Li League - Match 15 - Wakagoi vs Senko

 

For the next round we have the two Ueno sisters facing off again, though missing each other.. Wakagoi will hope to keep in 3rd place but Senko is a challenge..

Pairings

The key game looks like the first with the two co-captains facing off, both the other games have the relevant Captains against the 3rd string (Wakagoi) 4th string (Senko) and considering the Captains are the Ueno sisters it would be surprising if they lost..

Board	Wakagoi	Senko	Result	Winner
Board 1	Suzuki Ayumi	Chiaki Mukai	W	Suzuki Ayumi
Board 2	Okuda Aya	Ueno Asami	B+R	Ueno Asami
Board 3	Ueno Risa	Izawa Akino	B+R	Ueno Risa

Full match cast is here

Board 1 - Suzuki Ayumi (White) vs Chiaki Mukai (Black)

Opening

Mukai with Black opened 44 and Ayumi reciprocated with a cross game invitation which Black refused continuing 34 facing self, white then took another 44. Black then took an internal large knight off of her 34 and White 33 invaded. The commonish AI variation then played out which switched into the older style as Black extended twice. White usually gets sente off of these and used it to large knight her own bottom left corner and at this point Black knight approached white's other corner stone. At this point White pincered and extended by playing the star point (working very well with the large knight just set) in some beautiful direction of play..erm play.. Black counter pincered as White's pincer was far away with White attaching to move out to the center and Black making some rough attempts to surround and soak up space. It was a really interesting a key play as by move 34 black had generated  a little territory at the top, white had a pressured group with one eye that would likely live and Black had a pressured group with possibly one eye as well. 

Middle

The game then de-generated into a huge running fight with both sides scrapping in the center but with white gaining a point here or there until it had 7 or so points and a lead white failed to drop for the rest of the game

Black at one point set a ko up that white played once then seemed to decide didn't care about at all and ignored which was amusing..

A great win by Ayumi who, like Saki, seems to have exorcised her demons from the first half of the tournament. It also sets the team up for an upset of the mighty Senko as it would take an unlikely Captain loss to counteract this..

Board 2 - Okuda Aya (White) vs Ueno Asami (Black)

Opening

This was possibly the most unusual opening I have seen in the competition so far. We basically had a mirror game for 17 moves.

Have a look at this

I get it! you are against the Japanese female number 1 so you'd except she knows what she is doing..

Sadly for Aya it was only while she was mirroring that the game remained level. As soon as move 17 was played off Asami attacked and started carving our a lead

Middle

There is not a huge amount to say as Asami way outclassed her opponent (as expected) and had around 10 minutes time through most of the game while Aya usually had less than 20 seconds. 

Asami was over 15 points ahead for most of the game..It was interesting from the point of view of a player ignoring killing a behind opponent to strengthen her own groups..

Board 3 - Ueno Risa (Black) vs Izawa Akino (White)

Opening

Risa opened ni ren sei and White went for 44 and 34 facing, this caused Black to knight approach the 34 and White Shusaku'd allowing Black to knight approach the other corner with white Knight enclosing. This allows Black to 2 space enclose their own corner with white 33ing the final 'undealt with' corner at this point. Black blocked the 'preferred' side and the Ai joseki into extension played out with White only extending twice before playing away to pincer Blacks sole left hand side stone against the Shusaku diagonal. This leaves the right corner at risk (with correct play...though these are Professionals so correct play will occur). Black made the decision that an extension was potentially worth more than the single C15 stone (or perhaps knew it could live anyway) and extended from the wall to K16. White then again attacked the C15 stone with a shoulder hit. 

Middle

Now to me white is very focused on the left and Black has more potential but less security (perhaps). Anyway Black ignored again and swung back to attack that corner  with S12, white ignored to pincer the bottom left black stone at H3 which Black then ignored to carry on the attack with R18. White has to respond now and did with S18 and Black connected. White must drop to the edge now otherwise it is likely dead..

Black now counter pincered the H3 stone with White kicking F3 and Black extending up once. White now tried to attach and wrap itself around the surrounding stone with black extending left and white matching. Black then dropped under H3 and white double hane'd 2 stones at L3, Black ataried the original pincer stone and white dropped to the 2nd line causing Black to block access to the corner. White then atari'd the 2 Black stones causing Black to captured White then ataried again and Black ignored to 1 space jump out. Realising perhaps that White's group had minimal eye space she also jumped and Black then pushed from the territory side a couple of times before making eye space for the left group in some beautiful play from Risa. 

 
White now tried a deep corner invasion with an attachment at R4  but a key fact was that Blacks earlier push at stones 45 and 47 and even 21 meant ladders would likely be in Blacks favour and Risa promptly played more aggressively.

The fighting then became more global over the board with Risa pushing ever more slightly into the lead until a mistake on Whites part here killed almost half the boards white stones

Ouch. Black was 108 up and a few moves later White resigned.

Just one last thing. That solitary Black stone on C15 played at move 5 that was pressured so heavily? the fact that it didn't is a useful corner Joseki in itself (note Move 102 was at C18) and just like that alive.

And just like that alive (

Not unexpected but an easier game to understand than some of the massacres of dominant players. Well done to Wakagoi for taking down the current league leaders and providing the second great upset match in a row..