27th Street

Last evening I played 7 games of online Go with Vox and we enhanced that experience in two ways. The first thing we did was set up a Zoom call so we could chat during (very little) and between games (much more) without having to type out words. The second thing we did was use the review feature on the KGS server to review each of our games, move by move, discuss alternatives and even play through some alternative variations. We both agree this was very beneficial.

Once again, I had a winning evening, taking 5 of the 7 games. We each won one close one, each won one by resignation, and I won the others decisively. Vox has continued to employ a very territorial strategy, taking or invading san-san (3-3 points) at every opportunity.

In the first game, the post-game review revealed a failure to read well enough on my part. The game came down to the survival of one of Vox’s groups. I stole his base then capped him and I attacked hard, knowing I needed to kill this group to win. He tried to escape or counter-attack, and in doing so exposed a weakness in my stones with 2 possible cutting points. I took some time to read through the possibilities and finally decided that his counterattack would be successful if I didn’t play a move to make my own stones safe. As soon as I did so it gave Vox time to make a safety move of his own and my attack (and the game) was over.

Upon review we tested my position without the safety move and it turned out that neither of us could come up with a successful sequence for him. In other words, my defensive move was unnecessary and there was a move available which sealed the death of his stones instead. Had I read the sequences correctly, and continued my attack, the game was mine to win. Of course it is easier to see the problem in review than in the heat of battle.

The final game of the evening was interesting and unusual. Vox opened with san-san twice and I countered with the two 4-4 points on the other side of the board. I decided to play a game that stressed influence and followed up my 4-4 moves with tengen, right in the middle of the board.

I gave him the territory he asked for and made big walls in exchange. When Vox decided to invade, I attacked for profit. The result was a huge territory for me as well as two other smaller ones. Vox secured all the corners for himself but not nearly enough territory elsewhere to make up for my big area. I won by close to 30 points.

We’re going to continue to use the voice chat and continue to review the games together as well.

I played 8 online games of Go with Vox last evening, and continued my winning ways, victorious in 6 of them. A win is a win, regardless of by how much, but I should say that 2 of my wins were by slim margins, just 2.5 points. In both those games I played the white stones and took 6.5 points komi. Had Vox managed to squeak out just a few little points more in those 2 games and we would have split the evening at 4 games apiece. One of those close games was somewhat wacky. I gained an early advantage pressing him along a side, then made a dumb blunder and that advantage was suddenly wiped out. Still, he had a weakness for me to exploit and I was able to stay in a game I almost threw away.

My other 4 wins were by comfortable margins of over 20 points and Vox won both his games by resignation.

Vox employed a very territorial strategy all evening. As black he started games with the san-san (3-3) points, dove in under my 4-4 points several times, and took lots of cash territory along the 3rd line. I’m pretty happy playing against this strategy. Sure, he gets real territory early but committing yourself to 3rd line territory early has a big downside. It isn’t hugely ambitious, and as well it fails to put a lot of pressure on my stones. It is difficult to be patient when your opponent is playing for cash and you know it will take time before your own position converts to territory, but still I’m comfortable playing against this approach, and I know if Vox is going to beat me with any regularity again, he’ll have to make me uncomfortable.

I think one of the things Vox was trying to do was simplify the game, because I’ve been fighting well and in recent sessions I’ve found weaknesses in his positions and killed a number of groups. Still in a couple of the games last night I was able to attack really effectively.

In game 4, I played black and opened with 5-4 points on the top side, something I rarely do, but tried a couple times last evening. I thought, if Vox wants to take territory early, I’ll give him exactly what he wants, then try to aggressively hem him in and create huge outside strength. In this game Vox got in trouble early on.

When I played the 5-4 in the top right, he took the corner, but when I played the 5-4 at D-15, he must have been worried I was going to take too much strength along the top side and he let me take the top left corner. Maybe Vox would have been OK with this approach had his stones on the top side survived but I was able to limit him to one eye and stop his stones from running out, leaving me with massive top-side territory. After that, the margin was too great for Vox to recover from.