Big problems ( misunderstandings ) in these areas:

• Broken shapes. See also Toothpaste.
• Basic vital points.
• Basic shapes.

Thanks Ed.

You've reviewed quite a lot of my games and the point you bring up most often is probably shape. Do you have a book recommendation on that, since I seem to be quite lacking in that area?

Hi paK0, you're welcome. No, I don't have any book recommendation for that.

Did you read:

• Toothpaste
• Small Gap
• L'ame du Go

Thanks, I only knew the toothpaste one before (though applying it is another thing)

So, after finally getting stable internet back I can play on KGS again, or rather fail:




The pushing was a really stupid idea, but the invasion was a disaster, does anyone have a book recommendation for me on that topic? Most of the stuff I read only gives you the invasion point and maybe one or two variations, but I feel like I need more than that, any help appreciated.

Just some points i noticed.

Move 15:
The kick is a bad idea in this situation. Attaching will strengthen the opponents stone and your corner will not be completely safe afterwards. (3-3 afterwards is still possible)
The kick is usually played if black would already have a stone on K4, because in this cases white can't get the optimal extension from his two stones.
Without a stone on K4 (or K3), don't play the kick.

Move 47 (The Invasion):
White is way to strong for this invasion to live. It is sometimes a tough call if an invasion is possible but basically reducing territory from the outside is easier than invading it from the inside. So invade if you are certain you can live or if you are that much behind that reducing alone is not enough.

Move 62:
Wrong move. 62 on J18 instead would kill the black group. Black can now play on J18 and at least get an Ko. (B J18, W E19, B K19, W G19)

I haven't counted the end position but the game doesn't look completely lost as black to me, so resigning may have been a bit premature. Black has a nice side on the right and a nice corner on the lower left. White only big territory is at the top but thanks to L11 it can be kept small. The potential white territory at the left is still open around B3 and everything else white has is pretty small. With the l11 group of black and black having sente i don't see any potential territory for either side in the center.
So even if you didn't saw the ko at the top, there is still hope for black. With the ko - black may even have the advantage.

As far as book recommendations go, i don't know of any book that deals especially with invasions. Usually it is a matter of reading, life&death knowledge (which shape can live etc..) and tesuji.

_________________
Magics way up the hill (personal study journal)

Thanks you two, guess the time for the invasion was wrong. I'm also not really sure why I played the kick, usually I know its bad in that position.

Mh, I guess I'll look for a tesuji book then, I haven't really done any studying in that area.

Mh, haven't posted here in a while.

Currently I really have to force myself to play, I manage about a game a day, but I play so horrible, its not really fun right now. I don't know, every move I make seems to turn out terrible. If anyone has a high resistance to eye cancer I'd be happy about some comments on this:

Wow the sequence - is something I would fall for too.

You see how -:w70: Just ends up hurting your three black stones?
You can read that white will block and if you cut, white can atari. That one white stone at P9 isn't as important as your three black stones at Q6.

So instead of pushing and cutting, maybe O6 to jump out and save your three stones. If you do this, white has two weak groups and black only has one.

Applying the toothpaste idea is just reading ahead to see the toothpaste coming, and finding a way to avoid it.

Welcome back to journaling, pak0. Here is a review of the first part of your game.



I'd say you should begin to examine the concepts involved in attacking. They are different from life and death or tesuji because they are more strategy oriented than tactically oriented, but it seems to be the area in your play that you are most lacking in. Did you consider how you might attack white's groups during the middle game?

I understand forcing yourself to play. Go can be hard. I'm also struggling with motivation at the moment. This is made worse by the fact that I've been lacking transportation to attend my club for a couple weeks. Thankfully I have a car again and I'm looking forward to next week already.

When you lack the motivation of clubs, though, try to remember why you love the game and let that push you. As the late great Kageyama Toshiro once said, go is "the most interesting and enjoyable of all games."

_________________
"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 like this.

Thanks a lot for the reviews.

Yeah the right side was pretty bad overall, loosing the stones on bottom and not getting anything on top. I think I actually spent the most time during the game trying to decide how to attack that stone near my wall, but the shoulder hit was the best I could come up with. I didn't know that counted as touching as well, I think I'll remember that after a game like this.

Regarding my attacking game: I know its really weak, I think I tried to read attack and defense twice already, but somehow the book always manages to loose me. Maybe its time to give it another go.


@Abyssinica: It sounds so easy, someday I will achieve it

We are all in the same boat, probably even pros feel it

_________________
Geek of all trades, master of none: the motto for my blog mostlymaths.net

Once we have a goal, the question is "what to do to reach that goal..."
Here I think that doing steps that are mesurable in some way is an important point.

_________________
Converting the book Shape UP! by Charles Matthews/Seong-June Kim
to the gobook format. last updated april 2015 - Index of shapes, p.211 / 216

This journal is full of self hatred. Give yourself some positive feedback. A few measures you van take:

1 play when you feel ok; don't stick to some self imposed rhythm
2 never resign
3 get yourself Into the endgame
4 think about 3 alternatives for Every move

...

Give yourself some reachable goals in order to get positive feedback.

Love yourself. Love go.

Love.

Dieter

I tracked my ranks before I made the current goal, but I actually don't really care about those. My goal is just to play a good game(for my level), Even if my rank doesn't go up anymore I could still achieve it. Its just that I haven't played a lot of games lately that I found satisfying, but I haven't given up hope .

Oh and the hatred(although that's a strong word) is pretty much only directed at my go playing, not my personality and that's a good thing. Once I'm too satisfied with something I start slacking.

University has been kicking my ass lately, so it was kinda hard to get some go related stuff done but I somehow managed to do a bit.

Did about 50 problems per day, since I got time for that on the bus, but I noticed that I make a lot more mistakes as if I were doing them at home, still, I'm gonna count that as progress^^. Also read a good chunk of Attack and Defense, I feel like I finally got something out of the book, I'm gonna finish it this time for sure.

And finally I played a game. I really wasn't feeling like playing much the last few days, but tonight I fired up tygem and a 2D challenged me. I haven't had this much fun with a go game in a long time, so that felt really nice. He even gave me a few pointers after the game. Even though I blundered hard on 98 otherwise I'm actually happy with a game of mine for once.

did you consider D8 ? After , you make a kind of broken shape for yourself here.
is possible ( depends on your plan ); did you also consider Q18 ?
After you connect, W has 2 cuts, and W cannot fix both; this is one meaning of your --
so if W fixes one of them ( ), you take advantage of the other cut...
...which you didn't -- did you consider o18 ?
So W gets both !! Compare if you blocked Q18 on .
Good for you to study the standard sequences here.

• your atari gives W the outside; you don't want this here.
• what if you atari 4th line P3 ? Study this variation.
• what if you just connect R4 ? Study this variation.

If you gain some understanding of this , it's already worth this game.

Go is strange, lately I enjoy tsumego a lot more than the actual game (maybe its the instant gratification of the right moves?).

Anyways, still doing 50 tsumego a day, mostly life and death, but once I'm better at those I'll throw in some more tesuji practice.

Also played a game, but made a horrible missplay (22) that put me on tilt and I pretty much threw it after that.

In a few weeks my assignments and exams are mostly done, I plan to put myself on a stricter playing schedule for summer.