There is no need to prevent your opponent from making territory, as long as you take more territory in the process. For move 31, you could attach at P15 and offer to give your opponent the top side, in order to take the right side. Since your framework below (S9 backed up by a thick wall) is incomparably bigger than the W framework above (single W stone at F17), such a trade would be good for you. Make your opponent worry "I don't know any joseki that don't give him the whole right side in an unassailable way. Time to make something up."

Some comments:

Mitsun --

Thank you for your comments. They are much appreciated. 31 or shortly after (as Skydr also points out) really does seem to be where I went wrong.


Skydr - Thank you for spending so much effort on my game. The comments are awesome, and I will go through them again tonight.

Mitsun has identified as the biggest mistake in direction of play.

Despite that, you still got your moyo and then White lived in it. How did that happen?
I want to zoom in on

With White is looking for a way to "make something out of nothing". He starts with peeping at your connection while making a light jump.
You are strong in this area so you should not allow yourself to be forced. That was probably the thinking behind
However, this gives White a free atari. If you connect like in the game, you get a lump of stones and White has sente. If you don', White has ponnuki, which is a nice step to a first eye.

You want to attack these stones, even kill them on a large scale, because they were so valiant to enter your strong sphere of influence. Wedging into a 1-space jump is not the way to attack.

Could you think of an alternative move for which is also resisting to connect but doesn't give White nice shape or sente.
BTW, simply connecting would have been ok too.

Other than simply connecting:

I think I like P7, the peep. If he cuts me, I cut him. And it keeps the pressure on him. If he connects, it really doesn't help him much. I can simply connect, too, and he is still under attack.

P8 is also a good one, bringing pressure to bear, but it makes me feel uneasy that once I get cut I might not make it out.

Good thinking.



Good thinking again.

Apply this kind of thinking in your games. It's not about the moves, peeping, connecting, attacking from a distance. The good move will be a different one under different circumstances. It's the thinking that matters.

Friday:
Joseki study

Saturday:
About 180 problems in SmartGo. Studied some commented games.

Sunday-Monday:
Primarily just studied some commented games:
- A game championship game between Lee Sedol and Choi Chelon (sp?)
- This game, on Go Game Guru, which is taught in an amazingly detailed and clear way:
https://gogameguru.com/baduk-tv-videos/baduk-tv-demo-kim-jiseok-vs-piao-wenyao-13th-nongshim-cup/
- This game, on Go Game Guru, which is not quite as amazing, but is still cool:
https://gogameguru.com/baduk-tv-videos/baduk-tv-demo-won-seongjin-vs-mok-jinseok-searching-for-exquisite-games-episode-37/

Today:
Played about 10-11 9x9 games against the strongest bots I could find. I have not been playing online, and I am trying to work myself back into it slowly. Honestly, it just isn't as fun to me as playing face to face, but I need to play more games and put what I am studying into practice so I can learn it.

I know in the past I have downplayed 9x9 as a gametype, but it is very easy to fit into my schedule, and it is a great way to practice close-in fighting, which is what I wanted to work on.

A couple of games, below. They are terrible.

This 2-dan


This 5-dan

More games today. Including some with live people!

I almost won this one. In fact, I think I pretty much had it won and then missed two chances to keep it that way.

Ignore the last few moves, after his dragon got away - they are me trying to feel better even though I know I'd already lost.

Questions I have about this game:
1) When I started attacking his weak group: Are there any more efficient attacking moves I could have used early on in the attacking process?
2) Any other big mistakes?
3) After his dragon got away, was there a way to come back that I missed? It looked entirely hopeless to me.



I'm pretty down, actually. I've been losing constantly and consistently to just about any bot ranked 9 kyu or higher. I don't feel like a 9 kyu at all. I probably lost about 40 games over the last two days, but at least I am playing again, unranked until I have some confidence back.

Already at , I would simply answer at the 3-3 --- B gets cash in the corner and a strong group, W still has a weak group. This point continues to be important for a long time in the game --- for instance destroying W's eyes in the center around move 50 is almost pointless, since W can live at 3-3 at any time.

As Sennahoj says, the 3-3 is the key point for a base for both players. You weren't attacking white as you didn't stop him from making eyes. Nearly every move from 13 to 60 for both players should have been there. Your 'attacks' are rather like this

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . O O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . O . 1 . O . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O O O O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

The other big mistake is 103 which you noticed. What was the thought process that made you want to play here? Making white unable to connect through shortage of liberties if you play q13 atari? Watch out for your own liberties too. Capturing those stones is not important if the whole thing is dead. The only cause for worry over there is the o13 cut but that can be captured with a net.

Another important thing is simplifying games you are winning by fixing bad aji. At move 77 play m10 to fix your problem there. Thanks to white also missing the 3-3 point you managed to kill him, so keep him dead and you win easily. Everything else is small.

One other thing to consider is to play as an approach to the bottom left corner, so that you can open up the bottom side to take advantage of black's chinese formation. I can't say I'm the most studied on the chinese opening, though, so I can't say for sure if it's considered right in this exact position.

Thanks everyone! Great feedback. I'll be studying this game a lot, obviously.

Regarding move 103 - it happened because I just simply misread it. Yes, I was hoping I could just short him liberties enough he couldn't connect everything. My brain was telling me it was safe, that I was still securely in control. Of course, immediately after I put the stone down, before he even reacted, I knew it was wrong.

No, it is not simply a case of misreading. Why fill one of your own liberties? Even if you consider it a shared liberty, you don't rush to fill those, either. That play should not have been in your top five options to consider.

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

You're right, of course. I just am not there yet, skill wise, or instinct wise. Still working on it.

Most of my games these days seem to start out tremendously well and then fall apart rather suddenly. I hope it is merely lack of skill/mental strength. These can be developed. I hope it's not something more fundamental, like a severe misunderstanding of a key concept, but how would I know? I am too close to my own game to see it clearly.

All I know is that I've been stuck at 9 kyu for a month, and I need to find a way forward.

It's my 4-month anniversary in Go this Sunday! Yay! What a journey.

I've been stuck at 9 kyu for what feels like forever, and it's a little discouraging. I keep hoping I'll have a sudden breakthrough and drop 3 stones the way I dropped from 17 kyu to 9 kyu, but no signs of such an enlightenment are on the horizon. I have been getting consistently close to beating other 8 kyu players, only to choke at the end. I would take this as a good sign, but it would be nice to win. At all.

Remember how I used to struggle against MFG 15 kyu? For giggles I played against MFG 12 kyu on KGS, and I destroyed it and forced it to resign without even having to read anything out. It felt so easy. I definitely have learned something! (If anyone actually wants to see this game, tell me, and I will post it.)

Last night I went to Go Club and played against the illustrious Chuck Bell. We had to figure out the handicap, as he is not currently ranked accurately (he is probably 3 kyu).

The game is attached, along with my (probably mistaken) attempts at analysis. As always, I post these games for feedback, so feel free to jump in and tell me my mistakes. If I don't see them, I can't fix them, and I won't get any better!! I'm tough, I can take it, and you're not going to hurt my feelings.

Dallas Go Club Game against Chuck Bell

A few thoughts:

Hi Sam, Congrats on your 4-month milestone.

What I'd like to see is more toughness.

A few comments.



You did well with making territory while attacking, at least in the opening. But not so good on the infighting. Play against SDKs and dans and toughen up.

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Thank you Bill, Skydr, EdLee! Great feedback.

Bill, Skydr--

Peeps are also a new thing to me; I sort of "discovered" them at the same time I "discovered" attacking. I am obviously over-peeping, just as I am over-attacking.

For instance, I didn't mean to seal my top-middle group in with 52. I didn't understand the difference between white's stones before the peep and after the peep until I saw it. I actually had no intention of throwing those stones away; it was accidental.

Frankly I'm a little disappointed in your progress too - you've been playing for 4 months and you're stuck at 9kyu for 2 of them. And reading this all I hear is ..blah blah blah ... Rebuilding destroyed house... Blah blah ... Guarding said house ... Blah blah ... Spending time with family ... Blah blah ... Getting over some debilitating disease ... Blah blah ... Writing a book and holding down a job ... Blah blah ... Getting stronger all the time despite having to play at Mickey D's for their wifi.

Seriously though - you've made fantastic progress in a very short space of time with some major distractions. Great job and keep it up!