Every single game.

Amen brother.

+1

_________________
"You have to walk before you can run. Black 1 was a walking move.
I blushed inwardly to recall the ignorant thoughts that had gone through
my mind before, when I had not realized the true worth of Black 1."
-Kageyama Toshiro on proper moves

As they say, it's not about who makes a game losing mistake, it's about who makes a game losing mistake LAST.

Updating daily is too much of a hassle; I'm just going to post in here whenever I feel like it now, basically.


So, I just clicked on challenging the 6k 5 second SD bot for the hell of it. I actually won this game, believe it or not. All instinct. There were about 2-3 moves I played so I wouldn't lose on time - I think they're noticible because they're obviously bad shape. Anyways, I'm suprised I got a good result out of his Avalanche variation that I wasn't expecting - I haven't ever played Avalanche before, so there's that.

So with that's said, here's what my "go instincts" look like.

7k or something.

The chat will be hard to read since it's not in order, but oh well. Played some mock fuseki with Wasuji. Then we looked at a Takemiya game.

If you wanna know some pros with your style try this: http://gostyle.j2m.cz/

Not sure how accurate it is, but I guess it can't hurt^^

Today I beat a 5k with whom I regularly look at pro games and do tsumego. It was a fluke but we all make mistakes.

I also beat a solid 8k in 10 second blitz as white with no komi by about 40 points. I saw that he wanted it in open games, so I got on my alt that I don't care about and played. It's weird though; my normal go playing speed is about 10-15 seconds per move so I shouldn't have felt too rushed. It should've been a normal game for me, but I was making moves within 3-5 seconds. Everytime I had to stop and think for about 6-7 was when I realised I had way more time than I thought. I've also noticed I tend to do way worse when I try to think too much about my moves. No, not read out continuations, but think about what the next best course of action is. Anyways, here's that game.

Major observation: "the biggest play is always within 2 points of the previous play". Or "following the opponent around" and "playing too close to thickness".

This is quite common in blitz. Next time when you play blitz, try to consider tenuki often. "Always" might be good as a cure.

On the upside, a clean kill in the lower left.

Other than that, I don't think a 40 point win in a blitz game has lots of insights to offer.

Perhaps this game might, as I just played it and spent waaay too much time thinking about my moves against someone who is clearly 9 stones or more stronger than I.

If White now at R16, you can next harass the top left structure. I'd say this game is merely a tiny bit better for White.

The following moves may have led to falling slightly behind:

Black 17 feels slow. White is strong at the left of that stone. You have a base already so why jump. Better pincer the lone white stone in the lower right.

Black 21 is the choice leading to overconcentration. After making a strong chain of three stones, hane at the outside is better. White may get some sabaki but his stone will be hurt then.

Black 27 approaches a stable group, unless you think of it as unstable and atari on the first line to unsettle it next. I would prefer to play at the top first, or retract 27 one space higher, so that the two space extension remains available.

Black 33 sets the probe in motion to make life immediately. Usually you take measures to reduce the outside first but indeed there is no clear such move.

It's a high quality game and will elicit interesting remarks by other forum members I'm sure.

My thoughts for black 17: I didn't want to get sealed in and decided I wanted to jump out. Pincering the stone did come into my thought, but I know a two space extension isn't necessarily locally alive.

Black 21: Yeah, white's 2-4 attachment suprised me here a lot so I didn't know what to do.

Black 27: I thought of this as an extension from my enclosure up top. I have sente and it's time for a big fuseki point. I did think about extening along the side at the top to block white's ideal extension, but decided against it.

Also, define high quality.

I brought it to game analysis since it'll get proper attention there. Anyways, I'm going to be working through some Gokyo Shumyo starting yesterday because it's cool.

I did not attempt to memorise this game, but had the idea of trying to see how much I could remember from memory. I remembered it all.

http://i.imgur.com/DJXMvUF.jpg

http://kgs.fuseki.info/fuseki.php?f=full&sb=full

This is interesting when I see how many of my games come up in the sequences up to a point. My last one against a 9k was played by 6d exactly for the first 22 moves. The only thing I'm impressed with is that a 6d had the same idea as me here with 1, 2, 3.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . X . . X . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . 3 , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . 8 O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . 4 . . . . . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

In the 6d game, 3 was played low and 8 was played at b5, but besides that, our fuseki was the exact same!

If the hane is not sente, then this shape is dead: Also, playing 4 instead of a bamboo is not something that I would've thought of.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c This is a label for the diagram.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . 9 5 . O 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 7 . . X X O . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | 6 X X X O O . O . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | 3 O O X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . 1 O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Black barely lives when he lets white confrigerate him. (Yes, this is a real go term. A 7d coined it.)

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c This is a label for the diagram.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 7 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . 6 5 . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X 9 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . 4 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I spent a very long time trying to figure out this problem.

Any 1d+ want to verify his claim?

http://i.imgur.com/1vKmbKC.png

From my perspective, black has all four corners plus a strong center group, so even without counting I don't feel good for white's prospects here unless black makes a mistake and loses something big. Some of white's areas are also much thinner than black's, like the top and right sides.

A diagram with the position is below:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c Black's turn.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X O . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . X , O . . . X O . O . . . X X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . O O . |
$$ | . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . O . X . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . O . O . X . , . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . O X . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . X X X O X . . . . X . . |
$$ | . O O . . . O O O O O . . . . . O O . |
$$ | . X O O O . . . . X . . . O . O O X . |
$$ | . X X X . X X . . . . . . . . . X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

We already have at least two widely used,
simple, and clear terms for this: close, and box in.