I played three games this weekend, and unfortunately went 1-2. It's the second loss that I'm most upset about, because I played it on tilt immediately after the first loss. I think a large part of why my record seems to be improving is that I've been able to minimize playing emotionally, but this was a failure in that respect.

However, in an effort to try to keep a positive attitude, I'm posting the one win. I haven't had a chance to do a full review, but I'm hoping to get around to that later. For now, I think the common thread I noticed in all three games was a tendency to press too hard in the late-middle-game. It's most obviously seen here with White-148, which is an obvious overplay/mistake. (In my first loss, I tried to kill a group that I should have just reduced.) I think this can also explain things like the errors in Game B-6 (Black-143) and Game 7 (W-148). I feel I've gotten more patient in the opening, but I need to carry that through to the middle-game and have more confidence in my endgame skills.

A few other notes:
-For those following my thread about a joseki variation, you can see an example here (at Black-83)
-I don't think I agree with Black's decision at move 133, although it's an interesting positional judgment question.

In any case, here's the game:

Game B-12
I didn't have time to play any serious games over the Thanksgiving holiday, and was generally disappointed with the casual games I played. Then this past weekend, I managed to play and lose 2 games in characteristic fashion. Despite my comments above about needing to stop over-reaching in the late middle game (especially as White), I did exactly the same thing here again (with White-144). Here's the full review: https://gokibitz.com/kifu/N10luBlXz



These two losses mean I've lost 4 of my last 5 games, and any hope of reaching 6dan anytime soon is now firmly out of reach. To be honest, I'm pretty disappointed and frustrated. I think my plan is to take it easy through the Christmas holidays, and hopefully I can come back in the new year with renewed dedication and focus.

Game B-13
Comparing this afternoon's game to my previous comments here I think is pretty interesting. First off, I'm happy to report that, even playing White, I think I managed to avoid over-reaching in the late middle game (although White-148 is questionable). Instead, I did manage to push the game to counting, where... I lost. Except that my opponent made a last-second mistake that ended up switching the game from a 2.5 point loss, to a 2.5 point win. All that said, I think the game was really determined by some misplays in the upper right. Clearly, there is more work to be done.

Here's the (somewhat difficult) review: https://gokibitz.com/kifu/NkjRYPr7z

Game B-14
After some recent success on Tygem, I decided not to press my luck and instead switched over to KGS for a game. I felt like neither my opponent or I played up to par, but in the end, I won, and that was enough to bump me up to 4dan there. I still don't feel like a true KGS 4dan, but it's a nice confidence boost nonetheless. Here's the game and review: https://gokibitz.com/kifu/N1GmFzYXM