Hello, Ms. Yashiro. Congratulations on winning the Women’s Honinbo title. I have a question. Sometimes when I am playing I don’t know whether I am winning or losing. At what stage of your games do you make a positional evaluation? Also, how many times during a game will be make such evaluations? Consultation One: Mr. Takeda Hello, Mr. Takeda. Thank you for your question. Your question about positional evaluation is interesting. Actually, I’m very bad at the counting that is essential for a positional evaluation. Every time I count I get a different result. Many a time I’ve thought I had a game won, played ordinary endgame after that, and ended up losing. I guess we’re in the same boat. An answer like this is not much use. To be serious, even though I’m bad at calculation, I make a positional judgement a number of times. First of all, I do it once in the opening. Of course, at this stage the borders are not yet defined, so you can’t get numbers, but you just judge by how you feel the game is going – is it hard for me, is it easy? It’s quite vague at this stage. In the middle game, it depends on how the game is developing. There are times when one doesn’t make a positional evaluation at all, but when I am puzzled about what to play next, I make a positional evaluation to help me decide on my move. If I think I’m behind, I go all out; if I think I’m ahead, I play solidly. As for the endgame, I think it’s necessary only when the game is close. For someone like me, who’s bad at counting, it’s better just to focus on playing the best endgame I can rather than counting. That is how I go about it. If you don’t know whether you’re winning or losing, just concentrate on playing your best. That will probably produce better results. I hope this answer is satisfactory. Well, Mr. Takeda, I hope you continue enjoying go on PandaNet.