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Yoda Norimoto 9d and Yamashita Keigo Kisei (who is also defending the Kisei title against Kobayashi Satoru) are fighting today to decide who will challenge the current Judan title holder, Cho Chikun.

The game is still undecided as I write this, but I was delighted by a tesuji that white (Yoda) played earlier in the game. White to play in dia 1 - where would you play? Hint: the lower-right corner is hot: black looks vulnerable in the corner, but what is the best way to attack him? White is also weak, he doesn’t really have many choices.

Dia 1

White 1 in dia 2 is a very nice tesuji - it takes advantage of black’s lack of liberties. If white 3 was in place to start with, white 1 would be easy to find, but in the game white 1 is surprising at first. Black is isolated in the corner after white 5 - black cannot push through on the left because white will block with atari.

Dia 2

So here is the second problem for today, easier than the first one: black to play and live in the lower-right corner in dia 3.

Dia 3

Just simply playing atari and pushing doesn’t lead anywhere: black is left with one eye. Some special measures are in order for black to live.

Dia 4

Sacrifice is the magic word: dia 5 is the best black can do, which is to fight a ko for his life (if white plays 4 at 5, for instance), but that’s of course much better than dia 4.

Dia 5

Yamashita won the 3rd Kisei game by resignation, just like he did in the first two.

Looks like Kobayashi Satoru is not in good shape. I don’t know the professional verdict on this third game, but it seemed to me that after the first day, with black so strong in the center and white struggling for life on the lower side, white had a difficult game already. Please let me know if any of you followed the pro comments!

One interesting position in the second day of the game was the following, after move 83: it is white’s turn.

The position is complicated, so it is very instructive to pretend you are white and decide where to play next - this is actually the basis of studying pro games, just pretend it’s yourself playing, think what you’d play, then compare with what happened in the game.

Another interesting question, about the same position: analyse the status of the white group in the lower right: it has 2 eyes, right? Well, there is a small catch: there is something that black can try, only it doesn’t quite work yet. What’s the furthest black stone that, would that be present on the board, the attack would succeed?

This is a good question to ask, because in the heat of the game we often forget that the status of a group can change when the surroundings change.

It is still day 1 in the third Kisei game - but a major fight was already consumed, and another one is about to begin.

Here are 2 quizzes from this first day of playing.

Problem 1

Black to play - choose from A to G. Pay attention at both areas of influence and potential territory, but also at groups and balance of power. Shall black play in the largest open area (A), or invade and put pressure on white in the lower left (B), or make a base for his own weak group (C), or attack from the center (D), or connect below (E), or take white’s base away while expanding (F), or strengthen his main area, the right side (G)?

Problem 2

Black to play - choose from A to F. Since the lower side is a hot area, all suggested moves are concentrated here. Shall black connect with A (to get strong before attacking), or attack from the outside (B or C), or take white’s base away (D or E), or play a large territorial move, threatening white from a distance (F)?

I saw this yose tesuji twice in the last few months, and I was surprised it didn’t ring any bell for me - there are not so many yose tesuji out there. Must be my memory making fun of me…

Here is the yose problem: black to play in the following diagram:

Dia 1

Check the new article I added on the website for the answer and some more detailed diagrams about this position. (Of course, try to find the answer by yourself before for the maximum learning experience).

I don’t even want to think about how many times I might have missed this relatively easy trick…

Oh, and if I’ll be writing yet another article on the same topic, please let me know