paK0's goals and dreams

Bill Spight · Post by **Bill Spight** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 12:53 pm

Congratulations!

A couple of quick comments.

:b7:

OK, but since you got a timid reply, you can play elsewhere, such as the bottom right corner or playing a mini-Chinese on the bottom side. Also, locally D-15 is amusing.

:b13:

gains nothing.

:b19:

Extending once more on the third line is bigger than it looks. Later the Black formation becomes a silly clump of stones.

SamT · Post by **SamT** » Thu Oct 16, 2014 2:39 pm

Bill Spight wrote:Responses to Sam.

Edit: Corrected a variation, the one that avoids a ko.

Thanks, Bill!

I wondered why I couldn't get that move you suggested to work right.

paK0 · Post by **paK0** » Wed Oct 22, 2014 8:46 am

Haven't posted in a while. So all my accounts are slowly but steadily going towards SDK and I've been winning a lot lately, but every now and then I still hit a road bump. This game is one of em. I managed to win, but it was close and I think I was playing catch up most of the time(the fact that he played a crazy opening on short time controls didn't help). Also I realized my endgame is probably horrible for my level, but in this case my opponents was just as bad

. Any comments appreciated.

schawipp · Post by **schawipp** » Wed Oct 22, 2014 9:48 am

On move

you could force and squeeze black at S9 before defending at P12. Afterwards you can let S9 alone and still defend at P12. In the actual game position this makes a big difference since with the additional forcing move black can no more connect his S6 stones (with S9 in place, on black S8 you could play S7 in sente and then T7...). Thus, if you regularly watch out for such forcing moves before defending this will make you at least 3 stones stronger (that's a qualified guess :mrgreen:

).

Edit: Well, in this specific position, b can connect his three S6 stones also to the bottom. Anyway - looking at forcing moves before doing some seemingly obvious defense move still is a good idea and BTW I'm a rather bad game reviewer ;-)

skydyr · Post by **skydyr** » Wed Oct 22, 2014 11:26 am

I think this game is a good one to review, because there is a lot to learn from.

To start with :b5:

this looks big and scary, but it's really loose, and there's a lot of aji in the corner that black will have to deal with later. Nothing to worry about.

At move 14, it's vital that white move into the center, to prevent being sealed in. Being sealed in and living in gote is a fate worse than death.

For :w20:

I'd rather extend down the left side to limit black, maybe to c10. Similarly, at :b21:

, black doesn't extend nearly far enough, so I want to extend to c11 as white. A little closer to lessen the pressure of black's thickness.

At :w34:

, black can connect under by attaching at b10. You can play e8 instead to prevent this and still get out somewhat. That said, this fight is why I didn't want to extend to c10 after :b21:

.

At

, one space to the right, on the third line, helps fix a lot of the aji. Also, notice that a few moves later, black is breaking white's shape horribly. This is a sign that something has gone awry.

:w58:

would probably be better sealing black in at P14, forcing him to live locally, and connecting. When black takes this move, white's split into two and black has no weaknesses.

After that, I thought you did pretty well. You took both corners from black, and your endgame was okay. One key point, though, is that G1 was very big for white to connect his groups and not have to worry about playing inside his territory to make eyeshape later.

paK0 · Post by **paK0** » Thu Oct 23, 2014 3:16 pm

Thanks for the advice, reviews often remind me of stuff that I know about but fail to apply in my games (in this case that moving out is better than living small, jumping along the side to prevent a connection underneath and squeezing even if a capture is not possible. Especially the last one bugs me, I think I overlook that in every single game I post here :scratch:

)

Knotwilg · Post by **Knotwilg** » Fri Oct 24, 2014 2:46 am

There's quite a bit to tell about the opening, especially how and why you got into trouble at the left side, but I'll leave that to Bill.

I second the above suggestion for :w92:

to capture some Black stones at the expense of your own three stones. But I don't think that's where the game went wrong.

At :w46:

the game is at least even. The left side is still the hottest area. Yet Black invades at :b47:

leads to a broken shape at :b51:

and

invites another broken shape which is accomplished at :b59:

Here the game is completely shifted in Black's favour, due to allowing your stones to be disconnected in such ugly fashion. Now your left side is still weak but the right side has also become weak, while this was your sphere of influence.

What was the reasoning behind moves like :w50:

and

and allowing Black to cut your position to pieces with :b59:

? If you understand why you play these moves, you can probably avoid them next time. Or maybe you did not think of the result after :b59:

as being problematic?

Cheers!

ez4u · Post by **ez4u** » Fri Oct 24, 2014 5:50 am

In the game when Black plays 217 at :b1:

below, White answers at :w2:

. Black played at 'a' next. But what happens if Black plays 3 below? It looks like White is dead to me. It seems that White has to answer 1 with something like 3.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$Bc White dies? $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . O X . . . X X X X O O . . . . | $$ | . . . . O X . X . . O O O X X O . . . | $$ | . O O , O X . . X O . . . . . O O O O | $$ | . X X O O X . X . X O . . O O X O X O | $$ | . O O X X . X X . X O . O X X X X X . | $$ | . . X X O X X O . O . . . . . O . X . | $$ | . X X O . O O . O . . . O O O O X . . | $$ | . O X O O . . . O X . . O . . O X . . | $$ | . . O X O O O O X X . X O O O X . X . | $$ | . X X X . X X O O X . . X X O X X . . | $$ | X . X X X . O X X O . . X O . O O X . | $$ | X . . . X . O . X O . . X O . . . . . | $$ | X . X X O X . . X X . X O O O X X X . | $$ | X X X O O O X X O . X X X X O O X O . | $$ | X O O , O X X X O a O X O X . O O X . | $$ | O . O O . X X O . . O X O . X . O X . | $$ | . O . . O O X O 2 3 . O O O X X O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . X O . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

paK0 · Post by **paK0** » Sun Oct 26, 2014 3:15 pm

Good thing that for once my opponent matched my reading skills^^.

And a new game, another close win, but I feel like I should have lost. I managed to cut of a group in the middle and after that it was close, so I was probably behind for the most part, which tells me I have still some very basic issues that need to be taken care of. For those who want to point out a few, here is the game:

S2W · Post by **S2W** » Sun Oct 26, 2014 5:30 pm

Some general ideas:
1. Try to attack for profit - not just for the sake of attacking
2. Some more reading - you played shape points a couple of times when there was no way to live. Don't just play the cool move - read it out
(I lost more games to "wouldn't it be cool if" than I'd like to count)
3. Endgame - nothing too complex - just try to play sente moves first. Beyond that maybe read up on it a little and learn about the value of reverse sente. It's not sexy but a little endgame attention can get you a few points (2-5) most games, which won't win every game - but will win a few more.

More comments

S2W · Post by **S2W** » Sun Oct 26, 2014 5:37 pm

brer rabbit

Bill Spight · Post by **Bill Spight** » Sun Oct 26, 2014 8:25 pm

A few top of the head comments.

What, no ladder?

:w30:

Solid connection.

:w32:

White saves one stone.

:w38:

Aji keshi.

skydyr · Post by **skydyr** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 8:22 am

Regarding move 4, the 3-4 point like this is a classic 'make the chinese inefficient' move, since if black makes the chinese formation, white can complete the corner enclosure and has a solid low stone on the bottom. Black's goal with the chinese formation is to attack the invading stone to make territory on the bottom (and the side), but with the corner enclosure in place, it limits black's profit. At least at a pro level, my understanding is that the majority (but not all) pros feel that it's better for black to approach the white 3-4 stone at that point.

In S2W's variation from :w84:

to

there is a ladder, but unfortunately it is white's three stones that are caught in it after one move. I think black's fight should be favourable if white goes the other way as well, so I'm inclined to think the double hane may be an overplay.

I find the trade up to 104 interesting, but it's important that white come back to the upper left at some point, both to use the aji of the captured stone to take more of the side, and also to make sure his corner group lives decently.

For some minor endgame quibbles: at 110, you can play one point to the right to capture those stones in sente. Also, at 128, you can push to C5, since black's attempt to cut you off will be gote due to shortage of liberties.

paK0 · Post by **paK0** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:30 pm

I pretty much open up 4-4 and 3-4 against everything, since my 3-4 joseki are still really bad, so it forces me to learn them. Maybe I should switch to double 3-4 and speed it up a little =).

@S2W: Thanks for the pointers. I went for the stones in the middle since I was already undercut on the top side, so I was pretty certain there wasn't enough points left there to turn the game around.

@Bill: omg, missing that ladder... The other moves I pretty much regretted immediately after I played them.

@skydyr: Cool to know, I only know some general opening principles, when it comes to specific fuseki I'm often lost.

Yeah, I know my endgame is not the best, but I decided to first spend my time more on reading practice, I will definitely tackle it at some point in the future.

Knotwilg · Post by **Knotwilg** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:49 pm

On the contrary, you won this game thx to better endgame. You got the endgame in all 4 corners after 114.

Before, you got Into bad middle game due to heavy. Lower left group, after missing the ladder. In late middle game you attacked from strength i/o towards it. Good game!

Life In 19x19

paK0's goals and dreams

Re: paK0's goals and dreams

Re: paK0's goals and dreams

Re: paK0's goals and dreams

Re: paK0's goals and dreams

Re: paK0's goals and dreams

Re: paK0's goals and dreams

Re: paK0's goals and dreams

Re: paK0's goals and dreams

Re: paK0's goals and dreams

Re: paK0's goals and dreams

Re: paK0's goals and dreams

Re: paK0's goals and dreams

Re: paK0's goals and dreams

Re: paK0's goals and dreams

Re: paK0's goals and dreams