PlaySlow

[Knotwilg]

Detailed review of 1 game

[Knotwilg]

Game 2

[Knotwilg]

Game 3: a very low level game. I would like to discuss moves like 123 where you play from thickness, i.o towards it, but there are so many nonsensical moves in this game. Somehow White still wins it after an initial annihilation.

I can only say: play seriously, if you want to improve. This game is way below your level.


For what it's worth:

[Knotwilg]

Game 4:

A game of much higher quality. There is a pattern

- good opening
- often good L&D skills
- tendency to play from thickness, not away from thickness

So when in doubt, play far far away from strong stones

[PlaySlow]

Thank you very much for your detailed reviews Knotwilg!

The thing about the 3rd game is that i was too much demoralized because of the game against 6 kyu. Otherwise I always try to play my games (at least which i post here) in a full concentration with my classical music on - cell phones off manner. But i feel to have lack of mid game fighting knowledge or i just make 20 kyu reading mistakes (for example against 6 kyu, right side of the board)..
I generally try to tenuki in the beginning if I feel my groups are safe but in the mid game i always try to extend from some of my groups, which result in playing from my strong groups.
I will try to play away from thickness in mid game from now on & also try to read the critical situations better. To be honest I did not read all of the sequences in some L&D situations and because of that games are over from that point (eg.game 3, lower left and right side). Since the tournament games will be much longer (1 hr each + 25move/10min byo yomi) than my usual games, i aim to use all the time I got. This saturday i'll try to play longer games or more amount of games to develop some game fitness.

Finally I was too afraid playing ranked games for a long amount of time, maybe my poor mid game fighting or getting nervous in game is a result of that. At least I am overcoming that:)

[PlaySlow]

Another 2 games in a long Starbucks session after work. It was very frustrating to lose games to stupid reading mistakes in byo yomi.. I feel i can be 4-5 kyu but keep making 20 kyu mistakes and losing many games. It's price of playing less games i think. I add "keep an eye on your weak groups" to the "pay attention in games" list.

[ez4u]

A couple of quick comments on game 2. Your 11 is misplaced at Q14. It is too close to your two strong stones in the corner and too far from your one weak stone at Q10. It should be one space further at Q13. This is a very well-known shape that often arises in the Kobayashi fuseki. Remember it!

At 53 you ask where to play next. I think your 'A' at P7 is the natural move. Even if these stones can not be killed, they can be harassed. White needs to justify giving up the top right by finding effective use for the center thickness. If Black prevents that while securing the right-side stones, White will have a difficult time.

Black 59 is joseki and the normal follow-up when White ignores the approach. However, it and 61 allow White to attempt to make sense out of what has happened so far. I think that something like the one-space jump to F5 would have been interesting. If White answers in the corner and Black plays K4, I think Black would be comfortable. If White pincered and Black could wrap around the corner from the outside, it would reduce White's chances.

Of course at 103, Black should capture the three stones in a ladder with D12. Otherwise what was the point of 101?

[skydyr]

Some comments on game 1:

[PlaySlow]

Two more games played, but did not try as hard as i can to read, so i'm not satisfied with myself.
I somehow gain huge advantages in the beginning of the game but keeping losing them somehow. My questions and comments are inside the sgfs.

[EdLee]

Hi PlaySlow,

Game v. mindful:

( Re: your notes ) Alternate way to view the situation:
if is not good as you said ( and I agree with you ),
then B already punished himself with --
why do you have to do anything extra about it ?
Just block at B18. If he continues to hane B19,
then just connect at B17 -- his and B19 don't help him gain an eye --
his entire group is still unsettled.
( That's why J17 directly is a joseki move for B. )
Or, you can tenuki ( if you can handle the UL corner fight ).

If B (B17+D17) ataris and then A17,
then B's weak group is almost settled,
while you may end up with two unsettled groups.
So his initial not-so-good move could end up with a good result, thanks to your help.

H18.

- Nice.

Re: your notes: what influence ?

Re: .

Does not fix his weakness at H3.

H3 is possible.

K3.

o3.

Kind of your equivalent of his .

The result up to is a disaster for W --
you made less than 7 points at the bottom,
but made him very strong, and killed your own corner.
I feel whatever lead you had by , not only did you give it all back to B,
but you lost even more by .
The game is difficult for W now.

Figuring out what went wrong between and
is worth this game, I feel.

[Uberdude]

A few comments on the start of the first game
- move 8 "How would I answer double approach?" Well for starters I wouldn't play the 3 space pincer (but a tighter one or knight move answer), though that's not a problem at your level. Which side to attach (or kosumi) after double approaches is a complicated topic, and the advice has changed over time. It used to be the advice to attach to the non-pincered stone as that is stronger, aiming to build up strength to swallow up the pincered stone. However with quite a lot of the pincers this actually leads to a locally unsatisfactory shape, so the trend nowadays is to attach to the pincered stone. The kosumi often leads to a slack shape, it is perhaps most often seen when you want to take sente.
- move 10. 3-3 is an okay answer, the idea being it is the key point for a base for white (not really a base for black as approached both sides) so you aim to let one white group settle and gobble up the other. However you need to be careful to maintain miai of doing something good on one side or the other, if white manages to settle both sides you will be sad. C is no good, white should just take the stone. Notice how when he does he ends up with a stone at b18 so is already connected to f17. Black would cut off c14 in gote, but c14 still has a lot of aji and e15 would be inefficient. B is actually close to a good move, namely d13. This connects your corner to the wide pincer stone, making influence which would help with a left/centre/lower side moyo. If white then played 3-3 you would not block at d17, but tenuki or press again at g16 for more influence.
- move 12. A looks ok, but I don't know the best way to cover the cut after. C sucks.
- move 15. You need to be clear what your miai are for doing mean things to either white on the left or top side. If after this connect you don't have 2 good moves it is wrong.
- move 17. Too slow. Can you surround white with f11? That's the problem with the loose pincer, there isn't a convincing surround/attack here. A move like c12 would deny white a base here, but the problem is it is inefficient with the pincer stone already there.
- move 18 white is very slow and heavy too, should get out.
- move 20. Seeing as white's last move was so heavy, maybe this is ok. If you surround with f11 white can make a base with c13 but it is cramped. B is not so good, it just forces white to run out and doesn't gain much for you as white already extended on the top side (unless you can play L17 to attack well). Always think how you can get profit when attacking. All this problems come from the looseness of the pincer, which is why I would seriously consider d13 for move 11.

[PlaySlow]

Thank you for your comments @all.
@Uberdude I thought loose pincer suits well for this situation since i got a shimari at bottom side. I remember it from "becoming 9 kyu" lessons in Baduk TV, but prolly i'm wrong. I remember "monkey sees monkey does" as i remember Kageyama's saying for amateurs trying to imitate professionals:) I also lost track of my attack while trying to harass white as you mentioned and gained little at left side.
@Edlee Thank you for indicating my mistake for trying to punish his C18! That's really enlightening. I feel obliged to "punish" his mistake by doing something asap. He can settle easily with another move at the corner so I'll keep that in mind for the next games.
@skydyr Thanks for detailed review!
@ez4u I did not know about the Kobayashi & Q13, thanks for teaching me that.

[PlaySlow]

Today was the tournament day 1. I have managed to won all 3 games.
First one with 20+points because my opponent missed a vital point and i killed her group. Otherwise she were ahead.
Second one she made a huge moyo with huge thickness. I managed to live inside and barely win by 3.5 points.
Third game he was a strange opponent always playing on 4th line territory, I again barely snatched the win by 3.5 points.

Two more games tomorrow, but I'm really exhausted, 7 hours of playing only 3 games.

I got 2 questions about game 3; I did not recall all of the game. I was White.

[PlaySlow]

1st game as i remember; I was Black.

[PlaySlow]

Game 2 as far as i remember. I felt very lucky winning this game.. I was White.


Game 2 after a while: http://imgur.com/Hq7GtYo