Takemiya-sensei
The fish cannot live without water.
Takemiya-sensei cannot live without territory in the center.
Can you live without our website, friends?
You can, but we will try to make it more attractive, so you will probably visit it every day.
One story first…
A few weeks ago Takemiya-sensei decided to change his style and take territory instead of influence. He had 30+ points lead in fuseki, but his opponent was really thick. Do you know what happened later?
Takemiya decided to … sacrifice his territories and … kill White’s central wall!
“Why do I always take the empty center,” he thought? It’s even more attractive to have the center, full of dead groups. 🙂
You can see the result here: White saved his groups and won the game. Next time Takemiya will play for moyo again. You cannot trick him by presenting big corners in fuseki! The answer is: “No, Thank you!”
Enjoy playing Go, friends! And don’t forget to follow your own way!
Own fuseki, own joseki. Why is it necessary to copy someone else?
I’ve never met Takemiya-sensei; but, I hope to, someday. I cannot help but admire his spirit. I get the sensation that this game was a warning to his fellow professionals akin to a poker-star playing to deliberately get caught bluffing: ‘I can play your game, too; so, don’t depend so much on my playing a certain way… I may flip on you at any time.’ It is as though he’s playing a (globally) mental game. I love every aspect of his style that I have become aware of on and off the goban, and I’m in the midst of reading Yuan Zhou’s commentary on his style in his Master Play series published by Slate & Shell.
That quotation is an instant classic!
You neglected to include a link to your excellent website, Alex; so, I’ll attempt to remedy that on your behalf: Go 4 Go .net
Takemiya is one cool dude. He is super friendly and totally outgoing. He is something like a rock star at Go Congress, and everyone always enjoys seeing him. He made it the past two years, but I don’t think he is expected to come this year. Always a treat when he does though ^_^