Fast and furious.
The last round of the Go Legend Go Get Friends challenger series, Hong Kong Charles Chen 1d versus American Alex Fan-Cui 2d, was packed with daring cuts and invasions. The Go Legend reviewed the match live on their Youtube channel. Star, Print, and Adeline, who translated the commentary from Mandarin to English, along with AGHS President Jenny Li reviewed the game.
The opening was fast-paced as Chen, playing black, seized the corners. Star, a professional Go player, grimaced when black chose a pincer joseki that favored territorial development on the left side.
“The bottom’s potential to develop is poor,” Star said in Mandarin.
In the midgame, black started to build a moyo in the center of the board. Therefore, white 82 played a bold move at K12 to invade the moyo. Black tried to resist by cutting white and extending, but white pushed through into the center, claiming the lead.
“If you really want to get the center, the best way is not to just surround the center but also attack,” Adeline said. “New learners should think about this theory.”
Throughout the game, white continued to play solid moves with careful attention to territory, but black had a chance to seize the win. As the end neared, the white left group became weaker. Black 93 approached the bottom left corner, crucial for points. In response, white blocked off the corner, exposing the weaknesses on the left side. If black pushed into the white group from above at C6 and cut, white must capture the cutting stone. As a result, black would gain the top left side territory—worth around twenty points—and win the match. In the game, black did not notice the push and played small endgames. Alex Fan-Cui, playing white, won the match by 14.5 points.
“I didn’t see a lot of the critical moves in the game, so my position got worse,” Chen said afterward.
Although this match is the last round of the Go Legends Go Get Friends challenger series, the Go Legend and the AGHS are eager to keep expanding Go opportunities for aspiring players. Print hopes to see a Hong Kong Go tour in the future.
“We have students at our Go Center who have started learning Go and have never played in any tournaments, so this is a nice opportunity,” Adeline said. “Maybe next month, we will see more players!”