So, I found one of my abandoned accounts and it was sitting at 9k so I decided to rank it up. It's currently at 8k and after playing 4 or so 8k's, it's really weird thinking back. Call it sandbagging if you will, but I'm only a very new 6k and possibly still 7/8kish at times when I
keep playing retarded moves.Most of them seem to be playing moves that feel random or just plain bad, but I can't put my finger on how to respond. For example, I am white in this game and this is my reply to black's iron pillar. Did I also mention I got almost the entire left hand side on the 4th line?
$$c
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . O . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . X . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . W . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . O . . O . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$c
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . O . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . X . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . W . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . O . . O . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
At the end I attached at q3 and got to connect under leading to a resignation.
In the second game, white decided to sanrensei, and, well...
$$c
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . 6 . 5 . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 1 . 7 . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$c
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . 6 . 5 . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 1 . 7 . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
I also got to extend towards J16 AND invade into white's 3-3 to which he blocked "protecting" his framework. You know, the overconcentrated side. I won by resignation in scoring which was B+70
There was a game against an 8k I lost, but I was playing it more of a learning experience than anything else for my excuse. I was white and lost by 4.5 points. He played a kobayashi that was one to the left of the star point and made a huge moyo. But I didn't freak out. I wanted to see at that point how close the game would be if I didn't go insane and try to erase the entire thing. He played a monkey jump in the middle of the middle game and I just took a big point and almost an entire side. Why do I need to respond to his monkey jump? The mistake I DID make was allow him to keep pushing me into over concentration because derp I'm getting a lot of centre points herp derp too overconcentrated and hurt one of my groups in the process. It lived, of course, but I had to spend moves connecting it to myself as well as had to suffer the fate of too many stones for too little points in the left side of the board. And with all that said, I still only lost by 4.5 even though I didn't freak out about him getting "too many points" on one side of the board.
I'm noticing a lot more that some of their moves seem ignorable. Like they just expect me to respond. Sadly I don't have the judgment of when it's proper to respond, when I can just tenuki, and when I should've tenuki'd two moves ago.

There's also lots of examples of "Oh, you want those two stones? You can have those two stones that don't mean anything to me. I'll just play over here while you take them." Not always a good thing just like my "When to tenuki because I know all of their moves are realy small" judgment.
But, of course, I should focus my attention on beating 5, 6, and 7 kyus. The examples above aren't the greatest examples of, or even actual examples of, the "random moves" I'm talking about, but they're examples of things I find strange.
I have high expectations for 5ks like I did when I was at ddk for 8ks.