Commented Game - Simple play, efficient play.

Hello go-fellows !

Today, no pictures to come, or no "Title" games to show ( for that, just wait - they'll come tomorrow with the next round of Chunlan Cup).

Recently, I started teaching again. Not that I had stopped at all, but it had been quite irregular since a while.
I was even asked by a player to be his teacher. That's not a title I enjoy much but still, it's always pleasant to get such requests without even asking - and I agreed, as he has a nice-looking "honte" style". He sometimes blunders and all, but that's natural if he never had a teacher to teach him shapes or basics.

In the early 2000, when I started playing go on KGS, the EGR was hardly attended by 200/ 300 players at most. On one hand, there were so few high dans to play each other that it was quite easy to receive teaching games by them. There were no Go schools. Only the top dan players. On the other hand, a few official teachers , Lloyd  for instance, still active on kgs, or Neil Moffatt (an author of Go Books which I strongly recommend for every kyu player below 1d) - I can't remember his KGS ID - , or Jim Chambers (aka Osmosis or Morpheus - former admin) who used to run the "Temple of Go Dojo", a room in which he gathered dozens of students to play with, and review their games despite his "meager" 3d or 4d (his own words). That was already so high and unreachable for us, mere ddks. This is where I learnt everything about Go, repeating the same mistakes over and over again, probably hundred of times, without Jim getting "bored" at all. And he would still keep playing, despite our "bad moves",  our aborted josekis and  our groups perishing.

When he started to teach us all, he used to say "I'm going to teach you all up to dan level - the only thing I request in exchange is that you also teach others in return". I think that's the major lesson I retain from those times.

As he taught me patience, calm play, "good shapes", among other things, I 'll show you a game played on tygem by one of my favourite players : "Restart(P)"  (P) standing for profesionnal on tygem. But you'll see, their play is very easy to understand, very calm, efficient. No trickplay. I always find it admirable to see such easy-looking games when you know how much of reading-freaks they are. His opponent is "cy1115(P)", also professionnal. I don't have informations such as their names or anything, unfortunately.

Lesson this time : You don't have to try too hard to make a good game. Enjoy it !

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2] RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[0.00] PW[Restart((P) 9d]PB[cy1115(P) 9d] ;B[pd] ;W[pp] ;B[dc] ;W[dp] ;B[cn] ;W[fq] ;B[ch] ;W[jc] ;B[lc]LB[nc:A]TR[mc]C[Fierce move. It leaves complications in the top right , at A. Black 's more standard approach would be at N17.] (;W[gd]C[White extends high. He wants to avoid being flattened / giving black a powerful shape. (see var)] ;B[fc] ;W[cc]C[Standard move. I will explain why in a few moves.] ;B[cd] ;W[gc] ;B[fd] ;W[ge]LB[fe:1][gf:2][eg:3]TR[db][bd]C[Black would love to play the exchange 1, 2 and then 3, to secure points in the corner. Unfortunately, that's being blind. Due to the double hane in the corner by white, black can't expect to gain much. So he plays tenuki.] ;B[qn] ;W[nq]LB[qc:C][qd:D][pj:B][ql:A]C[Calm move. No need to rush and pincer yet. The right side / top right is still wide open. White has many options, and black can't defend them all at once.] ;B[pj] (;W[ql]C[Normal invasion. If white played the top right first... see variation.] ;B[pl] ;W[pk] ;B[ok] ;W[qk] ;B[qj] ;W[pm] ;B[ol] ;W[qm] ;B[oj]LB[om:A][pn:B]C[Solid connection. Do NOT play the exchange A / B first. It spoils all the corner aji / sansan invasion.] ;W[qc]C[And a calm play again. ] ;B[qd] ;W[pc] ;B[nc] ;W[oc] ;B[od] ;W[nb] ;B[qp]C[Black takes sente to revive his stone.] ;W[po] ;B[qo] ;W[qq] ;B[rq] (;W[pn]LB[qr:A]C[Note this calm move again. It's too hard for white to play at A. (see variation)] ;B[qr] ;W[pq] ;B[ro] ;W[mc]C[White takes the big move, threatening to break through.] ;B[nd] ;W[md] ;B[me] (;W[mb]LB[mb:A][ld:B]C[Why, you may ask, does white connect at A instead of pushing at B ? see variation for the explanation.] ;B[le] ;W[dd]C[This is quite an unexpected move, I must say. I would expect a double-hane more ?] ;B[de] ;W[bd] ;B[ed] ;W[ce] ;B[cf] ;W[dd]C[Black can't lose the ko. His whole position would crumble.] ;B[cb] ;W[nf] ;B[ne] ;W[db] ;B[cd] ;W[rr]C[No choice for black. he has no valid threat on the board.] ;B[bc] ;W[sr]C[And white calmy executes his death threat.] ;B[bp] ;W[cq] ;B[en] ;W[ip]C[White's calm play again. ] ;B[ld] ;W[lb] ;B[rs] ;W[pr] ;B[jd] ;W[id] ;B[ie] ;W[je] ;B[jf] ;W[fl] ;B[go] ;W[dm] ;B[dn] ;W[gp] ;B[ho] ;W[fo] ;B[fn] ;W[gm]C[White threatens to cut.. ] ;B[eo] ;W[fp] ;B[io]TR[pn][po][pp][nq][pq]C[but black ignores ! This is extremely agressive. White is strong around. J5 might be an overplay] ;W[gn] ;B[im] ;W[il] ;B[jl] ;W[ik] ;B[dk]TR[cn][dn][en][fn][eo][bp]C[Black defends the marked group by connecting, leaving white the initiative at bottom. (If you don't see how this connects, see variation)] (;W[jm] ;B[hp] ;W[hr] ;B[kn] ;W[jn] ;B[jo] ;W[kl] ;B[hm] ;W[hl] ;B[gk] ;W[fk] ;B[gj] ;W[gl] ;B[ir] ;W[hq] ;B[iq] ;W[ko]LB[kq:A]C[This move is questionnable. Why not A , to deny black his base ? Maybe white let black live, as he didn't feel behind after the bottom right kill ?] ;B[kp] ;W[lo] ;B[lp] ;W[ln] ;B[gr] ;W[gq] ;B[mq] ;W[is] ;B[js] ;W[hs] ;B[kr] ;W[rj]C[White starts yose. S10 is huge. If black plays it, it is an absolute sente, as it threatens to revive the bottom right group.] ;B[ri] ;W[rk] ;B[kj]TR[le][jf][kj][oj]C[Black threatens to close the border.] ;W[ii] ;B[kc] ;W[kb] ;B[jh] ;W[kd] ;B[bq] ;W[br] ;B[cp] ;W[cr] ;B[ke] ;W[di] ;B[ci] ;W[dl] ;B[ck] ;W[lj] ;B[li] ;W[mj] ;B[mi] ;W[rd] ;B[re] ;W[rc] (;B[rg]C[Necessary. If black ignores... ( see variation)] ;W[cl] ;B[bl] ;W[ek] ;B[bk] ;W[jd] ;B[fi] ;W[qi] ;B[si] ;W[ej] ;B[dh] ;W[mr] ;B[lk] ;W[mp] ;B[lq] ;W[mk]LB[kk:B][ml:A]C[ Black kills the stones by playing at A. Yet he pushes at B instead. First avoid : he wants to avoid the forcing moves as shown in the variation. Second : he has a better sequence in mind.] (;B[kk] ;W[ml]C[White tries to save them.... but here comes black's nasty endgame. Can you guess the sequence to come ?] ;B[mo]C[A strong move ! game-winning move, in fact. White can't connect the atari (see variations)] (;W[ll] ;B[mn] ;W[km] ;B[np] ;W[nr] ;B[gb] ;W[hb] ;B[jp] ;W[ki] ;B[ji] ;W[jj] ;B[kh] ;W[jk] ;B[ki] ;W[mm] ;B[ep] ;W[eq] ;B[fb] ;W[qe] ;B[rf] ;W[if] ;B[ig] ;W[hf] ;B[ha] ;W[ib] ;B[qh] ;W[fg] ;B[ei] ;W[dj]LB[mo:A]C[From here it's just endgame. No further comments. Hope you enjoyed those players' styles. They played very calmly and peacefully until this game-blowing tesuji at A by black. Wonderful one.] ;B[eg] ;W[ef] ;B[df] ;W[aq] ;B[ap] ;W[fh] ;B[eh] ;W[ar] ;B[cm] ;W[hg] ;B[gh] ;W[ih] ;B[jg] ;W[hh] ;B[do] ;W[dq] ;B[sj] ;W[sk] ;B[op] ;W[gg] ;B[gi] ;W[nj] ;B[ni] ;W[ia] ;B[ga] ;W[cj] ;B[bj] ;W[fe] ;B[ee] ;W[ff] ;B[oq] ;W[or] ;B[sd] ;W[sc] ;B[se] ;W[lr] ;B[ls] ;W[ms] ;B[ks] ;W[nn] ;B[hj] ;W[no] ;B[mp] ;W[oo] ;B[om] ;W[ij] ;B[em] ;W[el]) (;W[np] ;B[lm]TR[di][ii][ej][ek][fk][ik][cl][dl][fl][gl][hl][il][dm][gm][gn]C[White is in atari again. Whatever happens from here, white loses his group. ] (;W[km]C[If he takes this stone...] ;B[mn] ;W[kn] ;B[ll] ;W[jk] ;B[in] ;W[jl] ;B[mm]TR[di][ii][ej][lj][mj][ek][fk][ik][jk][mk][cl][dl][fl][gl][hl][il][jl][kl][ml][dm][gm][jm][km][gn][jn][kn][ln][ko][lo]C[ The board suddenly becomes full of dead stones !]) (;W[mn]C[If white tries this escape instead] ;B[km] (;W[jk] ;B[ll]LB[mm:A]TR[di][ii][ej][ek][fk][ik][jk][cl][dl][fl][gl][hl][il][dm][gm][gn]C[The stones are dead again ! (playing J6 to capture two stones only give one eye), and white needs another move at A to fix.]) (;W[ll] ;B[in]TR[di][ii][ej][ek][fk][ik][cl][dl][fl][gl][hl][il][dm][gm][gn]C[Whatever white plays results in losing his group. ])))) (;B[ml] ;W[ll] ;B[kk] ;W[mm] ;B[nl] ;W[ki] ;B[ji] ;W[jj] ;B[kh] ;W[jk] ;B[ki]C[White gets too many forcing moves. Then he can play O2 and be safe..])) (;B[lk] ;W[rg]LB[se:A][si:B]C[White can play it, and connect either at A or B.])) (;W[dl] ;B[ck] ;W[bm] ;B[cm] ;W[cl] ;B[bl] ;W[bk] ;B[al] ;W[am] ;B[el]C[The severe move that prevents white from cutting.] ;W[ak] ;B[bl] ;W[al] ;B[em] ;W[bl] ;B[bj]C[White is dead, cutting is abusive.])) (;W[ld]LB[mb:B][le:A]C[If white keeps pushing, he allows another sente at A for black. By connecting at B instead, A is no longer sente.])) (;W[qr]C[If white resists somehow, ] ;B[pn] ;W[on] ;B[om] ;W[rn] ;B[ro] ;W[so] ;B[rp] ;W[rm] ;B[oo]TR[pn]C[There is enough aji for black, using the cut, to kill white.] ;W[nn] ;B[pq] ;W[op] ;B[rr] ;W[pr] ;B[rk]C[Black has 4 liberties, White has only 3. Guess who wins the race ?])) (;W[qc] ;B[qd] ;W[pc] ;B[nc] ;W[oc] ;B[od] ;W[nb] ;B[on]C[Black gets to play p6, which is enormous.])) (;W[gc] ;B[fd] ;W[eb] ;B[gd] ;W[ec] ;B[ed] ;W[hc] ;B[db]LB[db:A][dd:B]TR[ch]C[Black can play A. The marked stone prevents white from cutting at B.]))