Strikingly Solid Play

I’m currently writing short lecture for the SF Go Club about the topic of solid play and the concept of Honte. So for the past few weeks, I’ve been on the look out for examples of this in books, game records, joseki dictionaries, etc.

I came upon a very striking (to me anyway) example of solid play from commentary of a game played by Takemiya Masaki and Cho Chikun in the 1981 Honinbo. Takemiya himself is giving possible continuations in the opening, and the following is one where the final move is amazing.

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2] RU[Japanese]SZ[19] PW[Takemiya Masaki 9P]PB[Cho Chikun, 9P]AW[qb][oc][dd][nd][pm][po][np][pp][oq][or]AB[ld][qd][pf][qj][qo][cp][qp][pq][rq][pr][qr]C[This is a possible continuation given by Takemiya. Black to play. Takemiya, Masaki. This is Go the Natural Way! Hinoki Press, 2008. Diagram 1, p.124] ;B[qh]C[R12 is Solid.])

I was shocked that Takemiya, known for his “Cosmic” style of play, would suggest such a slow move! But upon further inspection, I realize that it was the very essence of Honte. Black playing at R12 means that white has very little aji to work with; and black would not need to worry about that group for a long time.

I hope I can find moves like this too.

Written on Apr 1, 2015 about Baduk.