When to stop attacking

[skydyr]

One thing that has come up in my games in the past, or that I notice in professional games I see, is the question of when to stop attacking, and when to take a pause in an attack to play in a bigger area and then when to resume attacking. I'm going to be real helpful here and not provide any specific examples, because I have a feeling that I may be misunderstanding what is going on. Nevertheless, would some of the dan players here have some insight to share into this, and perhaps some game examples of their own or a professional to explain?

[daal]

I'll go out on a limb and say: you should continue the attack as long as you are profiting from it.

[RobertJasiek]

Answer: http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/viewto ... 77#p174977

[mitsun]

A helicopter was flying above Seattle when an electrical malfunction disabled all of the aircraft’s electronic navigation and communications equipment. Due to the clouds and haze, the pilot could not determine the helicopter’s position. The pilot saw a tall building, flew toward it, circled, drew a handwritten sign, and held it up to the window. The sign said "Where am I?" in large letters. People in the tall building drew a sign of their own and held it up to one of their own windows. Their sign read "You are in a helicopter".

The pilot smiled, waved, set a course for the airport, and landed safely. After they were on the ground, the co-pilot asked the pilot how he had determined their position. The pilot responded "I knew that had to be the Microsoft tech support building in Redmond. The response they gave me was technically correct, but completely useless."

[oren]

A helicopter was flying above Seattle when an electrical malfunction disabled all of the aircraft’s electronic navigation and communications equipment. Due to the clouds and haze, the pilot could not determine the helicopter’s position. The pilot saw a tall building, flew toward it, circled, drew a handwritten sign, and held it up to the window. The sign said "Where am I?" in large letters. People in the tall building drew a sign of their own and held it up to one of their own windows. Their sign read "You are in a helicopter".

The pilot smiled, waved, set a course for the airport, and landed safely. After they were on the ground, the co-pilot asked the pilot how he had determined their position. The pilot responded "I knew that had to be the Microsoft tech support building in Redmond. The response they gave me was technically correct, but completely useless."

...on Car Talk a few weeks ago as well and made me laugh.

[wineandgolover]

The two instances I can think of when to discontinue an attack are:
a) when the opponent can safely tenuki or you end in gote for another reason. (attacks that end in gote kinda suck)
b) when you have a choice of two directions from which to attack, and it is unclear which is better. You can come back later when the situation is clearer, and if the opponent spends an extra move fixing it later, that also might be okay.

I'm sure there are other reasons.

[Solomon]

Never stop attacking.

[Bantari]

It depends what you are aiming at. If you really want to kill a group, you keep attacking until it is dead. At higher levels, however, this is very seldom advisable.

In a nutshell, you always strive to make the largest move possible, unless there are urgent moves, of course. Which means that you are not getting bogged down in the mindset "I have just made an attacking move, so I have to follow up with attacking move." Instead, you evaluate the position after each move separately, and decide which is the biggest play. Often you will attack, attack, take big point, attack, take a big point, attack, attack... etc.

There is another dimension to that as well, besides the size of a move. It is the aim of the move or the aim of the attack. For example, you see a large move and you want to play there, but then you realize that the move will be more profitable or more efficient if you can first drop a stone here and there. Sometimes you can accomplish that by attacking. So you make the attacking moves to place some stones in right positions to support your big play, and then you make the big play. Sometimes you then continue attacking, but sometimes you don't, depending on your plan and what is the larges play after that.

There are quite a few scenarios, but I think most of them can be divided into the two above categories.
Just remember - you do not attack for the sake of attacking. You attack to move forward a plan, or there is no point attacking. And this plan, at higher levels, is only seldom "to kill the stones."

Go is a complex game.
Hope that helps.

[hyperpape]

A helicopter was flying above Seattle when an electrical malfunction disabled all of the aircraft’s electronic navigation and communications equipment. Due to the clouds and haze, the pilot could not determine the helicopter’s position. The pilot saw a tall building, flew toward it, circled, drew a handwritten sign, and held it up to the window. The sign said "Where am I?" in large letters. People in the tall building drew a sign of their own and held it up to one of their own windows. Their sign read "You are in a helicopter".

The pilot smiled, waved, set a course for the airport, and landed safely. After they were on the ground, the co-pilot asked the pilot how he had determined their position. The pilot responded "I knew that had to be the Microsoft tech support building in Redmond. The response they gave me was technically correct, but completely useless."

A man flying in a hot air balloon suddenly realizes he's lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts to get directions, "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"

The man below says: "Yes. You're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field."

"You must work in Information Technology," says the balloonist.

"I do" replies the man. "How did you know?"

"Well," says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but It's of no use to anyone."

The man below replies, "You must work in management."

"I do," replies the balloonist, "But how'd you know?"

"Well", says the man, "you don't know where you are or where you're going, but you expect me to be able to help. You're in the same position you were before we met, but now it's my fault."

[EdLee]

A helicopter was flying above Seattle...

A man flying in a hot air balloon...

A man enters a library, walks up to the lady at the counter,
and says in full voice, I'd like to have ONE CHEESEBURGER, LARGE FRIES, A COKE, AND...
She goes, Shhhh! You're in a library!
He immediately apologizes and whispers, Sorry! I'd like to have one cheeseburger, large fries, ...

I'm going to be real helpful here and not provide any specific examples,

Nice folks have already provided some general replies, with lists, more lists, and yet more lists, as usual.
Others may provide some pro games as examples.

because I have a feeling that I may be misunderstanding what is going on.

To test your understanding, here are some follow-up suggestions:

• Show the pro games where you have questions, and show your questions, exactly, about certain moves;
• Show your own games where you have the same questions;
• Your future moves will show your understanding or mis-understanding, exactly;
• See also Understanding, posts 51 and 58.

[logan]

Actually, you should preempt the end of your attack by having read the attack before you even begin it. Before you begin attacking you should compare the outcomes -- those will tell you how strongly and which sequence you'll want to use to attack.

If you can't read it all from the outset, then keep a close eye on it as the fight develops. Eventually it will become clear several moves beforehand.