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

03 Mar 2010 2 Comments

Student OZA Day 2 Update

The second day of Student OZA, and the competition has officially launched! And what a day it has been! I really should sleep in half an hour, and thus will have to keep this brief. However, here’s how things happened!

Round 1:

The first round had no surprising underdog stories. Artem, the top European here, and 7d on KGS, was no match for Meng XiaoLong. Xialong apparently kept a steady lead through fuseki, and punished Artem severely when he tried to turns things around with a unreasonable fight.

Zhang Xiang’s game vs the Chinise female representative Zhuo Wang, the female rep from China, actually started off pretty well for him. Unfortunately, Zhuo Wang proved a much superior fighter, and once mid game started, several of Zhang’s groups somehow died, inducing resignation.

The only two reps of the ‘Big 4′ that fought were the female reps of Korea and Taipei. The game looked complex, but Sunah Lee of Korea gained an advantage when her opponent misread a ladder in byoumi, ending with a 5.5 point loss.

As for me? My game with the Student OZA of Japan turned out to be much closer than I expected. The game, I attach as SGF file below.

I took the game as white, and used my standard tactic of attaching first, followed by a 3-4. This, in my experience, is one of the best ways of preventing the opponent from applying his own fuseki. Up to 37. the game was considered to be fairly even for both, with a exchange that give white 3 corners, and black the potential for large territory on the left side of the board.

White 44: I was a little too eager to hold onto the bottom right corner, and wanted sente to seal the top right. The exchange was slight unfavorable for me. White 44 should tenuki and play at B18 immediately, leaving the corner open to attack.
White 46: White should play at B-18 instead, if black attempts to swallow the two stones in the corner, white can sacrifice them and break into blacks moyo on the left. The resulting sequence solidified the Moyo, giving black a slight advantage.
White 66: Q-18 would be better.
White 70: The first seriously bad move, should be at Q-15. The resulting clamp was painful for white, and costs around about 10 pts in territory.
Black 71: Exploits my mistake :(
Black 77: Black was a little too eager to break into whites moyo, the follow sequence made by me on whites Corner was painful for Takunori. Black now about 5 pts ahead.
White 98: Should play at G-8, exchanging with E-8.
Black 99: Tangen Syndrom. If he played 1 below the tangen, at K-9, there would be no invasion. And the game would be over.
White 114: After my successful invasion,  Black is still ahead slightly in points, but not enough to be confident of win.
White 116: Thinking I was a little behind, I made a move at 116 rather than the proper defense at P4. The resulting aji would be ignored by most low dans, but vs a 6 dan, it spelt my doom! Losing move.
Black 129: Punished my overplay. Despite appearances, it is actually impossible to cleanly kill this stone.
Black 141: Black lives in my corner, stealing 20 points. White is now about 25 points behind, and with end game approaching, no opportunities for come back. The game was over.

Probably the most rewarding thing was that Takunori Yamamoto though I played at the level of a 6 dan from Japan :).

My opponent first round, charging up his mental energy before the game vs me. It was slightly scary. But his moves were scarier :).

Round 2:

Round 2 sees the Big 4 playing themselves, since they exclusively took all the winning spots in the first round. The rest of us had to compete for scraps! XiaoLong of China, defeats Yucheng Lai of Taipei to continue his streak. The game was intense, and lasted 30 minutes after the rest had finished. In the end, it was probably the first game in competition that didn’t warrant an early resignation from one of the players. My opponent from first round, defeats the female rep from China, though more by luck than skill… Zhuo Wang misread during yose, leading to the death of one of her groups.

The worst experience prize, however, would have to go to Zhang Xiang, who turned a winning game into a loss by not seeing an Atari. Zhang Xiang is now the only 6 dan with no wins.  His opponent, Nuttakrit, 4 Dan of Thailand now marches ahead. Meanwhile, Artem is back on his home turf of European opponents, and gets a well expected win.

Me? Somehow I ended up against the only member of the ‘Big 4′ who had a loss in the first round, Hongbing Lin of Taiwain. She certainly felt as strong as my first opponent. During the early mid-game, I made a mental lapse and played a stone in a place where I did not intend to (I deep read two options, concluding one is okay, while the other is bad. I ended up playing bad one :( ). Needless to say, Hongbing pounced on the error, and my moyo became two groups separated by a living group from my opponent. Needless to say, that’s not good. With about 20 points behind in territory, I was forced to make an highly risky attempt at killing Hongbing corner attachment. The battle became intense, and for some reason, I can’t out read a 6 dan on byoumi when she still had 20 minutes on her clock :). I lost track of battle, and found myself in in a semaei where I was 1 liberty behind.

Unfortunately, running out of time to put up the SGF file. Will do so later!

Round 3:

Round 3 begins tomorrow, with following match-ups:

With Teipei eliminated from 1st place, it is now essentially Japan vs everyone else. It’ll be interesting to see how my opponent from Round 1 fairs against the strongest rep from Korea. Meanwhile, I had the misfortune of again bumping into the strongest player possible with no wins, this time Zhang Xiang, the 6 dan from Singapore who lost his last game only due to misreading an atari. Having played Zhang Xiang in competition before, where I managed 181 as Black playing my almost best, I can tell for sure that this will be a very tough match.

Its a little unfortunate, given that I managed to defeat Garcia Emil and Nuttakrit Taechaamnuayvit in friendly games! Oh well, playing against stronger players is always good!

by Mile Gu in Analysis, Tournaments Tags: Student OZA