Subject:	THE BIG GAME 4 Question
From:		John Fairbairn <JF@harrowgo.demon.co.uk>
Date:		1997/04/26

The next few moves were:

Black 23: r15

White 24: p15

The alternative r16 (see diagram) was of great interest as this was a new pattern (because of Black 15). They suggested Black would play atari at p15, White q14, Black r14, White p14, Black q17. But then it gets messy: White r17, Black r18, White s18, Black q18, White s16. The black stones are not easy to capture as he has a potential ladder breaker at q12, then if White p16, Black s15. But as the ladder favours White just now, Black would have to try something else first.

Black 25: r17

Intermediate question: Was the new move Black 15 to be judged a success or not?

White 26: k17 (peep)

Cheeky.

Black 27: l17 (connects)

White 28: j13 (knight's move)

g16 was rejected because of Black h15, White h16, Black g15 (see diagram).

[JF I'd say because it makes White thin above and below and loses touch with the real focal point - the centre and right-side]

Now Black 29 was seen as a good move. What was it?

Remember always to think of White's best replies but what you have to keep in mind here is shape and what flows from that: thick/thin and heavy/light shapes.

Background noise

In a book of 200 fuseki problems (this game is still in the fuseki by the way) put out by the Nihon Ki-in, there was an afterword in which they said they had analysed which proverbs were most relevant to the answers. The most important by a long, long way was "urgent points before big points." Also very important was "a two-space extension makes a nice house." Coming up behind this were "a one-space jump is never bad" and "attack is the best form of defence." They mentioned also: "Kosumi in the opening is a good move," "Keep away from thickness [yours as well as the opponent's]", "One side high, the other side low,", "the star point leaves invasion at 3-3" and "it's a long lane that has no loaf on the bread".

-- John Fairbairn