Monthly Archives: August 2016

Saint Petersburg match against Alexander Morozevich, part 2.

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…and the match continued. My hopes were slightly higher when it came to the go games, so it didn’t bode well for me to lose the first one like that. Now I had to win the second chess game in order to stay in the match:

Mmmm, however beautiful that was, it didn’t feel too great to be crushed like that and I didn’t look forward to losing the match 0-4. I had to get my stuff together and play my best:


1.●Q16
2.○D17
3.●Q4
4.○C3
5.●D15
6.○C15
7.●D16
8.○C16
9.●E17
10.○C14
11.●D14
12.○C18
13.●D18
14.○C17
15.●D13

This seemed like a key point, so I didn't hesitate too much to play there.

16.○L17
17.●N17

"Don't use thickness to make territory"...

18.○H17
19.●Q10

I couldn't see a good way to attack the White stones at the top so I set up a sanrensei with the added N17-stone. Can't be bad, no?!

20.○O3
21.●L4

21.●M3

Is the common continuation here, but I felt that

22.○O5
23.●Q6
24.○L4

Was somewhat better for White than the game. Still have no idea whether I'm right or not.

22.○O5
23.●Q6
24.○Q2
25.●R3
26.○L2
27.●F18

I was a bit unhappy about this move, but Alexander Dinerchtein, who commented on the game in russian, seemed to think that it was OK. The idea is to put a bit of pressure on White's stones at the top and not allow F17.

28.○L15
29.●K16
30.○M17

This is a "thank-you-move".

30.○K17

Was better

30.○L16

Or this.

31.●N16

I'm very happy to play this. My corner suddenly got more solid and it becomes difficult for White to invade at R17.

32.○K17
33.●N14

A bit ambitious.

33.●R15

Looks better. Later White can try..

34.○O18
35.●N18
36.○R17

34.○J16

This is too slow. Now I get an easy game.

35.●O7
36.○M6

Alexander Dinerchtein critizised this move, saying it didn't really do much to attack the Black stone below, while making Black happy about the exchange; O7 helps me more than M6 helps White.

37.●D4

No, no, no! I was very unhappy as soon as I played this.

37.●R15

...is the right move here. It will be very difficult for White to invade and meanwhile I can play lightly to erase most of White's are in the bottom corner.

38.○D3
39.●E4
40.○C4
41.●D6
42.○C5
43.●F7

No choice there. I need to make shape in order not to allow White to split and attack (as in the first game).

44.○R13

! A great move. White need to do this before it is too late. I would probably have played R15 against almost any move in the bottom left corner.

45.●R15
46.○S10

This is an overplay although I don't exactly shows why...

46.○R11
47.●R10
48.○Q11
49.●P10
50.○O12
51.●N11
52.○S12

Was an improvement suggested by Alexander Dinerchtein. White lives small, but doesn't have to worry about his group.

47.●S12

This is the right move..

48.○R11
49.●R10

...but this is not.

49.●S13

Was stronger. I was worried about

50.○S8

But White still has a tough time here and - as Dinerchtein pointed out - I will be able to press White down and get thickness that can be used later.

50.○S11
51.●S9
52.○Q11
53.●P10
54.○O12
55.●S13
56.○N11
57.●M13
58.○R12
59.●R14
60.○N8
61.●N7
62.○L11
63.●K14
64.○K15

This is unnecessary. The White stones at the top are alive and K16 is small.

65.●M7
66.○K12

Another stone that is not exatly necessary. Alexander Morozevich is playing a very thick game and peronally I'm quite impressed by this. He hasn't played more than a year and already creates a thick game in order to be able to attack later. Some weaknesses are signs of strength to come later on.

67.●C13

This is "big".

67.●C6
68.○C12

And my stones in the left top could become weak.

68.○C7
69.●B13
70.○B14

70.○C9
71.●A15

And White's stones are dead.

71.●C9
72.○D7
73.●E9
74.○J14

74.○R2

"is worth twenty points": Alexander Dinerchtein.

75.●R2

Big!

76.○J3
77.●N4

Not the best move.

77.●M2
78.○M3
79.●L3
80.○K2
81.●N3
82.○M4
83.●N4
84.○M5
85.●O2
86.○O4
87.●P2
88.○K5

77.●J13

Is interesting, with the intention:

78.○K13
79.●L14
80.○M15
81.●H14
82.○J15
83.●O13
84.○N15
85.●O15
86.○M14
87.●L13

80.○H13
81.●J12
82.○J11
83.●H12

78.○O4

78.○M3

Was much better.

79.●M2

Now the game becomes easy for me. I don't even have to attack White's stones; just keep my head cool and protect my territiory...

80.○M3
81.●L3
82.○N2
83.●K2
84.○M1
85.●K3
86.○M4

86.○F2
87.●M4
88.○N3
89.●P2
90.○L1
91.●O1
92.○K1
93.●J2
94.○J1
95.●H2
96.○H1
97.●G2
98.○G1
99.●F3

Is no fun for White.

87.●J4
88.○L5
89.●E3
90.○E2
91.●F2
92.○D2
93.●C19
94.○B19
95.●D19
96.○A18
97.●G3
98.○G12
99.●B6
100.○C6
101.●B7
102.○B5
103.●C8
104.○G9
105.●H8
106.○G15
107.●F16
108.○N18

108.○O18
109.●N18
110.○R17
111.●Q17
112.○Q18
113.●S18
114.○R18
115.●S17

And White cannot live. I might have missed something though...

109.●O18
110.○M18
111.●P17
112.○G18
113.●F19
114.○S8
115.●T9

115.●R8
116.○T9
117.●R9
118.○S7
119.●S6
120.○R7
121.●R6
122.○Q7

Seemed like giving away too much.

116.○Q8

Perhaps there is something better here...

117.●R8
118.○O8
119.●Q7
120.○P7
121.●P6
122.○P8
123.●K5
124.○L7
125.●O6

125.●M8

Must be better, but in byoyomi I got afraid of

126.○O10
127.●O6
128.○R9
129.●Q9
130.○R7
131.●R9
132.○S7

126.○M8
127.●K6
128.○E7
129.●E6
130.○K1
131.●J2
132.○E10
133.●D10
134.○E11
135.●H9
136.○H10
137.●J10
138.○H11
139.●K9
140.○L9
141.●K8
142.○L8
143.●G19
144.○H19
145.●G17
146.○H18
147.●L6
148.○M5
149.●F14

149.●A14

Threatens to make the corner small, but it doesn't threaten to kill, so I turned elsewhere.

150.○A13
151.●A12
152.○A14
153.●B11
154.○G16
155.●F17
156.○Q3
157.●Q1

I used one of my byoyomi periods here.

158.○P2
159.●R4
160.○L14
161.●M16
162.○K7
163.●J7
164.○D11
165.●C11
166.○F9
167.●G14
168.○H14
169.●P13
170.○O13
171.●O14
172.○Q13
173.●P12
174.○P11
175.●Q14
176.○J11
177.●O10
178.○O11
179.●J1
180.○L1
181.●L13
182.○K13
183.●G13

This is a mistake. There is some terrible aji at G7 later.

183.●G8

183.●K10

184.○K10
185.●J9
186.○H13
187.●F12
188.○F11
189.●N10
190.○M10
191.●M12
192.○M11
193.●F15
194.○D5
195.●E5
196.○G7

There it is! I was down to thirty seconds and was able to find a way to rescue myself.

197.●H7

197.●G8
198.○F8
199.●F6
200.○H7

Ouuups.

197.●G6
198.○F8
199.●F6
200.○H7
201.●J6
202.○H6
203.●H5
204.○G8
205.●J8

And I've been terribly reduced.

198.○E8

This made me happy.

198.○F6

I was expecting this and then...

199.●G6
200.○F8
201.●F5

Would end terribly for me...

202.○H6
203.●F7

201.●G5

Is the only move, but I lose many points here.

199.●G8
200.○D9
201.●C10
202.○E12
203.●F13
204.○P4
205.●Q5
206.○P1
207.●R1
208.○L16
209.●E1
210.○D1
211.●F1
212.○A6
213.●B8

213.●A8

Is bigger

214.○A5
215.●A7

214.○F8
215.●F6
216.○N9
217.●R9
218.○E13
219.●E14
220.○M15
221.●N19
222.○M19
223.●O19
224.○N15
225.●O15
226.○T12
227.●S14

227.●T14

Again...

228.○T13
229.●T14
230.○T11
231.●A7
232.○A5
233.●N6
234.○N5
235.●D8
236.○D12
237.●C12
238.○E9
239.●P14
240.○T10
241.●S7
242.○M14
243.●N13

57½ for White, including komi and 76 for Black. Phew!

maxiGos 6.64

It was a relief to win the last game. In the evening I celebrated with another five games of go.

After my return back to Sweden, Alexander Morozevich continued to play in the open group of the tournament and managed to score an impressive8/9. (The system for go tournaments is completely different from chess tournaments and you mainly play those at or around your own strength) Even more impressive, he managed to beat a 2dan opponent in the last round. In a later mail I got from Alexandre Dinerchtein, who wrote that Morozevich will likely be promoted to 1dan. So, although I still haven’t played a single turnament game in go, I feel it is reasonable to say that I’m close to 1 dan and lately, for the first time in a year, I have experienced an increase in my rating on the servers. Considering what I did in Cellavision Cup last weekend (which I will write about next), it is nice that some things go well.

Saint Petersburg match against Alexander Morozevich, part 1.

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When I first arrived at a chess club in 1984, I was already hooked on chess. I had played with my father for a few years and was in the habit of writing down our games in i red notebook. If someone asked me then whether I wanted to swim, play, go for a walk, run a kite, or just about anything, then what I’d really wanted to say was: “I’d rather play some chess”. I usually didn’t say that, but the feeling was there. One of the things that I have loved about learing to play go is that I sometimes get that same feeling (to the annoyance of those close to me), that, no, I’d rather just play a game of go. I write this just to give you a sense of how happy I was when I was invited to the European Go Congress, to play a combined chess- and go-match against Alexander Morozevich in Saint Peterburg. The match took place the 27:th of July and although I lost it 3-1 it was a great experience; one of those that can make a guy like me go humming “je ne regrette rien” for days. The best part was that I managed to play another ten go games in the two days I was there and got to meet some very strong go players.

IMG_1719

My opponent needs no presentation in the chess world, but I knew little about his strength in go. Alexandre Dinerchtein 3p wrote that AM was “close to 3kyu”, but when I heard that he had already played a few tournaments and was to play both weeks at the European Go Congress, I sensed that he would probably improve fast and that anything was possible.

IMG_1721

I arrived on the 26:th and spent the evening going from hall to hall, checking all the side events and eventually I ended up at an outdoor bar where go players where hanging out, playing and analyzing games. I intended to prepare a bit for the chess games, but in the end my preparation came to primarily consist of a few hours of evening go.

The match started at 10 in the morning and we started with chess. The time limit was 15 minutes +5 seconds. I played Black:

I wasn’t unhappy about the game. My level in rapid games is not that good and Alexander is a world class act. After a short break it was time for the first game of go.  Now I would find out how strong he had become… (The comments below are heavily depending on the video with Wu Hao 2p and Vadim Efimenko 1d.)

This was the first game of the match and I didn't write down the moves. The score is an after-construction from the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7Uq9D4a2aQ where Wu Hao, 2P, comments on the game with the help of Vadim Efimenko.

1.●P16
2.○D16
3.●Q3
4.○Q5
5.●R5
6.○R6
7.●R4
8.○D4

8.○Q7
9.●O3
10.○R11

Is the normal joseki, but I didn't like that Black gets a chance to play

11.●D4

9.●C6
10.○D9

So far so good.

11.●C9

A big surprise for me and - looking back on the game - a key moment where I could have gotten the better game. I kind of sensed this in the moment when Alexander played it and after thinking on it for a minute I thought I had found a sequence that gave me a good game...

12.○C8

This is principled, keeping the pressure on the black stones.

12.○C10

I feared that the sequnece

13.●D8
14.○D10

Would somehow help Black, although it wasn't clear to me how.

13.●D8
14.○D7

14.○C10

This is the right move order, and then after

15.●B9
16.○D7

! (I use the "!" in the style of chess players, meaning "a strong move")

17.●E8
18.○C7

And now the cut

19.●D10

Doesn't work because of the marked stone:

20.○E9
21.●F9
22.○E10

And Black is in atari.

15.●E8
16.○C7

This is a mistake. Even though I manage to isolate the marked stone, my corner is still open to an invasion, so my gains are small...

16.○C10
17.●C7
18.○B9
19.●B8
20.○C9
21.●E6

Looks acceptable for Black although

22.○E9

Is sente for White.

17.●D10
18.○B9
19.●E9
20.○B10
21.●C14

Wu Hao critizised this move saying that it was the wrong direction:

21.●F17

!

22.○C14
23.●K16

Seemed better.

22.○F17
23.●B16
24.○C17

I was harbouring hopes of splitting Black's stones, so I decided not to let him into the corner.

25.●F3
26.○C12

Starting the splitting-procedure, but not gaining as much as I hoped...

26.○Q7

Wu Hao gave

27.●O3
28.○R11
29.●R16
30.○D3

As a better sequence, when the marked points are miai (http://senseis.xmp.net/?Miai).

27.●B17
28.○B18
29.●C16
30.○D17
31.●D15
32.○E5

I had planned to play this when I played the marked stone, intending to either isolate the Black stones in the center, or to attack the Black stone below on a bigger scale. Still, this is a case of hybris.

32.○D3

Was better, keeping the corner and preparing to pincer or finsih the joseki in the bottom right corner.

33.●D12

Alexander handles this part of the game very well and I soon end up in trouble. I was not quite clear about how much thickness Black was gaining in the upper left.

34.○D13
35.●C13
36.○E13
37.●F15

Calm and strong.

37.●C11
38.○B12
39.●B11
40.○A11
41.●A10
42.○A9
43.●B13
44.○A12
45.●A13
46.○A10

Doesn't work for Black since there is no stone at the marked point. Still this could be an idea.

38.○D11
39.●E12
40.○E11
41.●F12
42.○F11
43.●F13

Very calm and strong. During the game I thought it was a bit too solid, but Wu Hao seemd to consider it proper.

44.○C10

44.○B11

45.●G17

Again very good. I'm being smothered at this point. Now I have to find a way for my group to live, without giving away too much territory on the right side...

46.○G18
47.●H18
48.○G16

48.○H17

Wu Hao mentioned the possibility to play

49.●G16
50.○J18
51.●F18
52.○H19
53.●E17
54.○E18
55.●F16
56.○F19
57.●D18
58.○F17

With a ko. However, Black is very solid and has plenty of good moves that can be used as ko-threats, starting with

59.●B12
60.○C11
61.●F18
62.○Q7
63.●E19

I don't like this. My group at the top is still short on eyes if Black plays K17.

49.●H17
50.○F16
51.●J15
52.○F18
53.●A18
54.○B19
55.●M16
56.○M17

I played here first although it seems different when you watch the video.

57.●L17
58.○P18

The commentators did not like this move and nor do I. :)

58.○Q7
59.●O3
60.○R11

Keeping my options as how to proceed in the top right corner, would have been a better idea. Also, I have good moves at the bottom around J3.

59.●Q17

!

60.○L18
61.●N17
62.○M18
63.●L16
64.○Q18
65.●R18

This is the first questionable move my opponent played.

65.●R17

Is better and I will be forced ot live on a very small scale with:

66.○O17
67.●N16
68.○N18

66.○R17
67.●R16

67.●S17
68.○R16
69.●S18
70.○O16
71.●O17
72.○P17
73.●Q16
74.○O15
75.●R15
76.○N16

Let's me get out and live at the same time.

68.○S17
69.●S16
70.○S18
71.●R10

Yet another strong move. Now I should concentrate to live with my marked stones and try to get some points at the bottom. Instead I get desperate and try to live all over the place...

72.○P10

Greedy.

72.○N6
73.●O10
74.○N3

73.●Q8

! Splitting my stones is the right way to go.

74.○O6
75.●O8
76.○N10
77.●M8
78.○L10

78.○P12

79.●M5

Ouch. How will I live with my stones now? My opponent has carried out the attack very well so far and possibly I should die with at least one of the groups.

80.○Q4

Making sente of the marked point due to the fact that there is a nasty cut at R3.

81.●P3
82.○O4
83.●M3
84.○S6
85.●S3
86.○S8
87.●S9
88.○R8
89.●Q7
90.○Q6

90.○R9
91.●Q6
92.○Q9

And Black is happy to have caught the marked stones.

91.●R9
92.○Q9

This is another mistake since Black is able to defend against the cuts while putting even more pressure on my stones below.

92.○M6

!

93.●O7
94.○M6
95.●L6
96.○N5
97.●M7

Finally a mistake that gives me some chances. We were both in byomi by now.

97.●L5
98.○S5
99.●S4
100.○T5

This line was given by Wu Hao 2p as an illustration to how I might live (not meaning that I actually could...)

101.●P5
102.○P4
103.●P6
104.○O3
105.●O2
106.○N2
107.●P2
108.○M2
109.●N3

This is critical.

110.○L3
111.●M4
112.○S2
113.●R2
114.○T3
115.●K2

This is my continuation. It seems very dangerous for me, but I'm not sure I have seen all possibilities.

116.○L2
117.●K3
118.○K4
119.●L4
120.○J3
121.●J4
122.○K5
123.●J5
124.○L7
125.●M7
126.○K6
127.●N6
128.○J2

126.○N6
127.●K7
128.○L8
129.●L9
130.○K8

124.○K6
125.●K7
126.○J6
127.●H6

And the White stones are caught in a ladder.

122.○J2
123.●K1

122.○K1
123.●J2
124.○H2
125.●H3
126.○J1
127.●K5
128.○G2
129.●F2

And the White stones are dead.

121.●J2
122.○M7
123.●L7
124.○L8
125.●N8
126.○N6
127.●L9
128.○K8
129.●K9
130.○J4
131.●H3
132.○H2
133.●G2
134.○H4
135.●H1
136.○M9
137.●J8
138.○K7
139.●J6
140.○J9
141.●K10
142.○J7
143.●H8
144.○H7

This seems good for White since the marked stones are dead.

129.●M9
130.○K9
131.●M10
132.○M11
133.●L11
134.○K10
135.●N11
136.○M12
137.●O10
138.○O11
139.●P9
140.○Q10
141.●N9
142.○R11
143.●S11
144.○T9
145.●S10
146.○S12
147.●Q11
148.○P11
149.●R12
150.○N12

Not an exact analysis, but illustrates that Black can easily become trapped in this line too.

109.●L3

?!

110.○N3

This makes miai of L2 and S2.

111.●L2
112.○S2
113.●R2
114.○T3

Black's corner group is dead!

100.○R7
101.●P5

!

102.○P4
103.●P6
104.○M7
105.●L7
106.○L8
107.●N6
108.○N7
109.●N8
110.○N6
111.●L9
112.○K8
113.●K9

And my group will die.

98.○M4
99.●L5
100.○L4
101.●N3
102.○N4
103.●K4
104.○L3
105.●K3
106.○O3
107.●O2
108.○L2
109.●N2
110.○K2
111.●H3
112.○J2
113.●H2
114.○J3
115.●J4
116.○H4
117.●D2
118.○K5
119.●J5
120.○K6
121.●L7
122.○G4
123.●H5

123.●J6

124.○G5
125.●J7
126.○C2
127.●C3
128.○E2
129.●B2
130.○D3
131.●C1
132.○E3
133.●J10
134.○P12

134.○Q12

135.●Q11
136.○P11
137.●Q12
138.○J11

This is the second losing mistake.

138.○Q13

Was better. I was not able to calculate the consequnces of

139.●R13
140.○R14
141.●Q14
142.○P13
143.●S13

139.●P13
140.○R13

But it seems like Black has some trouble with the marked group.

139.●P13

Very good, now Black gets a big territory on the right side.

140.○O13
141.●O14
142.○P14

It was better to leave this of later.

142.○N13

Is clearly better keeping some aji.

143.●Q13
144.○N13
145.●N14
146.○H10

I was hoping to isolate the marked stones

146.○H7

Looks better

147.●J6
148.○G9
149.●H8
150.○G8
151.●G7
152.○F7
153.●H6
154.○F6

147.●K10
148.○K11

148.○H7

!?

149.●H9
150.○G9
151.●H8
152.○G6
153.●H7
154.○N18

154.○B4

!

155.●C4
156.○B5

154.○L9

155.●C4

155.●B5

!

156.○B5
157.●C5
158.○B6
159.●G10
160.○H11
161.●F9
162.○G12
163.●G13
164.○B4
165.●B3
166.○E1
167.●D1
168.○H13
169.●H14
170.○J13

170.○B12

171.●G15
172.○H16
173.●J16
174.○K18
175.●J17
176.○M14

176.○B12

Is bigger.

177.●B12
178.○C11

178.○L9

179.●L9
180.○L11

180.○M9

181.●N15

181.●M15

182.○M9
183.●K9
184.○S5
185.●S4
186.○T16
187.●T15
188.○T17
189.●S15
190.○T9
191.●T10
192.○T8
193.●Q10
194.○P9
195.●N6

195.●K14

196.○J14
197.●H15
198.○M1

198.○L14

198.○A4

199.●N9
200.○M10
201.●O9
202.○O10
203.●L14
204.○L13
205.●M15
206.○M13
207.●P6
208.○O5
209.●A4
210.○B7
211.●E7
212.○A5
213.●A3
214.○E6
215.●F7
216.○D6

216.○F6

216.○K14

217.●G19
218.○F19
219.●H19
220.○E15

220.○K14

221.●E16

221.●E14
222.○E16

222.○D18

222.○D19

222.○E14
223.●F14
224.○E17
225.●D14
226.○E16

223.●E14
224.○K14
225.●F6
226.○F5
227.●L15
228.○A11
229.●T5
230.○T4
231.●T3
232.○N1

I'm not sure about how this and the next few moves came about since Wu Hao sometimes added moves in order to calculate the score.

233.●O1
234.○M2
235.●Q2
236.○A13
237.●O17

This move and the next was also plyad earlier...

238.○O18
239.●B13
240.○P17
241.●Q16
242.○A12
243.●A14
244.○H6
245.●J6
246.○T6
247.●G8
248.○F10
249.●R7
250.○S7

Finally, we are back in the actual game.

251.●B11
252.○A10
253.●D9
254.○E17
255.●E15
256.○J19
257.●J18
258.○K19

And Alexander eventually won with 13.5 points (if I remember it correctly) after fighting a ko in the bottom right. All in all, I got off to a bad start, but after a middlegame where I was clearly worse, I managed to get back and enter an endgame where I had some chances. However, my opponent turned out to play the endgame far better than me. I made some terrible decisions especially I missed important points (marked), that gave away more than 15 points in all. It was a fantastic experience to get a game commented on by a pro. My thanks go to Wu Hao 2p and his co-commentator Vadim Efimenko.

maxiGos 6.64

So, down 0-2 after the first two games and a chess game coming up next. I wasn’t too optimitic about my chances to win the match. (To be continued)

Old news and good news

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The good news are that Cellavision Cup starts today, with a very strong field. I’m rated number 7, but if I can survive the first four rounds of rapid chess, then I’m optimistic about my chances. The old news I’m referring to are concerning the Swedish Championship, which I promised to cover in my last post. I didn’t play well there, but I had my moments and since I hadn’t played a lot in the months before my expectations weren’t that great. The winner, Erik Blomqvist, started out with three draws, but then he’d had enough and won the last six games. It was an impressive run. Here is a game from round 6, that illustrates an important aspect of his style:

After the weekend I’ll cover Cellavision Cup and my match against Morozevich.