djllap vs maruko14

[DJLLAP]

I played this game a few days ago on KGS. Normally when I get beaten so badly I can trace the loss back to a few bad decisions. With this game I am having a hard time doing that. as my opponent pointed out Q2 was too slow for that point of the game, and perhaps the invasion into the bottom left was misguided too, but I have a hard time finding moves that are clearly better. So what I want to learn from this is where exactly I went astray, and what I should have done intead.

Thanks for your help in advance!

[jts]

I don't really like 20, either - the right is already smaller because of r6, so now f17 and c6 seem like they are both good options.

27 seems like a favor, but is e2 the best way to dispose of the LL? My gut feeling is that that move (e2) is more reasonable when there's already a stone at c6 that makes normal approaches unpromising. f3 leads to a painful sequence, but maybe not as painful as the game. Or you can take the corner if you don't want to handle the weak group. These options feel hard because it's not clear if W can recoup B's LL advantage in the other three corners, but I think that is because Q2 and R13 aren't doing much, and F17-C13 favored B.

What about 56? I probably would have tried something like e13 too, but with hindsight L6 seems important. B's ties together his groups and, while W struggles, B gets enough thickness to make e13 irrelevant. If the groups were split you should have been able to build up some strength through splitting attacks. Suddenly q2 might have a purpose.

At 64, things seem urgent enough to cut immediately. You still have 1/2 eye at e8, and you need to put some pressure on B.

[DJLLAP]

Thanks for your insight jts!

[otenki]

I'm not stronger than you so take my advice with a grain of salt

One thing I notice throughout the game is that white is giving influence for free to black.

The more white removes aji from everywhere the less of a chance he has of attacking anything or getting into/points in the center.

The whole sequence starting at 44 looks really bad to me. You could just jump with a 2 space jump into the center and start reducing at F8 instead ? This would be the start of creating influence in the center. Makes me think if this was the right invasion anyway.

Also 46 does not look like very good shape to me. Ok it is the table shape but does it actualy give you good shape ? I think black can cut through if he wants to. I think if black cuts the group dies.

Also D18 starts looking big after that, taking teritory while threatening to attack h17 ?

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Otenki

[otenki]

Oh and one more thing, I really don't feel that q2 is slow. It takes points and creates aji for invasion on the bottom at m3 for example.

Cheers,
Otenki