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Guest commentary

Commentary by Arek Kulczycki

Daniel Sepczuk vs Arek Kulczycki (LG #1911392)

c2 f8 (Diagram 1): At the time when game started I was a bit confused on how to play vs c2. Also I was experimenting with 6th rank moves on short diagonal (as opposed to usual 5th rank) in a couple of earlier games on kurnik.pl. I don’t recommend it but I opted for f8 to avoid direct threats on the left side and to push Daniel a little bit out of his usual preparation.

j9 j10 i10 h12: Obviously Black played j9 and I decided to attack that corner immediately before anybody’s advantage is visible ( is very specific so I really had to play to my strengths therefore I had to recognise my strengths early on). h12, being a very doubtful move, was again an attempt to immediately solve the east corner, preferably like: k8 l8 g11 e12 e13 h10 h11 i5

b10 e12: But Daniel apparently didn’t like my plan. He played tenuki and picked b10 which confused me a lot because it was not any direct threat, but gave me a lot of questions. How do I use ? Where do I attack the southwest side—top or bottom? Not knowing the answers I tried to play a double threat of 1) connecting to southwest on A and 2) undermining Daniel’s group.

A 1 2 3 7 5 4 8 6 a b c d e f g h i j k l m 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Reset board to initial state Next move Previous move Last move First move

Diagram 1


c11 d11 (Diagram 2): Daniel denied my A dreams so I reckoned to separate both his groups significantly. Also maintains some potential (Aji) in the south corner—white B might be playable at some point! (b11 c10 b13)

c6: After this move it’s pretty clear that the only accessible connection to the southwest for White is on the middle of the edge. Probably White cannot do it without any help on top though... Looks doubtful. c8 d8 c10 b11 c9 b7 a8 d10 d9 e9 e8 h7

c5 d5 f4: Therefore I played for the only possibe enforcement on top (b7 f3 or b7 f3 e3 b9 d8 c10 b11 e6 c7 c9 d10 d9 e9 e8 h7). Now looks much better, doesn’t it? But again Daniel didn’t like my plan!

h6 i5: After another tenuki by Daniel I saw a clear opportunity to capitalise on my eastern threats by gaining a semi-escape for the 3rd rank on the northeast edge: h5 e6 g11 f13 i11 i12 k11 j11 l9 k9 l8 k8 l7 k7 l6 k6 l5 k4 k5 i6

A B 14 12 13 16 11 15 9 10 a b c d e f g h i j k l m 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Reset board to initial state Next move Previous move Last move First move

Diagram 2


j6 e6 (Diagram 3): But he denied it with j6. Or did he? I don’t know what would happen if I played simply k4, but surely I had a wide choice of other moves so I decided to tenuki. e6 seems to be very threatening towards the southwest if Black answers locally: f5 e5 b8 b9 c8 c9 d8 b7 c7 e3, or f5 e5 b7 f3 e3 b9.

f5 e5 h7 d9: The most difficult move in my opinion of the whole game was d9. At the time I knew the game was very close and I worried it could have been lost. There were many things to consider, let me show you some subtleties:
1) I needed C badly, but feared to play that nozoki too early. Daniel could decline defending his group on D , which would potentially give me even more worries. Saving my C option for later required avoiding to play in this area at all.
2) I also needed to not waste the potential of B . I thought that playing b13 would be too big a commitment to bottom side so I wanted to just threaten it.
3) There was a constant big threat of a direct connection to top on the left. A trade off to make by Black. At any time he can play E in exchange for White having free F .
I’m not sure how well d9 deals with all the above, but it was a kind of compromise.

B C D E F 20 19 18 17 21 22 a b c d e f g h i j k l m 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Reset board to initial state Next move Previous move Last move First move

Diagram 3


k8 l8 d12 (Diagram 4): Later on Daniel forced two simplifications in the east and south. Next, move 26, was the second most difficult move of the game for me.

h5: After the southeast corners became solved I wanted the game to be as unclear as possible at least in the northwest. The C dilemma and E / F exchange option stood on. Suddenly I was very weak on the northeasst side and unsure how to make anything of my G stone anymore. I calculated that an obvious response, k4, was not an obvious solution so with my move I was forcing more complications. Seems that Daniel thought the same because he didn’t choose k4.

c8 b9 c9 f3 d7 d4 j4: Daniel simplified again so the whole southwest side was fixed. To some extent my H did it’s job because I gained secure and made Daniel commit a whole move for .

k3: Even though 3 corners were already fixed the game was still a mess! At this point I really analysed a huge number of endgames, but haven’t found a clear result. The most hopeful positions I saw after this weird k3.

C E F 30 34 32 33 26 G 31 27 23 24 28 29 H 25 a b c d e f g h i j k l m 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Reset board to initial state Next move Previous move Last move First move

Diagram 4


l4 i7 (Diagram 5): Daniel responded in a way which I did not consider in my earlier analysis and it gave me hope. As Daniel put one more stone into his north group it finally became possible to risk on i7. I expected he would defend on i6. In that position I could be optimistic about acquiring this shape in center: i6 h9 … h8. It’s really hard to say if it’s possible, but I repeat my example: i6 h9 g11 i3 k2 m1 j3 j5 k4 k5 l5 f13 k6 e11 e8 f7 e10 f10 f9 g8 g9 h8.

k6 f10 h8 e11 g12 i8: The rest of the game. Black resigns.

35 37 36 39 42 38 40 41 a b c d e f g h i j k l m 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Reset board to initial state Next move Previous move Last move First move

Diagram 5

hexanna vs Arek Kulczycki (LG #2392427)

a10 S swap p4 n15 d5 (Diagram 6): Black moves already made sure that S doesn’t come into play too easily.

e15: IMO that’s too close to the edge for an opening in 19×19, but I like to play for safety against a lower rated opponents.

c16 g11 p15 k18: Very unorthodox responses to black joseki to introduce some confusion, while also it doesn’t leave obvious local answers to Black. I’ve tried k18 before with success (see here).

S 3 5 1 8 6 4 9 7 10 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Reset board to initial state Next move Previous move Last move First move

Diagram 6


o10 (Diagram 7): Challenging move, attempting to cut the white edge in half. It’s difficult for White to coordinate forces on top and bottom.

n7 p8 p6: My typical way of fighting the above is to create a relatively solid connection to the edge, here I was very happy with the - bridge eyeing A .

d14 c15 d15 d4 e4 c17: We exchanged some improving joseki-ish moves. White seems to have now solid forces on the left, but now that I provoked I’m starting to worry if S ever comes alive. I still see some strength in it if White is forced to play via B or A .

A B S 18 19 14 12 13 11 15 16 17 20 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Reset board to initial state Next move Previous move Last move First move

Diagram 7


o14 n14 o13 p16 (Diagram 8): Black walks right into White’s C escape. My feeling at the time was that the pattern in the right corner should strongly favour White.

o16 n18 q17 o18 r15 q15 m17 l19 r14 q14 r13 q13 r12 q12 l16 j17 j18 k17 r11 q11 r10 q10 r9: White has a huge connected “snake” that surrounds several black stones so that looks really nice, but at this exact moment I notice a huge problem. If I continue the ladder, Black has a great q6 resource and in order to keep my group alive I have to concede the D -E bridge! Suddenly that seems a large black advantage. I have no choice but to save the larger group and cut the black connection to the southeast that has been building up along the northeast edge.

q9 r8 q8 q6: Editor’s note: As anticipated.

q7: I decided that playing a more “solid” r7 is hopeless and the only chance is to connect the groups, expecting s6 as next move to keep the southeast connection forever alive.

E 51 D 52 50 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 38 37 23 36 35 22 21 34 33 30 29 39 25 24 40 42 31 27 41 C 26 28 32 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Reset board to initial state Next move Previous move Last move First move

Diagram 8


p7 (Diagram 9): A shocking move by Black, they allow me to keep the group alive. Later, checking with the katahex engine, it’s actually the best move and Black has a significant advantage.

r2 r5 s5 h11: Now White seems to have all the threats in the world, but the board is still mostly empty so it’s anybody’s game. does a good job of cutting my most central stone (F ) from all that’s going on on the right. My plan is to extend the big white group as much as possible, then use this threat to get free stones in center and dominate the board.

54 55 56 53 F 57 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Reset board to initial state Next move Previous move Last move First move

Diagram 9


h18 i17 i18 h17 f13 e12 g18 g17 f18 e17 d19 d18 b17 c19 e16 g16 f16 f17 (Diagram 10): So far so good. The F - block provides a solid escape for ladders from the northwest. I should be able to threaten in the center, but I have to be cautious about Black, literally, connecting all the dots: G -H -I -J -K -. It’s a chain that has many holes, so I don’t feel directly threatened, but it takes just a couple of stones to complete the connection. *engine check* As a matter of fact, the threat was real and the best move was to counter it with k15, nonetheless giving Black a significant advantage.

i13 k15 p3: Black filled one missing “hole,” therefore I stop the end of the chain on top and hope for a ladder towards S . I should still have time to strengthen the center.

S 78 G H I F 63 62 76 J 77 72 74 73 K 70 67 75 65 61 59 69 66 64 58 60 71 68 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Reset board to initial state Next move Previous move Last move First move

Diagram 10


j7 j8 (Diagram 11): Even if position feels relatively stable it’s suddenly very hard to find moves. White cannot afford to allow a double bridge in center with black L , as that would provide a large connection to the northwest. If a move on top is played then grows and becomes easier to connect from the southeast. j8 looks like the only choice. It concedes the west part of the board, but hopefully is connectable with the north.

h10 h9 g10 g9: The moves are forced and solidify connection of to the southwest. At this moment White’s forces are really close together, but it’s Black to move and likely the next move is k8 to split the sides apart and White has to make an attempt to (threated from all sides) o11 j10 k7 l7 l6 n5 m6 m7 n6 q4 n11 m10 n8 n10 l12. Unfortunately the game stops here.

L 79 80 84 82 83 81 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Reset board to initial state Next move Previous move Last move First move

Diagram 11