Episode #96 Mirror ladders
We're going to have a look at a game between Nakayama Noriyuki and Hanawa Yasutoki.
These are two professionals that played this game in 1977.
It was two days after the Dutch Santaclaus.
Dutch Santaclaus is at 5 december, so this game was played at the 7th of december in 1977.
Do you notice something?
I would think: Oh no! My opponent, who plays as white, is mirroring me! He's playing mirror-go!
You see? Black extends, white extends, black connects, white also connects..
And now black plays this ladder?
Is this a good ladder for black?
Yes! Let's see it because it's tricky to read sometimes.
But let's play it out. Taktaktak.
At this moment pokpok..yeah this is not good for white! So white will not extend.
White will not play here..but instead white will mirror black again and play this ladder aswell. But that's strange to me because this ladder is also not good for white right?
No, that's a bit funny. Let's see this ladder.
The ladder is broken and black connects here.
And white again is not happy.
So what is going on?
Well ofcourse after this black extends then because that is a good move and well..white again mirrors the game!
So are we looking forward to two ladders that are clashing in the centre?
I think they will meet in the centre at [tengen].
Let's see what happens.
So again black plays a ladder move. Black can only play this move because the ladder is good for black. We have to emphasize this because in mirror-go it is easy to lose your head. When your opponent is playing these annoying mirroring moves, you might want to force something to get rid of the mirror-go..
..but you always have to keep focusing on playing good moves as black.
For example, if this move by black would not be a good ladder, then white would not mirror again but he would simply extend.
And then the exchange of black [1] for white [2] has become very bad.
When black now plays here, white has not played a useless move at [A] like black has done with [B].
So black can only play this move because the ladder is good for him.
That's why mirror-go is so difficult. There is always this pressure on black.
Black has to keep finding the good moves and white can just simply copy.
So now we're seeing that there will be this big clash in the centre.
The two ladders are moving forward to eachother.
And like we said black has two reasons for playing the ladder.
First of all the ladder works for black. So all the moves that black is doing are [good moves]. And when white keeps copying these moves he will die at [tengen].
And the mirror will shatter! Black has calculated this and that's why he's playing like this.
Let's see what happens when the ladder continues.
At this moment white actually played here. He broke the ladder!
White can no longer continue with mirroring because this would be devestating for white.
We can see that everything comes together at the central point, at [tengen].
White can not continue like this because when black plays at [tengen], white is destroyed.
[Tengen] is usually the move that destroys the mirror-go. And it is often a good idea, when you're faced with mirror-go, to make [tengen] a valuable move.
So you can set up a position where [tengen] becomes a good move to play.
And in this case [tengen] would be a fantastic move to play for black, so white plays here and diverts.
This breaks the ladder in the lower right. Black ofcourse needs to extend and now white can go out!
Because the ladder is suddenly good for white.
Black could continue with playing mirror-go if he wanted to, like this, but I think he's happy to play somewhere elese now. Right.
Black played here. Eventhough this ladder doesn't work, black is looking forward to some ataris on the left side. He has a strategy in mind.
Actually black plays a ladder which does not work. And normally this is very bad.
There is a saying that each move you play in a ladder that does not work will cost you 7 points.
And in this game black played 4 moves where it was not necessary, in the ladder.
So he actually lost 28 points, according to the proverb.
But black was looking forward to this atari.
He is playing forcing moves on the left side and he will try to make up for the 28 points that he lost in the broken ladder.
And he sets out a vast area on the left.
So he's hoping to gain his points back and to make something very big on the left side.
White takes counter-measures immediately and resists with this pincer.
However, this white group will now be attacked very severely.
This is a very severe move by black that aims at taking away white's eyes.
White first pushes and black continues with the fight by pushing back.
And after this move black found a very nice attacking move which was a defense at the same time.
The normal move for black would be to simply extend here, right?
Yes, because there's still aji. When black simply tenuki's, white can cut black's stones off.
So black needs to defend against this. But black did so in an indirect way.
This was a very creative move that hits white at a vital point.
When white now goes for the kill he will be disappointed because he will die himself actually.
Black wins this capturing race, so white can not afford to go for the kill, but has to defend.
Now black is also forced to come back.
And white needs to escape. This move doesn't only escape for white but it also seperates black.
So after white goes out here, black has two weak groups of his own. And he comes back to defend the weakest one.
And again this move also has multiple purposes, because it also removes white's eyeshape and it is looking forward to attacking even more with a peep at [A].
And the peep at [A] was so severe that white immediately defended against it by playing this sequence. This protected against a black move at [A].
Black is now trying to settle his group and at the same time looking forward to a counter-attack.
So it's a kind of leaning-settling-attacking technique.
Right!
And this move looks like a thank you move. I don't get it Peter, what is this?
Yes, this is normally not good because black is happy to give this atari. However, if we go back there is still a cutting point at [A] which white needs to defend.
And white does so by forcing black to play the atari, and this removes white's weakness.
And white is also going out with this move, right? He has to escape still.
Yes. True.
After this, black played this beautiful tesuji! And it is surprising how often this move can come up in your own games.
So keep your eye out for it.
And the idea is that if white extends here, black can squeeze.
Black gets free moves on the outside.
And often the idea of this tesuji is to get these stones, the marked ones, in sente.
However, in this case there is also another nice move. If we go back, this black cut is also very severe.
It is difficult to find a good continuation for white.
Anyway, if black would be able to squeeze on the outside, he would be happy.
After such a move white can connect.
By playing here.
However, black could live.
This is a forcing move and afterwards black can make life on the lower side. This is enough for black.
And that is why black would be happy if white would respond by extending here.
In the game white didn't extend but connected solidly.
This move prepares to retreat at [A]. The more simple move is to simply block. But this move is much better.
White has to come back to connect and now black can extend here.
White is still aiming to attack and to kill black. Because if black lives too easily, white will not have enough points.
It's difficult though, to attack black, because [A] to [D] are all sente for him. They all threaten to cut white.
And the next moves of black take advantage of this. Black is not afraid to fight here and to play this cross-cut, because all the black moves [A], [B] and [C] will be sente for black.
These all threaten to cut white.
However, at this moment black does not know which of these moves he would prefer. So the coming fight will show him if he would like to play at [A],[B] or [C].
And black plays here. Now the cut at [A] becomes serious.
At this moment white played here. It was very close to the end of the game.
If white would have connected here it would have been very bad for white aswell because black can cut through and set up a ko, like this.
Black can play this ko and on top of that he is sure that he lives on the lower side.
So white could not afford to just simply connect.
However, this move was also a bit too much. And white probably knew it already.
Black cuts white in sente here and then gives atari.
White is defending in his corner, but black found some nice tesujis.
First black plays here, which white has to respond to..
..and that made this descent for black sente. This is where the game ends.
This move makes miai. If white would live in the corner, then black could defend and connect underneath.
This also captures the marked white stones, they're all surrounded.
If white seperates black, then black can play on this vital point and this move is devestating.
White is killed in the corner.
So after black played this descent, white resigned.
Always be careful with mirror-go and stay sharp.
Don't play bad moves as black and play on [tengen]. See you next time!