by James Sedgwick 6D
Just a few days shy of his 12th birthday, Michael Xu built a commanding 13-point lead in his first semifinal game against Sen Zhan on Wednesday morning. But when Sen unleashed a fierce attack at the top (F18 in Diagram 1, top right), Michael (white) had a tough choice between A and B. In the game Michael chose A, aiming to save the group, but it doesn't quite work. White should actually play at B, letting the corner be captured on a small scale, and maintaining his lead. After the white group is captured on a large scale the game becomes extremely close. A difficult center fight followed, but in the end Sen came out on top of the very disappointed younger player.
In the afternoon game, needing a win to keep his hopes of a seat in the final alive, Michael played a little passively, perhaps feeling the pressure of the moment. He built up center thickness, and Sen had taken a lot of points but Michael couldn't find a way to attack the A group on the right (diagram at top left), eventually choosing to swallow the center stone, but capturing the territory around B just wasn't large enough, and Sen secured a comfortable win, securing his seat in the final. Kudos to both players, and especially to Michael, who showed a strength and discipline that would be impressive in a player of any age, but especially notable in one so young; we’ll certainly be seeing him on top boards again soon.
Meanwhile, the other semi-final between Bill Lin and Guanyu Song has turned into an extremely tough match, with the two contestants splitting the morning and afternoon games, setting up a decisive third game to come Thursday morning.
In the morning game, Guanyu had a slight lead in the endgame. But along came this position (Diagram 3, bottom left). Guanyu (black) played the triangled stone, threatening the connection of the white center stones. But Bill (white) ignored this, and pushed into the black territory with the move at B. When black again threatened the center group with C white again ignored it and destroyed more territory with D. Guanyu would still have had a small lead if he defended his territory, but for a strong player, being bullied like this just can’t be tolerated; Guanyu launched an all-out attack to kill the center, but in the end he couldn't quite make it work, and the game collapsed, putting Bill within one game of the final.
There were echoes of the morning game in the afternoon contest. Once again Guanyu entered the endgame with a small lead, but Bill played a brilliant endgame, and despite no obvious mistakes from Guanyu the game crept closer and closer. It was down to a half point and Bill was on his last overtime when he quickly blocked with the triangled stone (Diagram 4, bottom right). Guanyu countered with the cut at A and after one move, Bill resigned. Can you find the ladder that shows black cannot cut the A stone off? The move at G6 cost Bill two points and the game, setting the stage for a grand deciding game Thursday morning.