So I thought I would start a thread to log down some of the mistakes I make as I play. I make a lot of them, and I seem to make the same mistakes over and over. By logging them down and discussing them, hopefully it will help me to understand why they are mistakes and start to stop making them.
Most likely these will all be pretty obvious to most people here. I am very much in the completely new and uneducated phase of my Go playing. Hopefully as time goes on my mistakes will become more complex and less obvious!
The mistakes I make
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mongus
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Re: The mistakes I make
Many of the mistakes I make involve playing on diagonals. This one annoyed me.
I was Black and played at a, trying to block my opponent from moving to the left. Silly idea. White just played an b, putting me into Atari. I saved this atari, and then White played c, effectively killing my stone at a. Doh!
I was Black and played at a, trying to block my opponent from moving to the left. Silly idea. White just played an b, putting me into Atari. I saved this atari, and then White played c, effectively killing my stone at a. Doh!
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EdLee
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mongus
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Re: The mistakes I make
Too many diagonals. This is a terrible place to get into :
White can just play at a and I am in double Atari. I find it a very easy shape to get into. White keeps pushing a little to the left and I keep trying to block it, and then suddenly I am in double Atari and largely doomed..
White can just play at a and I am in double Atari. I find it a very easy shape to get into. White keeps pushing a little to the left and I keep trying to block it, and then suddenly I am in double Atari and largely doomed..
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mongus
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Re: The mistakes I make
Thanks EdLee.
Probably my most frequent one, not counting liberties.
I am attacking white in the top left corner. I have a choice between placing at a or b. I think placing at a would be better as it would take one point away from white. Bad move. It meant white could place at c and put my stone in Atari - I forgot to count how many liberties that stone had. White can then escape from my grasp.
This is actually also a problem of playing too many diagonals. A stone that is only covered on its diagonal is not really that well covered. All its liberties are exposed.
Probably my most frequent one, not counting liberties.
I am attacking white in the top left corner. I have a choice between placing at a or b. I think placing at a would be better as it would take one point away from white. Bad move. It meant white could place at c and put my stone in Atari - I forgot to count how many liberties that stone had. White can then escape from my grasp.
This is actually also a problem of playing too many diagonals. A stone that is only covered on its diagonal is not really that well covered. All its liberties are exposed.
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EdLee
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mongus
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Re:
EdLee wrote:Do you remember the local sequence ?
Unfortunately not. I just pulled that one from my notes, and I didn't write down which game it came from. In future I will note down the game as well.
Heres a mistake I've just stopped myself from making.
I am white. Black tries to poke through a gap at the left. I am tempted to block at a. But if I did, Black can just atari me at b. The following scenario could ensue :
I would be dead and Black has brutally invaded my territory.
I'm not actually sure what the best response would be. I played
which at least stopped the invasion.
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EdLee
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EdLee
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mongus
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Re: The mistakes I make
Here's another one - messing up my Joseki. My corner gets attacked and I follow through a joseki perfectly until I get to this :
The Joseki says I should play at a. Instead I panic and play at b. I end up in this mess and my stones are dead :
This highlights another error I often make. I am afraid to make jumps to protect my stones. I haven't learned when it is better to protect by spacing stones out than clumping them together. In this case, keeping them together meant they died together.
The Joseki says I should play at a. Instead I panic and play at b. I end up in this mess and my stones are dead :
This highlights another error I often make. I am afraid to make jumps to protect my stones. I haven't learned when it is better to protect by spacing stones out than clumping them together. In this case, keeping them together meant they died together.
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EdLee
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Hi mongus,mongus wrote:
This is a good one to study some basic shapes.
If you play (b), you make a bad shape here,
which you found out in your game.
The jump to (a) is better.
If we look at an empty triangle in isolation,
we can talk about some of its properties.
For example, its liberties.
Whether it's a bad, neutral, or good shape depends on the particular situation.
In your case, the jump is better.
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EdLee
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schawipp
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Re: The mistakes I make
mongus wrote:Many of the mistakes I make involve playing on diagonals. This one annoyed me.
Losing the stone at a may be annoying, but in the continuation you can force white to capture and ladder the r3 stone in return. Depending on where this happens on the board this can be even good for b (e.g. if this happened in the lower left corner instead, w would be forced to capture a stone in the corner and b gets the full outside strength in return).