39. Magicwand (3d) vs. Kirby (1d)

[daal]

For Kirby:

You have posted 5 times. In every post, you have displayed a resigned, negative, beaten attitude. I have sympathy for this, considering that this game comes so close on the heels of the last one, but contrast this with your early postings in game 3 in which you displayed an over-confident attitude while making small plays. It really looks to me from the outside as if your emotional responses are a bad influence. Surely situations arise in a game which cause emotional reactions, but what I'm seeing is that you are allowing your emotional backdrop to set the stage. This is not a good plan. The attitude I would suggest is this: Look at the board, find the spot that simultaneously helps you the most and bothers your opponent the most, whack down your stone and say: "chew on that!"

[Solomon]

I think Kirby should stop playing and take a breather. The quality of his games has been absolutely crumbling since the first and the last one especially was very poor; e.g: the sequence in the center for life was something I would see in a 10k game. I get the feeling people are not here to learn or contribute much to analysis (except for Bill), but to simply watch with sympathy how Kirby handles a situation here or there as Magicwand plays the menacing bully.

To add contribution to this post, I'm a bit saddened that the only thing Kirby wrote for the last move was "No choice" because there is more to that move than what meets the eye. Kirby had the perfect opportunity there to discuss the difference between Q6 and R6 for instance. Or answer why the move of R7, which is typically seen as a direct response to the approach, is not appropriate here. Or answer why, when White has support in the R10/R9 area, pros consider the somewhat strange move of Q2. There was so much he could have talked about, and he certainly did have a choice.

[Kirby]

For Kirby:

You have posted 5 times. In every post, you have displayed a resigned, negative, beaten attitude. I have sympathy for this, considering that this game comes so close on the heels of the last one, but contrast this with your early postings in game 3 in which you displayed an over-confident attitude while making small plays. It really looks to me from the outside as if your emotional responses are a bad influence. Surely situations arise in a game which cause emotional reactions, but what I'm seeing is that you are allowing your emotional backdrop to set the stage. This is not a good plan. The attitude I would suggest is this: Look at the board, find the spot that simultaneously helps you the most and bothers your opponent the most, whack down your stone and say: "chew on that!"

You are right, daal. It is difficult for me to be totally oblivious to my emotions, but I will try to have a more positive attitude. I will also try to play a game without mistakes.

[entropi]

This series is a good demonstration of the importance of the attitude. The last two games felt like blitz frenzy games, even though it was above my level, it was not too difficult to feel the attitudes.

Kirby is obviously much stronger than how he played in the last game. It's his negative attitude that lost the last two games.

Whenever I am scared of my opponent, I miss the opportunities to punish his weaknesses. Therefore, the general attitude should be more "come on it's just a game, let's try that strange move and see how he reacts". If you take it too seriously, you psychologically limit yourself to what you certainly know, which can never be enough against a stronger opponent.

I have nothing against magicwand but I support kirby, whatever the outcome of the game is

[entropi]

For Kirby:

I will also try to play a game without mistakes.

You are stronger than me, but fearing mistakes seems to be worse than making them, especially against the style of magicwand. Magicwand also makes a lot of mistakes, the main reason why you fail to punish them is because you try to play mistake-free yourself.

Well, that's just my opinion and I am a couple of stones weaker than you... Just for you to consider.

[amnal]

I've found these games really interesting. Kirby has been crumbling a bit, but I thought the point of interest was moslty magicwand's excellent handicap play - demonstrating extremely well how even fairly evenly matched players can be disconcerted by unusual moves and well timed overplays.

The last game's moyo play was particularly good, and I think weaker players should take note. Magicwand was clearly behind on territory, and didn't have much prospect of a centre moyo, but he won because black became complacent - massively underestimating his potential and then overplaying himself when magicwand did better than expected.

Doing this is exactly what white wants in a handicap game. If black is evenly matched with white, I think backing down is completely the wrong thing to do. Take a leaf out of magicwand's book, and just believe you can kill your opponent everywhere.

[Magicwand]

$$Wcm1 Prisoners: W=0, B=0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . W . . . . . X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm1 Prisoners: W=0, B=0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . W . . . . . X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

it probably is an overplay but 4 stone handy require some overplay. for 3 stone i can play textbook style and win. but 4 stone is totally different game because i dont have any corner to start with. its very hard to balance the points at first. basically i have to capture his group.
not by attacking but building my influence and waiting for the right time to kill.

[Fredrik]

Keep faith Kirby and regain your honor by getting it back to at least two stones. Set up some future goals for yourself

My advice is: Do not be afraid because he has beaten you at two and three stones. He might be stronger then you, but not as the handicap suggest, he is just a more experienced player. Play the board and not magicwand, fight when you have to fight, defend when you have to defend etc and you will surely win!

[Magicwand]

Keep faith Kirby and regain your honor by getting it back to at least two stones. Set up some future goals for yourself

My advice is: Do not be afraid because he has beaten you at two and three stones. He might be stronger then you, but not as the handicap suggest, he is just a more experienced player. Play the board and not magicwand, fight when you have to fight, defend when you have to defend etc and you will surely win!

wow..Kerby fan club is pretty big
do i have anybody on my side???

Kerby: to boost your confidence.. our correct handycap is 2 stone. then we should be even (that is if you dont play me for money). i was very lucky to win last game and this game is crazy handycapped game. if you play your game you shouldnt have any problem winning this game. also..think at least 1 min before you make your move so you dont make costly mistake. few small mistake will not determine the outcome of this game!!! but one big mistake can.

[topazg]

wow..Kerby fan club is pretty big
do i have anybody on my side???

Everyone loves the underdog

[Magicwand]

wow..Kerby fan club is pretty big
do i have anybody on my side???

Everyone loves the underdog

with 4 stone?? I AM THE UNDERDOG!!

[HKA]

wow..Kerby fan club is pretty big
do i have anybody on my side???

Everyone loves the underdog

with 4 stone?? I AM THE UNDERDOG!!

This should be true. I am big fan of Magicwand, I called him earlier the "Simon Cowell" of Malkovich. He is the guy we love to hate, and the consistency of his aggressive attitude is really fun.

It would be nice, with Kirby down, to spell his name correctly though.

Kirby, snap out of it, and sorry for my mean remark last game, I thought it was too funny to resist, but if it is adding to your melancholy, I sincerely apologize.

We are all rooting for you, do not freak when there are lots of comments - its all support.

[Aphelion]

I'll admit it, while I hate watching Kirby lose, I prefer Magicwand's attitude to the game over Kirby's. So I guess you can say I'm a Magicwand fan.

P.S.: not a fan of his sequences of 20 moves without comments though, but Kirby is at fault there too.

[Magicwand]

P.S.: not a fan of his sequences of 20 moves without comments though, but Kirby is at fault there too.

below is what i expect from KIRBY.

$$Bcm1 Prisoners: W=0, B=0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
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$$ | . . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . . |
$$ | . . . . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 2 . . 5 . . 4 . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . W . . 1 . . X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 Prisoners: W=0, B=0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . . |
$$ | . . . . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 2 . . 5 . . 4 . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . W . . 1 . . X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

[daal]

P.S.: not a fan of his sequences of 20 moves without comments though, but Kirby is at fault there too.

It is however also worth mentioning that Magicwand answered quite a few of Kirby's questions after the game. That deserves a thumbs up, I think.