So in this thread you share some interesting games(either a variant, crazy board size or it had a good amount of killing in it)to make it better for people to see.
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In my opinion, the three most exciting players of the 19th century were Yasui Senchi, Honinbo Jowa, and Honinbo Shuho. Senchi arguably created a new metagame in the late 18th century, which placed much more focus on making influence and then using it to attack.
Honinbo Jowa had the same style, probably influenced by Senchi, and managed over the course of the early 1800s to use it to become the strongest player in the world, popularising it and permanently altering the way we play Go.
Here is one game he played against Shuwa in 1840. By 1846, Shuwa seems to have become stronger than him, but here it isn’t so clear. In an explicable turn of events, after Jowa was forced into retirement after becoming embroiled in political scandal, Jowa was replaced as head of the Honinbo house by Josaku, reckoned one of the weakest Honinbos of the 1800s.
4: Jowa played the 5-4 more than his contemporaries. The 4-4 was disdained in even games, so this was considered the standard way to play an influential opening.
14: This tenuki is a trademark of Jowa’s style. Very often he would leave this position, only extending much later or simply dealing with any attack. This kick is a modern-feeling move, which increases the urgency of the position and encourages Shuwa to invest another stone into a group that is already under attack. Most professionals of the 1800s would play a kosumi, often with a view to continuing by covering with a keima – that way of play, in contrast, is a lot less demanding on Black.
16: Of course, Jowa extends high to restrict Shuwa’s wiggle room.
20: Jowa lunges in!
22 – 34: Shuwa settles, having to gift Jowa significant territory on the bottom side. Jowa finally extends…
36 – 38: Only to support a second attack! He also makes a kikashi for strength on the left side.
42 – 43: White is settled, but Black is still weak. However, now Jowa must go on the defensive on the right side.
48 – 51. Having lived in sente, he returns to the attack – he has no qualms about exchanging on the top side; every influential stone increases his aggressive power.
52: The black group’s eyespace is removed. Now it must run for its life!
63: Like a cat with a mouse, Jowa lets it escape… for now.
81: It’s a little hard to me to understand why Shuwa played here and not a little closer to the centre, where he would have a much better much of making a large central territory. It seems clear that he planned to exploit a push-and-cut weakness against Jowa’s left-side group, though, which is why Jowa takes the time to extend on 84.
85 – 86: Shuwa attaches into Jowa’s group, threatening to isolate the white stones in the lower left – surely Jowa will respond and allow some kikashi to be made? Nope! 86 breaks into the moyo, throwing down the gauntlet for Shuwa to do his worst on the bottom side.
89-91: Shuwa continues to threaten against the lower left, but Jowa is unconcerned. Finally, Shuwa strikes!
92-98: And Jowa calmly steps aside, allowing Shuwa a little of what he wanted but not all. He takes the ponnuki, his power again building…
100: Jowa threatens a little, but then plays it cool. Note, though, how in the course of the endgame he sneaks in 122.
131: Now, let the hunt recommence –
132 – 140: Jowa sweeps his sword through the heart of the dragon, cleaving it in two! Shuwa rallies his defence…
141 -142: Surely this group, Shuwa perhaps thought, which he had coerced so many times would once again submit to him has ever it had before? Yet it would not be so.
154: Yet again, like Fenrir joining battle with Jormungandr, Jowa raises up his battle-worn sword against the great serpent and returns to the fray.
158: The gate is barred!
160: In a moment, Jowa abandons his group; Shuwa has been ensnared, and though he struggles he cannot break free. Jowa has paid the iron price, overpowering his opponent, and will now claim the spoils. The game is over.
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I recently rewatched Game 3 of the 2016 Lee Sedol vs AlphaGo match. Here’s the SGF with commentary by Fan Hui
https://www.alphago-games.com/view/eventname/leesedol/game/2/move/15
Move 15 is what started the big fight which shaped the game. According to Fan Hui (who was sitting a few feet away, watching Lee Sedol’s reaction)
"I do not know whether anyone had played the jump at 14 before, but it seemed to infuriate Lee, who slapped down the astonishing attachment at Black 15!
Playing with AlphaGo can feel distressingly like euthanasia: by the time we feel what is going on, we are already dead. Perhaps this is why Lee seized the first opportunity to attack, attempting to rip open AlphaGo’s weak points before its global advantage grew overwhelming."
Black and White spent almost 2 hours playing moves 15-70, and that whole time, it was really difficult for even 9P Michael Redmond to say who was ahead. The first time I watched this I was ~20kyu, and most of the details went over my head.
Watching it now, I was blown away by all the risky extensions that both sides played, and how each managed to keep their weak groups alive or connected - increasing the pressure from all sides at once. And of course, the whole time, White’s massive lower side moyo kept growing and growing.
By the time Lee played move 115 on the 5th line (inside White’s 6th line moyo!) he was already down to his last 60 second byo-yomi, feverishly thinking during AlphaGo’s pondering time. It seemed like a hail-mary, and even commentator Redmond guessed he was going to sacrifice that stone. Ten moves later, Lee threw another stone in, and started a super-complex ko battle.
At the time, the professional Go world had never seen a strong AI program handle a ko situation well. Based on the Fan Hui games months before (with a different version of AlphaGo) the consensus was that either it would try to avoid the ko, or get overwhelmed by the complexity.
The end of Game 3 settled that debate. Not only did AlphaGo correctly interpret an incredibly complex ko, it managed to turn it to its advantage, and Lee Sedol resigned at move 176.
Even thought there is a vast gulf in complexity between this game and my own (I’m somewhere between 10-12kyu) there was one take-away I could really relate to: playing super-aggressively during the Opening/Midgame only works in your favor if you can actually capture your opponent’s dragon or chase them in such a way that the direction-of-play gives profit.
If your opponent fights back in a way that forces you to save your chasing stones, that can erase all of the benefits you’d thought you’d get from chasing/capturing, and turn into a net gain for your opponent.
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Narcissistic me is going to share my own game.
I really like it because I had this thin line of territory going along the side while black’s territory looks very sizeable from a glance. And they ate my four stones too. But it’s still a narrow win for white. Without counting, I probably would never think that white is good enough here. Especially considering that efficient white shape on the left.
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