NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/rec/games/go/2665

Text File | 1993-01-01 | 7.2 KB | 169 lines

Newsgroups: rec.games.go
Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!torn!watserv2.uwaterloo.ca!watdragon.uwaterloo.ca!yychen
From: [e-mail] (Youyi Chen)
Subject: The Mysteries of Weiqi (part 6)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1993 06:07:45 GMT
Lines: 159

Happy New Year!
Finally, I am back after ......
yes, back after those Christmas and New Year parties.
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!!! Warning !!! This series is going to get very exotic.
The rest five golden rules are really mysterious.
And Otake Hide's understanding will be challenged on rec.games.go.
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Number 8 golden rule is:

                "Dong Xu Xiang Ying"

Dong4 = move
Xu1 = must
Xiang1 = each other
Ying4 =  respond, echo
(This is not a translation! The reason I write it this way is to
let both Chinese and English speaking readers figuring out
what characters are used in the original codes. Also, as I never admitted,
followings are not translations either. They are just interpretations.)

After pointed out that this is one of the hardest to understand
among 10 secret codes, Otake Hideo suggested his "tentative"
interpretation (in the article mentioned earlier) as:

    "Under your opponent's attack, you should counter attack".

"Xiang Ying" in Chinese strongly indicates "relevant" and
"corresponding" which I believe that is no a secret at all.
The mysterious part is at the first character --- "dong".
If we understand it as "moves" (instead of "move") that refer
to ones own stone movements at different areas of the board, we can
come up with the following interpretation:

        " Always keep a global board in mind, moves at
          local areas of the board should be in concert."

This time, it doesn't like the last time, I have to admit that there
is a difference between my interpretation and Otake Hideo's interpretation.
It's hard to believe that a translation error can be going out of that kind
of proportion. I prefer the latter originated from my own understanding
instead of the former from Otake Hideo with another simple reason.
I once asked my wife about the meaning of "Dong Xu Xiang Ying".
Without being informed that this is a proverb about Go,
she responsed with almost the same interpretation as I did. This
leaves me with no choice. (Every body would choose to go with his
wife instead of a 9p :-). BTW, I wouldn't get any answer at all if I told
her that the proverb has something to do with Go. She simply hates it :-) )

Now, let's look at Board 1 which is from a game played by
Fujisawa Hideyuki's students.

White to play:
   A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P Q R S T
19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . 18
17 . . # . . # . . . . . . . . # O O O . 17
16 . O . # . . . . . . . . . . . # O . O 16
15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . # . # O . 15        Board 1
14 . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . # # . 14
13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
11 . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . ? . O . . .  9
 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . # . .  5
 4 . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
 3 . . . . O . # . . # . . . . . # . . .  3
 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  1
   A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P Q R S T

Q9 is deep inside of Black's territory. O9 seems to be a good move for
White at this moment. What a familiar picture!
Isn't it a pattern about "fast" and "light" that we have discussed
last time? Wait! Let's turn to Board 2 and watch closely.

   A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P Q R S T
19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . 18
17 . . # . . # . . . . . . . . # O O O . 17
16 . O . # . . . . . . . . . . . # O . O 16
15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . # . # O . 15        Board 2
14 . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . # # . 14
13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
11 . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O . . .  9
 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . # . .  5
 4 . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
 3 . . . . O . # . . # . . . . # # . . .  3
 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . .  2
 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  1
   A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P Q R S T

"O9 should be played after Q2-P3 exchange as in Board 2"
argued Fujisawa Hideyuki. Why Q2 is relevant
at this moment when Q9 is in a hurry to escape?
It is a "Dong Xu Xiang Ying" concerto.

I once kibitzed on igs saying that such kind of move like Q2 is
"testing move" (it's called "testing" in Chinese ).
One 5d observer asked "why? they two know pretty well, why testing?"
Yes, it's a perfect timing to test White's response. With Q9 still
light, White has to decide either P3--- protecting the down side giving up
the corner, or R2 --- protecting the corner giving up the side.
Can Black do Q2 after O9? Well, it maybe too late. After O9,
O9 and Q9 together becomes heavy, B is more likely to play R2 and
creating two weak groups of Whites. Besides, B's responses to
O9 around the middle, will cause Q2 disappearing gradually,
i.e. Q2 will be captured if White gets there after movements
in the middle.

Finally, we should note that N9 can be an alternative of O9.
However, as pointed out by Fujisawa Hideyuki,
"considering Black's thickness in the surrendering area,
O9 is a smart choice in this particular board".


Youyi Chen

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Postscript:

Board 1 is taken from the book "I like to play this way" by the great
Japanese player Fujisawa Hideyuki (Teng2 Ze2 Xiu4 Xing2 to Chinese).
The book is a collection of articles from "Weekly Go" in Japan
with the original title "Go should be played this way"
(who else dares to use this kind of title!).

Now back to Board 2. You may not be convinced by the reason that
these moves are just looking good. And you may question:

A. It looks like no move for Black will endanger Q9 immediately.
   Without a follow up at R3, it was Q2 which appears to be in danger.
B. Even if we like to do something about Q9, why don't we play somewhere
   around R7 or R11 ?

Answers:

A. Without making a move around O9, black may lost the control of
   the whole board. Right! Black cannot kill Q9. But by attacking Q9,
   B is likely to gain total control in the middle and making down
   side a huge one.
B. With Q9 there, there is no way for Black to make right side a big
   territory. The best interest for White should be getting out
   to have access to the middle. Also, B is very thick around R14 and
   getting thicker around Q3. Now, do you recall the IGS proverb
   I mentioned some time ago ----- "throwing eggs to a stone wall" ?

ychen
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