Full of passionate intensity... S2W's Study journal

[S2W]

Can you say atari, boys and girls?

Every now and then I wonder why I'm not a 1 dan - the answer is not that hard really.

[S2W]

Not much live go for the last couple of weeks - my family and I (in that order) were struck down with a fairly debilitating virus (I was wiped out most of the weekend and I'm still feeling a little light headed). I have been going well on dgs though - my 4k rank is holding at least a little longer and until about an hour ago I thought I was going to get my first even win against a 2 kyu - but I think they have one too many ko threats - we'll see.

During the break my live play has gotten a bit rusty. I've played 5 or 6 matches on igs since getting 8k - and only won two. At least one or two of those were due to simple mistakes, and the wins well they weren't my best effort either. Just need to get my head back in the game.

Anyway - here's one of the wins. I got some big points, but I was probably too willing to sacrifice my stones and was lucky that my opponent played some slack moves in the middle game.

[EdLee]

seems B needs one more move lower right corner. Maybe O3 big ?

seems wrong shape.

bad to allow hane F10 -- hane at both the head AND the ass.

hane F10 seems only move.

you got lucky because of .

?

you cannot let the cutting stones at G12 die.

should be game over.

[Knotwilg]

Highlight of the game: the mild ladder breaker at

At you start coming back. In the end Black loses by making more mistakes.

[S2W]

Ed, knotwilg - thanks for your comments - it definitely was not my best game it's surprising how much even a week of not playing live games gets me out of the flow of playing. The ladder breaker - sigh - a classic "wouldn't it be cool if" move... Read fool, read.

Somehow - despite all odds I've managed to cling to my 8k rating. I thought I'd lost it last night in a 2 stone handicap against a 6 kyu but I managed to eek out a 5 point win thanks to endgame and the reverse komi.

Tonight's game ... another slightly desperate win ... a 3 stone handicap game against an 11 kyu+. I was hoping for my opponent to make a mistake - which they did in spades. But I'd rather be good than lucky (and boy was I lucky).



On the plus side my dgs games are going great! There's one in particular I can't wait to share.

[S2W]

Soaring to 3 kyu
... on wax wings ...

Thanks to some good luck, and lots of good timing - I've managed to crack 3 kyu on dgs. It's definitely going to be short lived though - I've got a bank of other games lined up: from even matches with a 1 dan to a 21(!) stone handicap against a 26 kyu ... and none of them look pretty. I'm even loosing against an unranked beginner (they clearly have played some go but mostly I just keep punching myself in the face).

This game though ... regardless of the reaming to come ... and regardless of the fact I deserved to loose it several times over ... This game is a keeper.



ps. Still clinging to the tail end of 8 kyu on igs.
pps. If they are reading this - big thanks to aralai for the game - I had lots of fun and no business winning - I'd get creamed in a rematch.

[Uberdude]

Stop believing your opponent's crap moves are good. Move 40 is pathetic. c13 push and capture c12 in a ladder. I'd actually do that instead of g15 (as white gets a lot of profit and can handle the fight if black then pushes and cuts) before black has a chance to fix his weakness there but fortunately for you he plays that absurd peep but fortunately for him you believe him. Also don't forget to c18 atari right after his b18. It would have meant black has to live in gote not sente with d18. A whole move for free for you! 48 and 50 are similar timid thinking. Black is not attacking you, he is throwing tennis balls at a tank. Charge on through and crush him in the dust.

[Knotwilg]

If someone would ask me at which level this game is played, I'd definitely say something around 3k, so don't be too dispondent about your game. Many reviews focus on mistakes, so let this one focus on things done well:

and speed up development at the bottom while Black wastes some time moving against a strong top right
is a thick move, creating breathing space for a group that risks becoming heavy

Still, after Black's moyo is more promising than White's territory. though technically too close to strength, shows correct positional judgment that White somehow needs to live within the moyo. We can argue about timing here

At B103 Black screws up: he could have sacrificed one stone and keep White eyeless.

The cut at W128 is well engineered and White gets ahead, provided that the bottom right survives. Actually, it would probably have been better to capture the lone stone at the bottom right now, to maintain overall thickness and let Black suffer with his heavy groups. The capture at W128 is "only" 25 points.

Lo' and behold, W134 overestimates the capture of a stone and Black reverses the game. It seems impossible for White to save this lump of stones but ...

... the ladder at W170 is again very well crafted and the game is over.

You emerge victorious in both combats, through creative usage of the opponent's shortage of liberties. In both fights there is opportunity to critically inspect the importance of the stones atari'd.

Good game!

[S2W]

If someone would ask me at which level this game is played, I'd definitely say something around 3k, so don't be too dispondent about your game.

Thanks knotwilg - I'm not despondent at all. It was probably not the best game - but for me at least the late stage fighting made it one of the most entertaining ones.

... the ladder at W170 is again very well crafted and the game is over.

Cheers! It's the most complex ladder I've managed to spot and read out successfully in a game. I really thought I had black - but then he must have spotted it too. Even then I thought black would resign but I have to admire his tenacity ... which almost paid off.

For those reading along at home that don't have time for the whole sgf:

After w172 black is behind - but still continues to fight - he threatens my top right (which I probably should not have responded to) ...

... and then goes back and tries for the stones remaining on the left.

If black pulls the stones out he's still in the game. So there's a massive ko fight at move 181 - we both have big ko factories - and the fight ends with ... Another (much shorter) ko! Love it!

This is followed by a h&a hane at 258 (not that spectacular but I was happy to be the one playing it for a change )

Finished with the threat at 266 and coup-de-grace at move 268

Stop believing your opponent's crap moves are good. ... Black is not attacking you, he is throwing tennis balls at a tank. Charge on through and crush him in the dust.

Point taken, Überdude - I do tend to give numerically stronger opponents too much credit (and weaker ones too little). I was obviously way too concerned with trying to stay "safe" and missing out on opportunities as a result.

[S2W]

The center ... can hold?

So this happened:

Ps.

No need for reviews - I'm well aware that even with the upper lhs white is dead in the water everywhere else.

I'm still feeling guilty and I've offered up ten teaching games for <16kyus on dgs as penance. I lost my game against the 1 dan, but won another couple against 3 kyus so my 3 kyu dgs rating has held for a little while. My rank is still well inflated at the moment though and I'm still heading for a loss against a couple of 6 kyus though so we'll see how it comes out in the end. Still it feels good to be getting close to my loose goal of dgs 2 kyu by May.

Not a lot of opportunities to play live recently - which might be helping my game (concentrating more on dgs). I played a mediocre intro game against violence for the sdk level up group (lots of excuses (my daughter woke up half way through) but really I was just unbelievably nervous - I love the fact that I've played go for almost 2 years now and I still have games where I have too much adrenaline to keep my hands steady). I played a better game at the club - we didn't finish but I held my own against the 6 dan with 8 stones. Finally alothough I've only played on igs a few times - I've been having a bit of a winning streak and I'm comfortably in the 8k bracket now - so all in all a pretty good week or two.

[S2W]

And a thousand thousand slimy things lived on ... and so did I.


I got an unexpectedly quick victory on DGS and was promoted ... To 2 kyu! Now admittedly it's 2 kyu (-49%) - which is to say as close to not 2 kyu as you can get - but 2 kyu nonetheless! I'm also about to resign in a game against a 5 kyu so it's all virtual - but screw it it's good enough to reach my DGS target for the year (and 5 months early!) so I'll take it!

My other goal is to drag my igs rank up to 5k ... 3 stones in 5 months ... Should be doable, but it seems tougher in many ways - mostly just finding time to play. Still I figure if I can maintain 2 (or more likely 3) kyu on dgs my live game should be able to get there.

Edit: I know 2kyus sir - and you are no 2 kyu
My time as a 2kyu was brief and volatile - I lasted an hour before resigning to the 5k (but made it to a respectable 2k-42% thanks to another unexpectedly early victory. )

[S2W]

Chasing the dragon
I've still not had too many opportunities for live go - but I've haven't been doing too badly when I do play, and my dgs games are going well - I had a second victory against a 2k - it was an unrated match so I'm not sure how seriously he was taking it but I think I played well in the second half of the game.

I think my main mistakes were around move 20 - I'm not sure if the shoulder hit was the best choice - and at move 30 - the hane was definitely too aggressive. That said, I haven't played many even games at this level so any and all feedback is appreciated.

[Charles Matthews]

I think my main mistakes were around move 20 - I'm not sure if the shoulder hit was the best choice - and at move 30 - the hane was definitely too aggressive. That said, I haven't played many even games at this level so any and all feedback is appreciated.

Interesting that by the unorthodox is looking quite good. At that stage White wants to play on both the upper and lower sides, so something has already gone wrong. I think White should have pincered in the lower left. Black's stones became well-organised in the game (which was obviously won and lost in the close fighting).

[S2W]

Thanks Charles - as chance would have it I played virtually the same opening against the same opponent - and got an opportunity to pincer - I'll report back later how it works out.

[S2W]

Ahh Tsumego ... god bless you

I'm lax with regard to go problems - I'll go through brief bursts for a week or two then not touch them for months. My reluctance stems in part from a desire to fix my own errors, and some skepticism that solving yet another under the stones problem is going to help my game - when I have yet to see or play one "in the wild". My other gripe is that I suffer from pseudo-tsumegoitis after I do a burst of problems - suddenly ever weak group of mine can live and all my opponents corners can die ... Except they can't and don't.

So it was nice when a chance for a non-pseudo-tsumego popped up in my game and I a) correctly recognized the possibility several moves earlier and b) got to play it out. Nicer still because I was dead in the water without the capture.

I've left the last few moves out in case anyone wants to give it a go (please no spoilers - it's not that hard but I think it's a neat problem if you haven't seen it before)