12 Mar 2010 3 Comments

Student OZA round 4 Report

The final round of the 8th World Student OZA has finished, and with it, concludes the student OZA.

Championship Match: XiaoLong 6d (Black) vs Yutae (6d), B+Res.

The battle for the finals was intense, as the Chinese and Korean champions launched into heated battle in the background of the Japanese press. The game started off favoring Yutae Seo by a large margin, and it seems like XiaoLong Meng’s fuseki was in shambles. By the start of the mid game, the only way for Meng to take the lead would be slaughter Yutae’s floating group.

Yet, later when I talked to XiaoLong, it was apparently his style. He barely used any time in the fuseki, and saved almost all the hour given for the mid game. Here he launched a severe attack, sending the board into chaos. Yutae, who had spend a full half of the time in fuseki, was forced into a complex battle on byoumi. 30 seconds per move was just not enough… and finally Yutae made a fatal mistake. He’s group was killed, forcing resignation. The kifu of the game is attached.

Several there games were also of interest. Artem was pitched against HongBing Lin, the female representative of Tiepei, and a 9d on Tygem. Artem played extremely well, entering the mid game with an impressive lead. However, as both entered byoumi, HongBing’s superior reading skills under limit shown as she punished Artem for a careless tenuki, leading to the death of a 30 point corner.

Yutae attempts to look for a way out of a difficult fight.

As for me, the last round was the first round where my opponent wasn’t 6d! The game turned out to be reasonably relaxing. My opponent, Anna Prokov, at around 2d level, was ill-equipped to deal with my unorthodox fuseki, and entered the mid game at a significant territorial disadvantage. After missing a few opportunities to play aggressively, I had a 20 point lead. From then on, I simplified the game, giving no chance for a recovery. The game ends in what’s called professionals call a ‘happy death’ for white.

White 10: Should be at R-18. The corner variation favors Black, white wastes a stone, black doesn’t.
White 20: The tenuki is uncalled for, since White 22 is not an important place.
Black  35: Black is strong on both left and bottom, white has a difficult time choosing a good way to black this 3-3.
White 48: This is a big move, white should play E2 first and force Black to live in gote, gaining significant thickness. White can then play 48.
Black 51: Intended overplay. After playing the first 50 moves, I had read Anna’s playstyle and suspect should respond at white 52. This exchange spoils whites chances of a large moyo on the right side, allowing me to defend the corner with 53.
White 52: Another mistake, white must play E2 first.
Black 55: Bad move, white need not respond to this peep. However, white does anyway, allowing Black to play 55. I had gained another exchange I was never meant to deserve.
White 62: This exchange gains white almost nothing. White should play D17 instead. White does end in sente, but his group is far from settled.
White 66: This move seems at odds with white 64, white should have played at Black 67. Anna’s only chance now was to wall a large center moyo.
White 74: Too submissive. Its counterattack or lose now. L7 to cut off black( is the only viable strategic option.  Black manages to confine white’s moyo in sente and then play 77, causing whites top group to feel immensely uncomfortable.
White 104: Perhaps last chance to create complication by playing at O2 to move out the 2 stones. Once black removes all aji with 105, Black has a 20 point lead with no weak groups. White has already conceded defeat.

So, with this game, I’m glad to announce that I achieved my original intention of not being last!

by Mile Gu in Analysis, Tournaments Tags: Student OZA

09 Mar 2010 No Comments

Student OZA Round 3 Report

Sorry for long time in coming! I’m stuck in Tokyo with reasonably limited internet access. The third round of the Student OZA was held on March 3rd.

XiangLong Meng, the male rep of China and favorite of the competition pulled a convincing win against the Japanese OZA, who was my opponent for the first game. Meanwhile, the male rep of Korea defeats the second male rep of Japan. This leaves Japan out of contention for first and second place. The student OZA champion will now be decided between China and Korea.

Artem vs Danigabi in round 3. I'm in the background, mulling over a difficult fight.

The rest of the results did not yield much surprise. Artem defeats Gabriel (Danigabi from KGS), and now rises as the top ranked player out of all nations not in the `Big 4′. This allows him to finally challenge another player from the Big 4 in the final round. Meanwhile, Nuttakrit of Thailand, who scored a lucky win vs Zhang Xiang the day before due to a missed atari, was convincingly destroyed byYucheng Lai, the male rep of Taiwain.

• Fun fact: Yucheng Lai was 2nd in the World Amateur championships when he was 15.

As for me, my opponent Zhang Xiang is reasonably strong, defeating Supertjc  (8d on KGS) in the Singapore Youth League and Bloodarena (7d KGS) in the Singapore national cup. It is unfortunate that I matched up with him, given he should be in the 1-1 group, if not for his unlucky mistake!

Unfortunately, my luck didn’t quite change this round! The game started at a disadvantage due to a mistake on my part in a complicated fighting joseki. Though, by exploiting a ladder for exchange and a heated mid game fight, I had restored the game to an even position. Unfortunately, my backing out of a `fight or die’ situation during bouyomi, and an casual misjudgment of the strength of one of his groups, Zhang Xiang managed retook the lead.

A mistake near the end game saw me draw the game dangerously close, but my yose  during bouyomi was not as consistent. A few mistakes, and one missed opportunity saw Zhang Xiang take the win.  The game is filled with fighting, and should be rather enjoyable to see:

Black 15: This starts are very difficult joseki, a mistake on either side could cost the game.
White 26: A mistake in order by me, white should play D-17 first. Black 29 exploits this error, at this point, if white plays D-17, black will capture at A-16 instead of connecting. By Black 29, I was forced into an unfavorable variation. White is completely sealed on the left side, but black still has an excellent tesuji at H-17 to access the top.
White 46: This was a good move, threatening the ladder is black continues with Joseki. Zhang Xiang was forced to concede a loss on the bottom left corner. The black stone is not completely dead though, so the game still favors black.
Black 48: A mistake, black should play 51 immediately. This gave me an opportunity to fix my shape, so that I could black with 52, starting a large scale fight.
White 57: Difficult choice here on whether to defend the top or the middle. If played at M-17, I feared black can form an impressive moyo on the right by attacking my group with K-11.
White 76: This is the move that made sacrificing the corner worth it, Black is under severe attack, and concedes much of the center influence to white. The dust settles at 102 and Black has lost his advantage.
White 110: This was a mistake. The play on the fourth line was meant to threaten black’s center group, but I had forgotten that black can live in sente with N13. A move at L3 for territory or R6 to prevent ladder breakers would be much more appropriate. When black plays at M3, white is at a loss for good follow-ups. By 116, Black has easily secured a large corner (A 3-3 invasion would be dangerous, since it breaks the center ladder)
White 116: Another mistake, P-6 is much bigger.
Black 121: White’s moyo vanishes, as black punishes whites mistake at 116.
White 126: In buyoumi, I played the safe move. However, white was in no position to concede territory. White had to play Q6, followed by a cross-cut, resulting in a difficult battle for both. By 135, black’s corner is now larger than white’s right side, I am about 20 points behind.
Black 153: Zhang Xiang must of thought this sente, threatening a possible invasion. However white could ignore this, giving white a chance with the huge move at 154 (Though I should have played T-18 first).
White 190: A terrible mistake played during byoumi, spoiling all aji on the left side. White should play sentes first, and the save the two stones with D-10. Black will be forced to eventually captured at A-12, the difference could be well over 10 points. This mistake cost white any chances of winning without a serious error by Black.
Black 209: Not sente and a serious error! Final opportunity for white. If white plays Q18 now, blacks top right corner will suffer serious point loss in points, and possibly die. Unfortunately, I didn’t think quite so clearly, and missed the opportunity!

So going into the final around, I’m forced with the unfortunate prospect of fighting to prevent last place. Though for the first time, its actually with an opponent who I should have good chances in winning!

by Mile Gu in Analysis, Tournaments Tags: Student OZA