Someone told me that for a lot of players, handicap Go should provide a learning opportunity for both players - looks like it is (and your opponents are getting better, so that's good!)

_________________
Confucius in the Analects says "even playing go is better than eating chips in front of tv all day." -- kivi

Yes, that's definately the idea behind handicap games. Hopefully I can find ways to learn from my opponent's newfound success.

That said, there's also this part of me that likes winning. I would like to help out that section of my personality as well. (Then maybe moyo should make less mistakes for his opponents... )

_________________
"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

My re-found interest in studying go has proved to be fruitful. (O rly? )

This week, a 2k player that I played last year came to the club. He was visiting his family who live in the area and attended along with his father. We played an even game. I took white and was able to win by resignation. I felt his mistake was not responding to several moves against one of his corner enclosures in the opening. He felt that his mistake was not being willing to sacrifice some of those stones from the ensuing fight. I think both were legitimate problems.

It was a game that I won for two reasons: I'm doing tsumego regularly and I'm getting better about counting. (Clearly he was just being nice and giving you a Christmas gift. )

In the game, I was able to outread my opponent on several occasions and, most importantly, I killed his final invasion due to my improving life and death skills. Without doing tsumego problems, I don't think I would have had the practice necessary. (Strange how not being lazy leads to doing better at things... )

I believe the count became the true winning factor, though. The board position was complicated because of all the fighting in the center - at least 150 moves were played in all the stages of this long fight. It made it hard to see who was ahead. (Hard by your standards, perhaps. ) I had a small corner, a large corner, and a side. Black had a medium sized corner and a large corner. Not exactly easy to judge at a glance. After the count, however, I saw that I was ahead by almost 20 points. So instead of complicating the game further and going for blood, I simply shored up my points and, after failing to invade, my opponent resigned.


---

I have a busy week this week, so I'm sure I won't post again to this until next week. Maybe not even until next year. (And when he says that he means 365 days from now. ) I looked back and saw that I also made a post to this journal on Christmas Eve last year, and I remember that it was also during a lull in family activities. I suppose this is just the only time I have during the holidays.

A merry Christmas to you all! (And to all a good night. )

_________________
"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

I'm Glad to Be Back, or Losing is Everything in Go

(Oh dear, he's using the big font size again. And he has two titles for this post. This aught to be good... )

I have been having trouble enjoying go this semester. It is not that go has changed, but my position in go has become rather stable. Neither of the 2 kyu players that have come to the West Michigan Go Club in the past have made an appearance since my last post. A member of the Grand Valley Club has stopped attending because of work commitments. Another member has fallen down to 5 or 6 stones against me (from 3). And members at the West Michigan club need at least 4 stones to beat me. As far as I know, I'm now the best player in the Grand Rapids area. And it has been difficult to put up with the monotony. (You make winning games sound like a prison sentence... )

Playing online would, of course, be a good way to face stronger players. After all, there are no end to the strong players available on the KGS, IGS, Tygem, OGS, etc. and yet I don't find the same enjoyment in playing online. Sitting across from my opponent, lightly chatting as we play through the game, that is relaxing and enjoyable. After the game, we always review, and we can always play one more. Playing online, I usually can't even find an opponent who will stop after the game to review.

It has been quite a while since I had a solid rank on the KGS. I've been very busy with classes and, honestly, have put go on the back burner. So why do I now have a rank again? My recent motivation has come from an unlikely source. (Your misguided idea that you can reach the dan level? )

A new player joined our university club this semester. He had just learned how to play when he showed up in January. Since then, he has quickly advanced past a couple of our clubs weaker members. Yesterday, though, he gave me quite a scare. I lost to him twice when giving him 8 and 9 stones. (Don't add caveats. A loss is a loss! )

My goal for the semester was to keep my playing ability strong enough that he wouldn't beat me at 9 stones. Yet at 9 I was forced to resign. At 8, he won by a single point. It was wonderful to see how far he has come, but disheartening for me. I have not been getting better.

Yes, I still do the daily tsumego problems on my phone. Sure, I play at my go clubs. But I haven't had the vigor to actually put real effort into studies. It has just been monotonous. Until now.

Even though this player is at least 8 stones weaker, I find his determination exhilarating. It reminds me of when I was at my peak of improvement in go a few years ago. I would gain a rank a month during my most intense periods of study. I'm not sure I've gained even one rank in the last year. But now I have a moving target again. Someone who, if left unchecked, could pass me by in a year. I will not let that happen. (Translation: It's just a matter of time before he loses an even game to this player. )

Yet getting back online has not been easy. Because I play exclusively handicap games as white in my club games, I'm finding it easy to get overly aggressive and count on my opponents making mistakes in online games as well. This doesn't work against players of equal skill. (No duh. ) So I'm going to need to work my way back toward my older, more solid style of play. In the spirit of moving back toward solid play, I've decided to go back to my roots with the Low Chinese opening. Hopefully it will bring me back into a calmer mindset.

Here are my two most recent KGS games. In both I play the Low Chinese and in both I win by resignation following the death of a white group in the bottom right. Any thoughts or comments are always appreciated.


I really like this first game. Up until move 19 we are both playing textbook Low Chinese. The position at move 18 is right in Kato Masao's book. I'm not sure about white's direction of play with his joseki to 26, but I don't think the choice is out of the question. Actually, I like all of our moves until white invades the top. I think it was a bit too soon to give me that much strength in the area, but perhaps I'm wrong.



This game was intense. My opponent made some mistakes in the upper left joseki, but otherwise played very strongly. I was quite concerned following white's cut into my framework until I figured out the life and death of my group in the bottom right.

_________________
"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

Game 1:

is a nice move and after White takes gote at the bottom, puts you in front.
However, is a rash invasion. I would have reduced from the centre, while expanding your top centre.
If White plays at instead, I don't see how Black will live.

After winning the ko, the game is Black's.

Game 2:

I only have a remark here on
If White next strengthens the corner, this cut doesn't work. Even then the exchange is not desastrous for White, so it seems Black made some mistake in direction earlier.

In the end White tries to hard against Black's territory. You calculated the battle well.

Thanks for the comments, Knotwilg.

In Game 1, I'm glad to know that was a good idea. I often wonder about when these types of shoulder hits are appropriate and when they are aji-keshi. I was quite surprised that white didn't respond. As for , I was originally going to try to treat that stone lightly. The goal was to either make some sort of group that escaped out the top through the M8 region, or give me a move that threatens this, but also cuts off the white stone at L10. was where I deviated from that plan. In retrospect, it does seem rather strange. I think a better idea would be to simply probe with the cross-cut, and then reduce from the top to give white headaches from the resultant aji. (Or do what the 2 dan said. That might be good too... )

As for Game 2, I did see that the cut didn't work if white fixed the corner group. The problem is, I didn't see how the cut would work without , so I played that first in the hopes that white wouldn't fix. Yes, I should not count on my opponent to make a mistake, but I realized that I must have messed up somehow and just tried this. Were white to defend the corner, my plan was to poke at E5 and play L8 in the hopes of building something large on the bottom side of the board. I think the mistake in that area was cutting the knight's move so quickly. While I had the ladder, I did not accurately calculate how white's defense would impact my other stones. (AKA, he didn't read. )

_________________
"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

I feel that my play has mostly settled back to normal. I am again able to calmly evaluate winning games and take the appropriate measures to maintain my victory. No more "everything must die" mentality. (Oh, but isn't that where the fun is?! )

This evening I played an IGS game. While my opponent had two stones, they handed me the game early on after failing in a joseki. From that point forward, I simply played to get enough points to win. I took territory where it was offered. Reduced where I could. I ended up getting an opportunity to attack one of the black groups and instead of forcing it into my moyo in the hopes of getting a kill, I allowed it to escape in exchange for profit. At move 127, I declared my victory by playing a solid gote move to secure my territory. The game continued for quite some time after that, and my opponent played it out to the end, but I only increased my lead as the game continued.

Honestly, the game was not that interesting. (None of your games are. ) I've said before my IGS rank is lower than it should be. I need to play more games there so that I can face proper opponents. I'll still put it here in case anyone's curious:


When I play go, I want people to think of me as a calm, calculating player. I should be flexible with every situation. My games should not be wild or aggressive unless my opponent pushes me into such a position. My reading has improved greatly, but I must not allow that to make me reckless. I need to use that ability to force victories, not kills. If letting an opponent's group live gives me an easy path to victory, then so be it. And, if my opponent allows me to easily kill their group, then so be it. (That sounds boring. Can we go back to crazy, aggressive moyoaji? )

_________________
"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

In game 1, white could just have captured one stone at move (because the ladder above does not work for b). In that case it seems that white would be clearly leading.

But I'm mainly posting here as I have a question on moves and . With this exchange black secures a bit of territory at lower right side, while white "claims" a bit more territory at lower side (and if white played correctly on he would indeed have gotten more from this exchange lateron). I'm not sure if this is the best way in Chinese opening - which IMHO should be more moyo- than territory oriented. I would therefore feel inclined to play e.g. on K4, which is more complicated and fighting oriented. Are there any more opinions on that?

Interesting that you would say that. In Kato Masao's book on the Chinese opening, he says exactly the opposite. The reason that it is easy for black to enclose the corner there is that the Chinese opening can be more territory oriented. About , he says "This is only one example among many favorable opportunities that the Chinese affords black to enclose the corner with a shimari. It is for this reason that we say the Chinese is more oriented toward territory than the sanren-sei..."

He does say that one probably shouldn't enclose the corner in response to white playing the lower star point, and instead favors either approaching on the top or taking the top star point for oneself. The goal of the Chinese is that you want your opponent to approach the lower komoku so that you can attack the stone for profit. makes such an approach easy on white. Where would you play if white then played a high approach on the corner?

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1
$$ -----------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . 7 . . 6 . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ -----------------------------------------[/go]

_________________
"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

Yep, I completely agree - and this is what I would call an influence (or moyo) oriented strategy.

In the position you showed I would play between the white stones. One possible variation is shown below:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm9
$$ -----------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 8 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2 5 7 0 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 O a 9 . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . # . . O . 3 , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ -----------------------------------------[/go]

This is not too great for w, after black plays (a) he has a big corner and white has still cutting points to worry about. Further, black has the marked stone in place. Of course white can reply differently on , it seems to get a bit complicated but more or less ok for b.

I haven't posted on here in a while. I have been quite busy these past few months, but of course, I have not forgotten about go. (Yeah, you just forgot about this forum... )

And I thought it would be a good idea to post my most recent game, because it is the first game in which I have beaten a dan player and is the first time I have risen about the kyus on the KGS without it being a provisional rank. (Wait. What? )

It was a hard game for sure, and I was losing at the end until I was able to trip up my opponent in a life and death problem due to time trouble. (Your opponent lost on time trouble? Are you an imposter?) It is a life and death problem that has cost me games before, and it is one that I still need to work on, because I made a mistake with it early in the game. (Oh, failing at life and death! Okay, so this is still the same moyoaji. ) However, after that mistake, I think I did quite well. I made sure to make shape, keep my groups strong, and when my group did die, it died with me maintaining sente.

Without further ado, here is the game:



While I'm not sure I deserve the rank of 1 dan, I do know that I have come a long way since I first joined this forum a couple years ago. I am not done with this forum, even if I don't have the time to post on here as much as I once did. ("As much?" You haven't posted at all in months?! ) However, I do want to thank all of you here for this win.

Thank you all so much for your help and encouragement, and I hope I can continue to improve my game and that I will truly earn the rank of 1 dan.

_________________
"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

This is a really cool forum thread, I have been going through the idea of recording my progress as well but I have not followed through with it, you're a really big inspiration. Thank you for making this!