Not to splash water on that idea too much, but in this game you are too concerned with getting and defending territory.TSLexi wrote:I play anyone who's up for a game. I know I should lose at at least 50 games just starting out. I actually want advice on this specific game, because I have been noticing I am losing by less every time, because I now understand the importance of getting and defending territory.
In a fairly typical game on the 19x19 board each player will play about 120 stones and make about 60 points of territory. That's about 1/2 point of territory per play. But we know that the average play gains about 7 points of territory. That's a big percentage difference. Players get to keep only about 7% of the territory that they gain. What's going on here?
What's going on is that most of what a play gains, on average, comes from preventing the opponent from making more territory, not from making your own.
The opening is the time to sketch out potential territory, not to make territory. Territory typically gets solidified in skirmishes.
That's a problem for beginners, because they tend to get creamed in skirmishes. I know. I remember when I started out losing three or more groups per game. But I did not lose heart.
That's a go proverb.Faint heart ne'er won fair lady.
Also:
OC, it is better to live like a lion than to die like a dog, as well.It is better to die like a lion than to live like a dog.
Also:
-- Danton, 7 dan.De l'audace! Encore de l'audace! Toujours de l'audace!
have now?