 2nd June the 38th BritishPair Go Championships was held,as the last few years, at the RedLion in Hatfield, who always makeus welcome and sell a good lunch.Sixteen pairs played, split as usualinto two sections, and it was againpleasing to see so many youngplayers in the handicap group. Toselect the top Championship groupit looked like the three pairs at 3.5 kyuwould have to be split, but in the endthe pair of Yansai Noeysoongnoenand Andrew Simons sadly had towithdraw because of illness.The battle for first place was thenexpected to be between three formerchampion pairs and a pair of strongChinese from London. HoweverAlison and Simon Bexfield beat KirstyHealey and Matthew Macfadyen,and then beat Xiao Yu Gong and HoYeung Woo to reach the final. JoanneLeung and Bruno Poltronieri beatNatasha Regan and Matthew Cocke,to also reach the final. After a tough
game, it was Joanne and Bruno whobecame the champions for the secondtime. They also won the best-dressedpair prize and also a prize for scoring30/60 in the media studies film quiz.
The final of the Handicap groupwas between young Zoe Waltersplaying with Paul Smith and a pairof youngsters, Hilary Bexfield andEdmund Smith. After another toughgame it was the pair including theson who beat the pair including thefather, to make Hilary and Edmundthe champions.
Thanks to the Japanese Pair GoAssociation, there were prizes for all,including the fighting spirit prizesthat went to Ingrid Jendrzejewskiand Alex Selby, and Lizzy Pollittand Rowan Borrow. Best-dressedjuniors were Amy Upton and RohanNeelala. Finally the sun came out forthe traditional group photo, whichhas only once been abandoned due torain.
Durham Go BBQ
DurhamHeld on 9th and 10th June, numbers atthe Durham Go Tournament continueto increase; the 35 entrants rangedfrom 20k to 4d, though some onlyplayed on the second day. The venuewas the Oriental Museum as lastyear, with a side room available forrefreshments, analysis, casual games
1https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWwl8OELZGRV4p4DHPl2Rtw
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and watching the top board of eachround, which was broadcast live onthe Internet (available on the club’sYouTube channel1).
Alex Kent’s run of winning the eventwas broken by Matthew Cocke (4dEpsom), who won all his gamesand so won a Goat Ornament (of anew design). Prizes of chocolatesand items from Japan were given tothose on four wins and more: SandyTaylor (2d Bristol), Alex Kent (3d),Alan Thornton (2k St Albans), PeterCollins (5k Bristol), Edward Blockley(6k), Roger Daniel (7k Wanstead)and Daffyd Robinson (13k Lincoln).Jamie Coulthard (3k Newcastle) wonthe Lightning; Daffyd Robinson andChris Muse (8k Durham) tied in theSmall Board competition. PluckyDDK Prizes were given to some of theDurham players who were enteringtournaments for the first time.
A special prize of a pineapple wasawarded to Hailiang Du (1k Durham)who was running in a marathon onthe Sunday, but said he would arrivein time for the last round. Despitebeing delayed leaving the race andrunning low on fuel in his car, hearrived with just five minutes left
on his clock and went on to win thegame.As usual, the tournament featured theannual Saturday evening garden partyand barbecue, well attended on whatwas a warm sunny evening, withsocialising and of course more Go.Next year, reports Andrew Ambrose-Thurman, the event will be part of acelebration to mark 25 years of Go inDurham.
Scottish OpenTwenty-four players contested theScottish Open on 23rd and 24th June atthe Offices of Skyscanner in the centreof Edinburgh. Thanks to Skyscanner,as well as hosting the event, theparticipants were fuelled throughoutthe contest with drinks and copiouspizza. Also on the Saturday eveningthe movie ‘The Surrounding Game’was shown.Local player Boris Mitrovic (2d)retained the title by winning all hisgames. On four wins out of six wereNeil McLean (1k), Toby Manning(1d Leicester), Alistair Wall (1dWanstead), Rob Payne (6k Edinburgh)and Roger Daniel (7k Wanstead).James Richards (2k Edinburgh) wonthe 9x9 small board contest.
PROBLEM 5
Black to play and kill
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BGA ANNOUNCEMENTS
FUTURE EVENTSFor the next six months, the Tournament Calendar (www.britgo.org/tournaments)features:
Mind Sports Olympiad, London, Sunday 19th – Monday 27th AugustYouth Training Residential, Grantham, Wednesday 29th – Friday 31st AugustArundel, Saturday 1st SeptemberCornwall, Penzance, Saturday 8th – Sunday 9th SeptemberSheffield, Sunday 23rd SeptemberSwindon, Saturday 29th SeptemberT Mark Hall Rapid Play Tournament, LGC, Saturday 29th SeptemberInternational Teams Autumn Match, LGC, Sunday 30th SeptemberNorthern, Cheadle Hulme School, Sunday 21st OctoberWessex, OctoberThree Peaks, Ingleton, Saturday 3rd – Sunday 4th NovemberDoki Doki Festival, Manchester, Saturday 10th NovemberBritish Youth Go Championship, NovemberLondon Open, Friday 28th – Monday 31st December (provisional)Maidenhead-Hitachi, January 2019
LGC: London Go Centre
˜ ˜ ˜
OFFICIAL VACANCIES: CAN YOU HELP?Vacant posts are listed at www.britgo.org/vacancies.We need volunteers for:
• Regional Youth Representatives (Scotland, North East)• Deputy Webmaster
If you are interested in any of these, please contact our President:([email protected]), or any member of Council.
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SOLUTIONS TO THE NUMBERED PROBLEMS
The SGF files for these problems, showing a fuller set of lines, are to be found atwww.britgo.org/bgj/issue184.
Solution to Problem 1
Diagram 1a (failure)
� Black can try to push throughbetween the white stones.
� Black cannot do this else thecorner gets into trouble after�.
Diagram 1b (failure)
� So Black had better play thisway. . .
� . . . but White captures theoutside.
������������������������������������������������
Diagram 1c (correct)
� This is the correct play thatmakes White short of liberties.
Diagram 1d (correct – variation)
�White can struggle. . .
� . . . but Black easily captures.
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Solution to Problem 2
Diagram 2a (failure)
� If Black fills a liberty it is notfast enough and loses the libertyrace.
Diagram 2b (correct)
� This is the play that gains extraliberties for Black.
� Black wins the race.
Solution to Problem 3
Diagram 3a (failure)
�White has possibly one eye in thecorner so Black must rescue thestones.
� This fails as Black is short ofliberties.
Diagram 3b (failure)
� Leaves Black with a shortage ofliberties again.
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Diagram 3c (correct)
� This kosumi is the correct move.
� If White here, Black just connects.
Diagram 3d (correct - variation)
� The edge stones are in seki, but themain white group only has oneeye, so it is only a temporary seki.
Solution to Problem 4
Diagram 4a (failure)
� If Black plays here White justgives up one stone to live.
Diagram 4b (failure)
� Sometimes this kind of cutworks.
�White makes two eyes.
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Diagram 4c (failure)
� Again White gives up a stone tolive.
Diagram 4d (correct)
� This is the correct play.
Diagram 4e (Mistake by Black)
� If White connects here. . .
� Black should not play hereimmediately.
� This is a ko.
Diagram 4f (correct – variation)
� This play is best.
� . . . then this play makes Whiteshort of liberties.
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Solution to Problem 5
Diagram 5a (failure)
� These moves are forcing, but can Black escape?
� This is normally the way to play in this shape.
�White can answer here.
� In this case Black is caught.
Diagram 5b (failure)
� Black can try this, but it fails owing to a shortage ofliberties.
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Diagram 5c (correct)
� The correct play here is to make the connecting move first.
�White can try this.
Black escapes.
Diagram 5d (correct – variation)
� This also looks like it disconnects. . .
� . . . but Black plays here.
� If White tries to block the white stones run short ofliberties.
�White dies.
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ASSOCIATION CONTACT INFORMATION
Association contact page: britgo.org/contactEmail for general BGA enquiries: [email protected]
President: Toby Manning [email protected]
Secretary: Jonathan Chin [email protected]
Membership Secretary: Chris Kirkham [email protected] by post: 201 Kentmere Road, Timperley, Altrincham, WA15 7NTNewsletter Editor: [email protected] comments and contributions: [email protected] Facebook page: facebook.com/BritishGoAssociationFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/britgoGotalk general discussion list: [email protected] (open to all).
Youth Go discussion list: [email protected], intended for juniorplayers and their parents, Go teachers, people who run junior Go clubsand tournaments, and youth Go organisers.Use the links on the Help page of our website to join these lists.
COLLECTING GO XXXVII: GRADE BADGESTony Atkins [email protected]
As mentioned in BGJ 156, back in the 1990ssome Russian players produced badges to helpcover costs of their visits to foreigntournaments. One design showed a dan gradewith the Go kanji and a grid background, blackand 28 mm diameter. They produced one foreach likely amateur dan grade. Otherwise theonly badges that showed a player’s grade werethose identity badges produced for various bigevents, such as the European Go Congress.
As described in BGJ 178, back in the 1980s the BGA copied the Dutch system ofcoloured certificates for junior players to mark their achievements in grading.Each colour represented a particular grade or level of skill based on somepublished criteria. As these levels were inflexible, later certificates had a spacefor any achieved grade to be written in. Although these certificates are stillavailable they have largely fallen out of use.
In 2018, thanks to the organisation ofAlison Bexfield, the Youth Committee hasproduced a set of 13 badges to mark ayoungster’s progress through the grades.It starts with a “Play Go!” badge, forthose who have just learnt the rules,through grades from 35 kyu to 5 kyu atfive grade intervals; advice is given as towhat the players need to know to achievethe lower grades. The exception to thisinterval is that there is a 19 kyu badge, asthis is the first recognised level on therating system (all lower players are rated20 kyu). The highest two badges are 1kyu and then 1 dan, which has a specialflame design. The badges have differentcolours and mostly they approximate tothe colours of the old certificates.
If you want a supply of badges for your youth Go club, please contact Alison viathe Youth Committee.
