…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.