我想

European sovereign debt crisis

2010-05-09T04:53:00.002+08:00

With yield on 2 year Portugal government bond spiked 3.2% over friday and 7% over last month, Portugal is heading toward insolvency at an ever accelerating rate. The scale of any potential bailout to counter and push down the sovereign debt yields will need to be massive and truely historical.

Standalone Greece sovereign debt (EUR 236 billion) has limited contagion effect as major debtholders: France EUR 75 billion, and Germany EUR 45 billion, still fiscally sound at this point to weather the potential impact. Portugal on the other hand with her close financial tie to Spain could potentially trigger an unprecedent shock wave through the global economy. One-third of Portugal sovereign debt (EUR 286 billion) is with Spain (EUR 86 billion). Spain with persistent high unemployment rate at 20% and economy that is likely to contract over next few years is not fiscally strong enough to withstand the potential impact from Portugal insolvency. At this very critical juncture, EU has every bit of interest (or self-interest) to safeguard Portugal from faltering. If the effort fails then the debt yield for Spain will surely accelerate and ultimately force Spain into insolvency as well. Compare to the size of debt for Greece and Portugal, the size of sovereign debt for Spain is whopping EUR 1.1 trillion. The potential impact of insolvency from Spain is almost.... too lethal to imagine

The stake is indeed extremely high not only for EU but also for the US and China. For the US, the central bankers are painstakingly trying to chart the course to offload the bloated balance sheet accumulated during the subprime crisis. The process of offloading is only feasible when the financial markets are operating in a "normal" environment, meaning healthy and liquid with many buyers stood ready and able to absorb the portfolio from the central bank. With the unfolding of sovereign debt crisis, the financial markets are anything but "normal." Crippled with bloated balance sheet, the ability of US central bank to deal with any further crisis is seriously questionable.

For China, advanced economies should pay more gratitude to China politburo for deciding to do the heavy lifting during the subprime crisis. China faced with strengthening dollar could very well allowed renminbi to devalue to remain competitive in the international trade. However such policy of competitive devaluation will invariably force many other export powerhouses notably emerging Asian countries like Singapore, South Korea and etc. onto their knee. Instead Chinese government injected unprecedent amount of liquidity into the domestic markets to artificially create "domestic demand." With banking sector still immature, the poor control and oversight invariably allowed sizeable amount of liquidity flown into speculative investment like real estate. Although the amount of loans that eventually went into speculative investment is not known, the figure so far from the central government is massive and still ringing up. Good portion of these loans will surely turn sour as central bank soaks up the liquidity to contain the real estate bubble from inflate ever larger. But if the European sovereign debt crisis deteriorates further we could expect to see the acceleration of bad loans in China banking sector.

The European sovereign debt crisis is deteriorating and spiraling out of control. The stake is so high that boil down to "save you... save me" scenario but with central banks around the globe still crippling from the subprime crisis any chance of averting this crisis will not be from ECB alone rather from a concerted effort of central banks from advanced economies. Although political meddling could complicate this much needed action.

Hong Kong

2010-01-24T22:41:00.006+08:00

Early sunday morning 17th, I left house around 6:30am to catch an early coach to the airport. On this trip to HK, I scheduled to take 4 exams in four days. What's really getting on me is.... I haven't even touched the study manuals yet... Jesus... I have been swamped and under loads of stress about making a presentation on investment strategies for foreign exchange and equity markets in front of company exes and ceo. Well when the going gets really really tough, it does wonder to adrenaline and mental alertness. From coach til I landed and rushed to the exam site, I literally had the study papers on my hand constantly. The immigration officer must found me a bit odd as he impatiently flipped my passport and documents and looked at them very attentively. Anyway no mishap happened, I pretty much became the best buddy with my study papers. Did I say no mishap? hmmm... let me correct that... to my terrible dismay I found out that the financial calculator I brought along ran out of battery and the exam is starting soon... that mean I will have to go on the battle field commando style (naked). Blasphemous words like s*** started to butterfly around my head. The exam has 60 questions and lasts an hour and 30 mins. Well it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that I probabily finished the exam dead last. I was agonizing over all those compounding problems like (1+0.078/12)^12. There is absolutely no way for me to figure out the precise solution so I had to use all the tricks and pull out all the stops to make an "educated" guess then pray really really hard. By the time the exam is over, I was very much wired as my brain has been grinding for the past 12hours straight. The invigilator asked me to sign the paper then passed me the result sheet. Out of 60 questions I got 55 correct. Phew big relief!! I hastily ate something at Delifrance then made my way over to check in at hotel. In my office wear of suit and tie, the hotel manager was very courteous and polite. To my great surprise, he upgraded my room to the top floor with an oceanview overlooking the bridge. Nice way to start my trip in Hong Kong.
[to be continue...]

Much belated Merry Xmas & Happy New Year

2010-01-02T01:12:00.002+08:00

Nowadays I have been working around the clock. First I dropped out from MBA school to join a publicly traded corporation. The firm regularly imports multi-million dollars of raw materials like corn and soybean from overseas. These imports are potentially exposed to price increase or change in exchange rates. My role is to assist in analyzing the commodity and currency markets and devise appropriate hedging (protective) strategies utilizing financial derivative instruments. The company is also actively involve in many investments and joint ventures with oversea firms; for example, Burger King, 鼎泰豐, and Saboten... Existing and new ventures will need sound business models coupled with in depth financial analysis and projections. Second I secured some seed money to start up my own investment fund focusing in options and futures markets. Starting from scratch to build financial models, study past few years trading records and read up on trade journals & recent analysis have been a steep learning curve. Third I am scheduled to fly to Hong Kong this Jan 6 and Jan 17-20 to take HK Securities Exchange specialist licenses in securities (股票) and derivatives (金融衍生). After HK, I plan to take up the two levels of Financial Risk Management (FRM) certification... hmmm deja vu all over again... Lastly I somehow got myself into a 24 month peak physical training program in preparation for climbing Mt. Everest. On the last stretch to the summit, climber's mental faculty supposely will decline to 30% of normal capacity, hallucinations, weight loss of about 20% and possible lose of a limp or toe due to frost bite... check, check, double checks... sounds good to me sign me up please... (sarcasm.....) But I have to say I am actually making a noticeable progress in my physical conditioning. I might actually get back to my peak shape when I was running competitively for the university.... Nah i was just teasing myself... Happy New Year everyone!

北海道

2009-11-09T11:28:00.009+08:00

函館
五稜郭公園

うに (Sea Urchin) overdose ><

のぼりべつ
登別　地獄谷

Amazing to walk on a wooden pathway that is barely lifted above the 地獄谷 where 濃い硫黄 steams upward and casts the entire area in a dreamy fog.

足の温泉

The natural 足の温泉 is super soothing; so soothing that we never thought about that we didn't bring towel before it is too late.

ファーム富田

Colorful plants stretch far beyond to the end of horizon. It feels almost like the heaven on earth.

On this trip, I brought along only my backpack with barely a week of cloth to spare. Stupid me that I thought electrical converter will be very easy to find in japan. By the time I left kyoto, my camera battery is pretty much dried. Most of the 北海道 pictures were graciously supplied from my buddy.

京都　心の旅

2009-11-05T11:02:00.012+08:00

単独で　京都に
The start of my soul-searching journey.

きんかくじ
金閣寺

夢の休憩所

平和な散歩

ぎんかくじ

銀閣寺

平静な風景

えいかんど　ぜんりんーじ
永観堂禅林寺
I kneel inside the temple and my senses start to collapse into a point of tangency. My mind drifts into a state of subconsciousness. Memories start to uncontrollably emerge in vivid imaginaries. In the submerged depth, I feel sharp spasm to my heart. My heart aches terribly. I clasp my palms tightly together pray in earnest to repent and wish for a heart of love & compassion.
平静な歩道

こだいーじ
高台寺

ふしみ　いなりーたいしゃ

伏見稲荷大社

At the summit of 伏見稲荷大社, I kneel and pray for a heart of love and compassion. According to the number I drew, second column is the words of wisdom for me.

東京

2009-11-05T00:41:00.020+08:00

浅草　せんそじ (Sensoji Temple)

美しい Tokyo 夜空

Tokyo Tower

日本棋院
ここの多くの幼年期の思い出...
Lots of childhood memories here...

友達　黄翊祖　と　私

Foundation of Basic Skills Part 2

2009-11-03T10:39:00.014+08:00

基本图
After 白1 and 黑2 exchange, option A press becomes inappropriate as it will turn the exchange into damaging for white. Both options B and C are conceptually sound except some minor differences.

图1

After 白1 press, the marked exchange clearly favors black as white approached the corner from the wrong side.

图2
白1 and 白3 speedily form a decent shape although white needs to worry about black invading at C in the future. At this juncture, black will play either A or B.

黑：马晓春白：常昊 Nov 3, 2007 黑+1.5目
黑：李映九白：朴时烈 Aug 17, 2009 白+1.5目
图3
When black invades in the future, 图3 variation might be the likely outcome. If white dislikes the potential invasion then white can change strategies with initial R7 approach.
图4
白1 is a probable strategy to pincer farther away to construct a solid shape with 白3. For those players like 李世石 who painstakingly seeks out maximum efficiency, 白1 and 白3 are a bit "soft."
图5
Since
1) white might not get the maximum efficiency right away
2) right lower corner is not urgent to handle at this moment
白1 is another feasible alternative to settle the upper corner first then wait for the opportune moment to play the lower right corner to gain maximum result.

Question:

How should white respond if black pincers with 黑1?

Foundation of Basic Skills Part 1

2009-10-30T22:05:00.015+08:00

For the past few days, I have been agonizing over what to write for my blog. I felt I have written too much about technical stuff and failed to address more basic skills that can reach and benefit greater number of go players.

基本图

In games we often encounter situations where we have tough time deciding how to play because we can't read clearly from all the options we have. We can't read clearly mostly because the board is too vast or empty that we don't have enough information to help guide our decision making process. For example in 基本图, white has many options A-E to choose from. Without more information from the surrounding, it will be very tough for white to decide.

With clear picture from the surrounding, the decision between A and B is quite easy to make for black. From a rough analysis, if black presses from A to build thickness then black probabily tries to use it to build moyo in the left side. But the solid white corner effectively constrains black's moyo development.

Upon a closer read, 白6 will not follow the norm of jump out at A because the upper side is too narrow (therefore value is quite low) instead white will crawl at 白6 to gain sente then reduce black's thickness from 白8.

黑1 tight pincer is a logical move. Black tries to extend to the farthest to maximize black's thickness.

Sometimes face with vast empty board like above, decision becomes very murky and very difficult to pinpoint. In this case, we need to "probe" for more information.

白1 is the "probe" move. White is soliciting more information from black to make the picture clearer so white can make better decision at the lower corner. Black's response at either A or B will alter white's response at lower corner.

Question 1:

If black defends with 黑2 then how would white play at the lower corner?

Basic Assumptions of Joseki

2009-10-25T19:50:00.003+08:00

Joseki has two critical assumptions:
1) Seed strength of black and white is about evenly matched.
2) Territory (地) & influence (厚势) for black and white is closely balanced.

One of the most common mistakes for dan players is to copy joseki verbatim for all types of situations. Understand that weiqi is "alive" and dynamic, our strategies need to be flexible and adapt to the surroundings of the game. Often we will encounter situations where one or both of the above assumptions is/are violated. In that case we need to carefully analyze the game to gauge seed strength and understand the balance of 地 vs 厚势.

About my blog

2009-10-23T12:29:00.003+08:00

As I will relinquish my teaching position with Singapore Weiqi Association in the near future, I wish I can continue to make contributions to Singapore weiqi society through regular updates on my blog. If you have questions about any of my blog entries please feel free to leave a comment on my blog or email me your questions directly at philliphsia@yahoo.com. Ciao! Have fun^^

定石 Research Part 3

2009-10-23T10:47:00.018+08:00

基本图
黑1 cuts directly without atari (R15) gives black an option to capture marked white seed with A.

If 白2 长 to 白4 this variation looks somewhat like another variation (right).

Key differences: Left variation

1. Black has more territory. Although some bad aiji marked white seed can not live right away in the corner.

2. Exterior white group feels thinner and weaker.

Therefore, 白2 is probabily not a good option.

黑1-黑5 is probabily 一本道 next white needs to prey the brain and think about how to fortify cuts outside.
黑4 is too severe thus 白1 capture is not a good option.

After 黑2 join, corner territory is quite big plus not much of aiji. Although white gains sente (original joseki white is gote) black peeks at A is a bit annoy.

For original joseki, white has a nice yose move at 白1 when white has marked seed. 黑2 is 本手. White reduces black corner's territory by tightening black group's liberties.

黑: 张亚博白: 柁嘉熹 July 01, 2009 白+

黑37 is a bit of overplay. 白44-52 impressive sequence of tesuji moves.

白1 is the easiest to think so but white group is a bit heavy especially after black peeks at A. Corner white seed can't pull out as white doesn't have enough liberties.

白1 is an interesting move. If black carelessly responds with 黑2 then 白3 capture becomes sente. White can be satisfied with this variation.

Sequence up to 白5 is a possible variation. Personally I prefer black a bit more.

定石 Research Part 2

2009-10-21T14:47:00.017+08:00

基本图

For this situation, 白3 is a rare experimental move. 黑 can rougly respond at A-C. On the last article, choice A is rejected because of bad corner aiji.

黑4 扳 is the first instinct. But after 白7, 黑 needs to buckle down and do some serious calculation on whether black can cut on B or not.

Black needs to consider whether to extend at A first or join directly at B. As a spoiler, extend at A does not work well for black.

Due to ko material at A, white can win the ko fight in the corner. This variation is unsuccessful for black.

黑1 join is correct. After 黑3, if white wants to continue to fight in the corner can play either A or B. Although calculation is rather tedious, both variations are not favorable for white.

白15 = A

Due to ko material at B for black, white can not win the corner ko fight. Now we can see why extension at P11 is not good for black.

白1 = A

Sequence up to 白11 is rather straight forward. 黑12 take is correct. Black should be careful with 白13.
黑1 removes ko is overly fierce. Sequence to 黑9 we have a rare seki with white group without an eye.

黑1 is correct. White group is unconditionally surroundered.

Key points:

1) White can't fight head on against black with either A or B. However, white can live in the corner with C.

2) Black doesn't have an immediate suitable ladder breaker for triangle black seed. D is not a ladder breaker.

3) White can actually defend against marked black seed from escaping with E.

Conclude: 基本图 option B variation is not favorable for black.

Even if black can escape with 黑1, black group will transform into a spectacular art piece.

定石研究 part 1

2009-10-10T23:00:00.015+08:00

基本图

For this fuseki, white usually responds with either A or B.

图1

Earlier this year, this 定石 variation occurred with high frequency.

黑: 李昌镐白: 姜东润富士通杯决赛 2009-07-06

After 白20 定石, 黑 extension at A is quite big and severe.

Since this original version, many newer variations have been experimented.

基本图2

黑13 & 白14 exchange precludes white from pressing at Q12.

黑: 金志锡白: 李昌镐 2009-08-19

黄翊祖 commented that 白22 is a bit heavy maybe should play Q8 instead. On his game on tygem, 崔哲瀚 (showmethe) agrees with this point of view.

黑23 defends against white from settling down with 白33. 白24 good sequence before white blocks at 白26; it creates 白32 which helps white escape outward with 白34 & 白36.

基本图3

白12 presses then 白14 扳 is the latest version.

黑15 is what white hopes.

Comparsion Picture:

Compare to original version (right), triangle black seed (left) is not as well placed. Left corner has much more aiji than the original version.

To be continue.....

ふせき (Fuseki) Research

2009-10-07T00:25:00.005+08:00

基本图

黑15 didn't complete building the wall with A because black is afraid of falling gote then white can easily reduce black's moyo with B (see pro game).

黑: 崔哲瀚白: 洪基杓白胜 May 26, 2009

黑11 = A

白16 & 18 are common invasion 手段. 黑19 could also consider Q18. Professional games 白20 tends to peek at A first then escape outward. I tried a few times but the result wasn't so great.

黑: 谢赫白: 张维 November 15, 2008 黑胜

Fuseki variaton up to 白40 feels black's territory and shape are better.

白24 = A
My proposition: white can settle easily with 白20-24.

If black counters with 黑25 then white can cross or block-in black with 白32.

小林の一手

2009-10-04T07:14:00.007+08:00

黑: 夏衔誉白: 小林光一

小林老师 played 白58 in less than 10 seconds ><;; I instantly realized 白58 covers three areas: 黑 has no mood to play A anymore as 白 will peek at M15 to transform black seeds into an art piece, and 白58 creates two fantastic follow up moves at B and C. When I played 黑57 I totally overlooked 白58... I feel the distance of my Go level to 小林老师. I tipped my hat to 小林老师 and used a 30 seconds byomi period plus 20 seconds more to admire the move.

黑67 = A

黑61 fight back probabily is the only move. Fortunately white didn't have decent ko threats so the fight is feasible for black.

Looking back, 黑57 should forcefully 扳.

小林的一手

2009-09-29T08:21:00.002+08:00

白先
黑: 夏衔誉白: 小林光一

I thought 黑55 is a natural move but it is actually quite slow. After 小林老师 made his next move, I felt the instant heat on my face and admire his move for a full byomi and 20 seconds more... Can anyone guess where he play next?

围棋.我

2009-09-29T01:02:00.003+08:00

After I won 小林老师 in a style of game that I always dreamt of, I have been feeling quite depressed. My dream is not what I imagined it would be. Instead time has wilted away much of the substance of my childhood weiqi dream. Those 5 years of everyday 10-12 hours weiqi training, swallowing my tears and sacrificing myself for the game, all of sudden I feel is totally not worth it. Going through so much emotional hoopla, I realize what I treasured the most is not those complicated things of fame or stature rather I treasure those simplest things: to be able to laugh like a carefree child completely devoid of worries or be able to love someone simply because I don't know why but I just fell all over for her. Weiqi has changed my life. I no longer can live a carefree life; I always feel the heavy shadow of expectation to achieve high level of excellence. I don't know how to break myself free from those heavy chains. I feel so tired....

围棋.我

2009-09-25T23:24:00.000+08:00

Today was suppose to be a day of celebration for me. While I played 小林老师 this morning, I decided not to flinch and stare right straight into 小林老师's gun barrels. I chose to battle and challenge 小林老师 on his strongest part of game - 功夫棋, a marathon type of game essentially competing on players' 基本功 and 内力. I managed to hit the wire first and won by 1.5 points.

黑: 小林光一 (3586) 白: 夏衔誉 (phil1578) 6.5 komi 白+1.5目

黑13 = R13 白48 = S6 白74 = 84 黑77 = Q13

白118 = 170 黑123 = A

白188 = 194 黑191 = 248

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the victory, I had a rush of emotions. I was very proud that I still have what I used to have - guts of a warrior to stare right into opponent's eyes and put myself through the test on opponent's strongest turf. My adrenaline still rushes in excitement when I face strong opponents. But the initial excitement quickly washed away, I became deeply reflective on the journey I had with weiqi.

Because of weiqi, I left my parents at age of seven and only allowed to visit my parents once a year. I often cried in streams of tears. In my sorrow and sadness, I found comfort and numbness by getting myself lost in the world of intersections and black & white seeds. I remember when I was in primary 1 I stole money from my god-mother's piggy bank. I used the money to buy a box of toy and gave it to a random student on the bus. I thought the gift will make him accept me and take me in as his friend. In my few months as a p1 student, I thought of many antics and did many many silly things; for example, used color markers to draw on my face during the nap period, to attract peers' attentions. I wishfully thought by doing those silly things they will accept me and be friend with me. My interactions with similar age kids were short-lived. Soon I dropped out of school as weiqi gradually took over the whole of my life.

I began training weiqi 10-12 hours a day everyday of the year. I started to have frequent dreams about weiqi and many sleepwalks with weiqi embedded in my subconsciousness. While other similar age kids grew up with their Gundam toys or toy soldiers, black and white seeds were my only companion and the only world that I know. Slowly I isolated myself further and further away from others and retracted deeper and deeper into myself. In my years of pursuit for weiqi pinnacle, I lost myself and lost too many precious people and things that are so dear to my heart. Because of weiqi training in China, I didn't get to talk to my father for the last time as he laid ill on the dying bed from terminal cancer. I rushed home overnight and only able to see his body laid cold before he was to be sealed into the coffin. Upon seeing me, my father cried. Streams of liquor poured out from his eyes. I was shocked and felt numb. I didn't know what to think or how to react because I don't understand this part of the world. My emotions had become so numb and so dulled from years of isolation and gruelling training. I really don't understand the complexity of people. I really can't act or express out my emotions like a normal person. Over years I had built a thick wall around me shielding myself from the rest of the world.

For so many years, I buried my unfathomable sadness and loneliness deep down inside of me as I pursue my dream of weiqi pinnacle. I dreamt of one day face my one and only childhood idol 小林光一老师 in 棋聖戦七番棋挑战赛. I want to face 小林老师 in his prime and on the biggest stage. I want to stare straight right into his gun barrels. No flinching. Nothing but raw battles of life and death. I wanted to battle out my heart and soul and leave absolutely no regrets or doubts. That was the way I wanted it to be. That was my weiqi dream.

To be continue...

Opening analysis

2009-09-25T11:43:00.000+08:00

Due to 小目 (triangle), black usually defends with 黑33. 白34 is not in rush to split at 35 (see pro game below for more explainations) because after 黑35 links 白36 is an ideal move:

1) contain right side black's moyo potential

2) expand left side white's moyo potential

黑: 周鹤洋白: 李康

After white splits with 白34, 黑37 invade is used to settle the shape and gain sente. As black takes 黑45, black's opening is successful because black can get either one of the two attractive 大场 A or B. One of the keys to opening is to calculate how 大场 is being splitted between black and white. For black, on your next move you want to have two equally attractive 大场 to choose from. For white, you want to grab the last remaining 大场 and leave no choice for black.

Continue with previous opening, 黑37 invasion is very urgent; otherwise, white defends at 39 is huge. After 黑45 settles down, white faces dilemma to choose between 大场 A or B.

黑: 周鹤洋白: 王檄

White chooses to expand with 46 and 48. But 黑49 gets the critical mutual expansion point. White's attempt to recoup losses from attack wasn't successful; black settles down easily.

黑: 周鹤洋白: 胡耀宇

This game played about two months after the previous game.
Not satisfied with the previous result, 白46 invades then follow common sequence up to 黑63. 白64 decides to break away from the norm (join at 67) to grab the last remaining 大场. 白64 works because as the board shrinks in size the value of thickness reduces; hence, the value of 黑67 cuts is not so big now.

To be continue.....

Have faith in Yourself

2009-09-23T23:27:00.000+08:00

Life does not fail you; only you give up and fail yourself.

First time playing against my childhood idol - 小林光一老师

2009-09-23T21:23:00.000+08:00

After lunch on Saturday afternoon, my private students Huangqi and Xiyue begged with their cute and innocent eyes to see me play on tygem for them to watch. Unable to refuse their innocent voices, I obliged and absent minded log on to tygem. Initially I thought I just log on to fulfill their request. But as the screen is loading I couldn't believe who is online.... 3586!!! 3586 is the ID known to be played by 小林光一老师. 小林老师 is known to play on tygem in the early morning hours like around 5:30-7:00 Singapore time. Without hesitation I sent match request button for 3586, my fingers all crossed and head bowing praying hard that he will accept my request but deep down I really didn't think he will accept my challenge. What happened for the next two minutes really made me utterly speechless... 小林老师 accepted my challenge, came into the room and accepted the time setting of 5mins basic/30sec 3x byomi. Even as the game started 小林老师 placed his first move, I couldn't stop the lightning bolts effect in my head. I keep on mutter to myself "oh my god... oh my god... oh my god" I am actually playing and learning from my one and only childhood idol - 小林光一老师. At this instant, I am awash with complete admiration and adulation for him; I lost my edge of fiery spirit to engage in a competitive match against 小林老师. Well my two innocent pupils cheered me on with unwavering faith not knowing who am I up against. They shouted "老师 where can I log on to tygem? I want to bet on you!!!" Well no less than millions dots of doubts about myself just crossed my head. I felt bad to pop the wishful bubble they have about me. Below I will introduce some of my thoughts on my first match against 小林老师. Since this match, I have my Sabbatical wake up every morning around 5:30am awaiting 小林老师's arrival. We have since played five games and I only able to win 1.

黑: 小林光一白: 夏衔誉

White (triangle) approached lower instead higher for two reasons:

1) Upper side is not easy for black to develop in a grand scale as left side joseki has left white many 先手 utilizations.

2) If black pincers loosely then lower approach is better than higher approach for white to shift to the right side (see example below).

黑7 is an interesting opening move experimented many times by 常昊. The idea behind 黑7 is to make C3 corner invasion much more severe. If white defends at D2 then black will either link at L4 or jump at G5. 白8 approach seemingly aggressive but it is intended to shift to the lower side after 黑9 pincer.

After 黑13, white finds it very difficult to directly split in the lower side. Instead 白14 approach lower, black unwilling to defend at P4 and sacrifice territory counters with 黑15. 白16 and 白18 split is much more comfortable.

To be continue...

2009-09-21T07:29:00.000+08:00

黑：依田紀基白：夏衔誉

白52 妙手! 白 can tighten black corner liberties with A. Plus after white joins at B white can save three triangle white seeds with K4.

黑53 extended the liberties but 依田老师 might have overlooked 白66 pull out. 白72 concludes this battle: white has a possible force out at A and overall white has a good lead on black.

If black cuts at 黑67 then white can 白68 and 白70 captures 4 black seeds.

白78 force out is very severe. Variation to 白96 is 一本道. After 白96, black finds it very difficult to escape outward. Black's first instinct is to jump at A.

After black jumps out, 白98 removes black group's eye. If black forces to capture white seeds with 黑99 then 白100-108 black crumbles.

Actual game. After 白102, white still can run at A to capture black seeds.

Overall the game was difficult for me in the opening. I was fortunate that 依田老师 had crucial misread in the lower right battle. I was able to close out the game in the end.

2009-09-20T01:07:00.000+08:00

黑：依田紀基 (tenho-) 白：夏衔誉

Since 黑17 deviates from the usual extension at A (see pro game below), white has no mood to defend at B otherwise the position of 黑17 is better than extension at A.

黑：羽根直樹白：尹俊相

白16 extension forces black to defend at 黑17 and gains sente to press at 白18. The downside of 白16 is black can peek at 黑23 and exchange with 白24.

This discussion will analyze how severe if white tenuki after P2 and black blocks at triangle.

Cramming in the corner is quite tough for white to 忍; 白20 counter is the 心情. Variation up to 白26 is 一本道. 黑27 can play either A or B.

If black extends at 27 then white can live comfortably in the corner. After 白28, black's exterior has flaws around O3 area. 黑29 direct attacking is not so severe; white can defend lightly with 白30 and 白32.

黑27 puts more pressure on corner white group. If white is not careful and blocks at 白28 then the result is disastrous.

Correct response is to tenuki and play 白28. Corner white group is ko live no matter how black plays.

2009-09-19T21:57:00.000+08:00

Question: White turn

黑：依田紀基 (tenho-) 白：夏衔誉

Triangle black seed is the last move. White has to kill the corner black group clean or figure out something else. Otherwise if white captures the corner with ko and black seals white in with A, the game will be very difficult for white.

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