This is a game between Park Younghun 9p and Dang Yifei 4p from the quarter finals of the 4th BC Card Cup.
Park Younghun (9 dan, left) and Dang Yifei (4 dan) play the opening game.
Park Younghun
Park Younghun defeated Hong Seongji 8p and Lee Wonyoung 3p (both are Korean) in the main tournament before this game.
He’s ranked number 3 in Korea, and he’s very good at the endgame and counting.
Dang Yifei, new kid on the block.
Dang Yifei
On the other hand, Dang Yifei is a new face.
He was ranked number 54 in China before this tournament, but he beat Lee Sedol 9p and Tan Xiao 7p before this game.
Lee and Tan are currently number one in Korea and China respectively, so it was very sensational.
Lots of Go fans have started to watch him.
His style of play is not clear, as he’s still young, but his moves are sharp and solid at the same time.
Let’s have a look at the game.
Commented game record
Dang Yifei vs Park Younghun
Park Younghun and Dang Yifei after the game finished.
About An Younggil 8p
Thank you for the nice commentary
How would the game have been, if white responded to black’s move at j18?
It’d have been very close, but slightly better for B.
nice commentary
Was move 47 (at K11) really bigger than an approach at F17 for instance?
K11 is the key point for influence over the center.
Usually in this sort of fight for influence neither side can tenuki before it’s settled, because if you do, your influence gets crumpled and folded inefficiently upon itself, while the other player takes control of the game. Or worse, you get attacked. One move in the top left isn’t that valuable in contrast, because the center is urgent.
For example, if black plays F17 as in your example, white will just extend to K11. This should be sente, because next white can strike at black’s vital point with O10, then play M12 if black connects. This threatens to cut black again, and if black connects white could start a leaning attack in the top right with something like P15 (there may be a better move too and white could also choose to stop the attack for the time being at this point).
So, if you assume that black will answer K11 to avoid being attacked, it gives white sente again to defend the top left (although in this game D6 is also more urgent, so white would actually play there instead), which means black has gained very little, while losing ground in the center.
It takes quite awhile to get a feeling for the importance of these sorts of moves. As an exercise, you might want to consider the sequence that starts after white L8 and figure out for yourself what could happen if either side tenukis before it’s finished.
Wow I didn’t realize just how quickly weak the black group could become if black left the area at that time.
Is it really necessary for black to allow white to settle the entire left side, for that black group to settle though?