Hi, I haven't played for about 4 months as of now and would like to recover at least the skill level I had before. I figured having my games analyzed would be a good idea.

So this was my first game since then:
https://online-go.com/game/7233034

( Apparently Clossius reviewed it but I was sleeping, and he didn't leave any comment in his review so I guess it was vocal ) .

Uhm, I don't see any comments / variations in the sgf you just posted. Did you mean to show me how to post the sgf directly ?

Looks that way Instructions: here.

Here are some comments. My main observation is that you could have gotten into trouble if B had chosen to attack your weak group around N13. It seems prudent to defend such a group earlier.

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Patience, grasshopper.

Some comments. For me the main question of the middlegame is whether you could have played in such a way that you did not need to gamble on living with a weak group inside black influence.

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La victoire est un hasard, la défaite une nécessité.

Highlights

48 - should you play elsewhere?
54 - a pass move
88 - wrong cut; probably overlooked ...
95 - ... this ladder; the result is painful
120 - the game hinges on the survival of these stones
149 - Black misses a chance to kill
155 - Black does not profit from White's move not being sente
168 - game over

Conclusions
Your strengths seems to be fighting spirit, the ability to create living groups, take advantage of opponent weaknesses and overall a good technique.

In the self confidence lies a weakness too: your tenukis may be wrongly timed (48), your sente may not really be sente (154), your enthusiastic attacks may ignore an easy counterattack (88). If you meet stronger opponents who don't miss opportunities like 89, 149 or 155, careless moves will cost you a good game.

But keep your strengths: continue playing good moves, attack, fight when necessary, be confident in your moves.

Detail

Wow, completely missed that - thanks.

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La victoire est un hasard, la défaite une nécessité.

Well, now I have another look at it, it's not a pass move at all. Imagine Black playing where White played

How many dan players does it take to screw on a light bulb?
No amount will suffice - they can't even say if the ladder is working.

(joing aside, I am dismayed by my reading abilities)

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La victoire est un hasard, la défaite une nécessité.

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The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Hi again and thank you for the terrific feedback . Hope you excuse me for not answering earlier, had somewhat of a busy week and didn't have enough time yet to answer the replies and play Go.

@daal I do agree, the way I saved that group was quite horrendous. I should've played a bit calmer so that I could find time to settle the group.

Mv 12 - I do agree.

Mv 60 - I am not sure whether I should bend at D11 or defend the group as I said; the extension was clearly a bad move as it needed a follow up in what wasn't the area where I had biggest potential.
My argument is that those stones were pretty heavy and didn't serve any real purpose other than staying in the area of opponent's influence, so I maybe could've just sacrificed them later to live on the outer edges.

Mv 90 - Disgusting overplay on my part, result of a lack of reading ( like, it was totally absent ) .

Mv 101 - Not sure what you are referring to.

@Jhyn

Mv 60 - Yes, this was such a simple move that I somehow missed. Great move.

Mv 62 - When I made that jump I imagined something like this , without the bend at N2 . You are probably right though.

Mv 82 - I thought I had more aji than I actually had; in hindsight your alternative is clearly superior .

Mv 86 - I read the O7 response, that's why I chose the O2 response without reading at all, because I judged that variation insufficient to satisfy my greed. Didn't read the Ko variation though, quite interesting.

Mv 110 var - Do agree .

Mv 111 var - The games is a mess for me at this point, I don't have a clear game plan other than complicate it. If I learned counting maybe I would've played more calmly.

Mv 119 var - That's what I initially read, and no , I don't count at all..

The rest - the last part was pretty much a disaster turned right, somehow. Ye.

@knotwilg

Mv 14 - I agree.

Mv 48 var - I wasn't sure about attacking that group because of the 53 move and S8 which would've granted the group easy life on the side.

Mv 60 - As I said to daal, here I'm not sure whether to bend at D8 or to extend the lifespace of the group that is , at that moment, just a burden.

Mv 94 ponnuki var - In the game I was set on being able to attack at least one of the two groups, but your variation clearly shows a very good situation for me that I didn't even consider because I wasn't adapting to the game but considering only my own objectives. Good stuff.

P.S. I lost some comments because I had to log in again and didn't copypaste the whole deal onto a notepad. Dammit.


Anyway, thank you again for all the reviews, and hope you would help with another terrible game of mine . Also, I would like to share my doubts about the tomorrow's London Open Go tournament: I am not sure whether or not I should participate given the terrible state of my play, my doubts regarding my current rank , and my incapability of focusing on the game for an extended amount of time ( for the whole of 4 games I've played this month, I've blitzed through despite the lengthy time limits ) . What do you think ?

This describes my self-assessment for pretty much every tournament I've ever been to. Even when I do spectacularly. Just go. Everyone else who's showing up likely has the same perceived issues, and you won't get over being nervous about it by not going.

Just to clarify my point: first, I'm not certain my alternative is better, I just want to stress that you should keep the connection under in mind when you play this way. Black will not play it right now but can keep it in reserve so that his stones cannot be attacked strongly, and at some point will take sente to play somewhere else.



I had and have long stretches where I cannot focus at all on online games, even long ones; but live tournaments give me the atmosphere and stimulation to give 100% focus and forget about everything else, my main source of pleasure in go.

If you have never been to a big tournament, I urge you to go for it. Otherwise you probably know whether tournaments are for you. I wouldn't worry about fuzzy ranks or blitzing (most people will just be happy to have one more player), except to the extent that you are afraid to feel terrible afterwards (not a good experience, but then again, maybe part of the experience).

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La victoire est un hasard, la défaite une nécessité.