Yes. Locally, is very bad for Black,
because makes a broken shape for Black:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ . . . . .
$$ . 1 O 2 .
$$ . . 4 3 .
$$ . . . . .[/go]

We can even omit to show you the bad shape.
Basic broken shape for Black:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B tenuki
$$ . . . . .
$$ . 1 O . .
$$ . . 4 3 .
$$ . . . . .[/go]

Hi Thimblefox, Here's another example to show you the broken shape:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ -----------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , . . . . . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 3 , . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ----------------------------------------[/go]

If W plays --

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ -----------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , . . . . . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 3 6 . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ----------------------------------------[/go]

It's very natural for Black to block with --

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ -----------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , . . . . . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 3 6 . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . 7 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ----------------------------------------[/go]

But if Black ignores , then W pushes through with , and makes the same broken shape for Black:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B tenuki
$$ -----------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , . . . . . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 3 6 . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . 8 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ----------------------------------------[/go]

Basic broken shape for Black:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ . . . . .
$$ . X O . .
$$ . . O X .
$$ . . . . .[/go]

See also Toothpaste.

The problem with all this discussion about 76 being bad and broken shape is 76 is actually a good move. Yes it makes a broken shape with 74, but 74 has already served its purpose in making black answer and is no longer an important stone. It's okay to hurt unimportant stones if you do something important, namely here fix the serious problem of black pushing at 76 and cutting if you block. This problem is made worse because of the earlier mistakes at 68 and 70 leaving cutting points.

Talking of what's important, are 72 and 74 really sente? What happens if black ignores and plays at 76 himself?

Sorry, I meant , from there on looks good to me too.

Hi Thimblefox, oh, about

Alright, I'm back after having lost a few games on time. This had to do with my reading skill, which basically meant I lost large groups in fights (just like in the following game) and ended up forgetting about my time because I was thinking about the best move to salvage things.

I've decided that my goal for this year is to reach 9 kyu. I don't really know how difficult that's going to be, but since I was around 12 kyu when I quit playing in 2012 (and that was after about three months of playing) it can't be that hard. Last few days I've been doing problems on 321go and goproblems.com, I'm halfway through the fourth chapter now. Hopefully this will help me make some better decisions when fighting, also my books should arrive any day now.

At any rate, this is the first game I've managed to finish in the last couple of days. It was played on my cellphone, in the rain, while my daughter was sleeping in her buggy. At the end of the game I couldn't feel my hands, and I was certain I had lost.

A few quick remarks:

Your overall strategy and tactics are way better than your opponent's so you can look forward to good progress in terms of rank

The game was a walk in the park until

180: could you re-evaluate the position here and find a move that gets you out of all possible trouble, and why this is so?
188-190-192: same question, same reason but different move

I would not recommend playing games in dire conditions because they risk for your good play to be upset by blunders, giving you the wrong kind of feedback. So my feedback is: play in good conditions.

If you want to work your way through carefully crafted problem sets of your level I recommend
1. Gogameguru (definitely the beginner problems, probably also the intermediate ones)
2. Hitachi go problems (level 1 is more difficult than GGG's beginner but level 2 ususally is just a bit harder)

Crowdsourced problem sets are heterogenous at best and wrong at worst.

Cheers!

Hi Thimblefox,

you had not missed your chance: C17.
Also, realize your keima can be cut (in fact, 2 ways to be cut).

induces the broken shape on your C8 stone ( ). Re: post 43.

good, but...

...you didn't fix your cuts.

B cuts at E3, threatening the double atari D5.
( If W now ataris E4, B runs with F3 -- W has to crawl forever. )

When , the W move is atari D1 -- if B just connects C2,
then he has wasted ; if B plays C1, you take the ko first.

Your observation about is correct; the answer to "what difference"
is you still have to play all the follow-ups correctly.
Study this corner again and again.

find the move that fixes both cuts at once.

In your variation, when peeps at C1, B connects.

Thanks for the commens, Knotwilg!

About 179: This isn't really a cut since J16 and J13 are available to me, so he should've played 181 at that point. Now since he didn't play 181 at that time, I should've played that move. This way my "ko-group" wouldn't get in danger so quickly, and I could've focused on my group up top.

188 was very slow, and my "ko-group" was still unsettled. If I had played D16 I wouldn't have to worry about my group (for a while), AND I might have taken his eye shape.

As for 190 and 192, if I had played D16 I could've used those moves to push into his territory in the upper left corner, as well as on the upper side in general. If I had done that I could've peeped at L16 and try to take his group if he connects.

Hi

These were the answers I had in mind.

Your group lives with ko, while your opponent still has to make the first eye. Your group has enough scope at the top to either make two eyes or win the ko by threatening to do so.

Good analysis! Looking forward to your next game.

Cheers

Hi Ed, thanks for the comments!

I realized this as well once I read through my notes once more. If can be cut, I guess I should have played C17 after all. Are these the cuts you had in mind?



What I have to realize here is that I can't keep him in anyway. Therefore there's also no possible use for the broken shape I made. Now I need to learn to see this in game. Simply extending to D8 seems to work well with my stone in the corner, and would be what I'd play now.

& Right, I'll work on that. But, if I had connected on E3, I could've left D5, right? (See )



My first thought is E4, but that's an empty triangle. The reason I'm thinking E4 is because I can net him if he plays at D5. This throws new light on & : I should just play E4 then?

-variation: Sorry, I forgot to take that out.

I'll try saving my group while I'm indoors and drinking hot chocolate the next time. Thanks for your comments!

Problems:

• You are still missing the move that fixes both cuts at once.
• Get rid of your mental block-trap about empty triangles.
• E4 fails not because it's an empty triangle, but because it does not fix the cut at D5.

Got it! E5 of course.

Correct. ( If you can find a third way to cut a keima, I give you $1. )Sigh. W D8 on is a bad feeling for W.
Locally, a bad shape for W:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ . . . . . .
$$ . . O O X .
$$ . X X X . .
$$ . . O O X .
$$ . . . . . .[/go]

It's worse than a Toothpaste .

I can't come up with anything. Everything seems to get through.

After , maybe the main problem is you don't seem to able to free yourself from your C8 stone.

Still waiting for my books. I played this match under the best possible conditions really, but that left me a bit unconcentrated. I just need to make sure to use at least 10 seconds for every move, and get into the habit of counting liberties.

There are other options but one choice is or "q" here which adds support to your corner and Black is left with a weakness to worry about at "a". A more complicated option is to play at "a" directly. Experiment, have fun, review afterwards!

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . q 2 . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ . X . a . 1 . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ----------------------+[/go]