Big kill leading to a loss

[tekesta]

Holding Black, I lost this game by a whopping 67.5 points. Given the rank difference, the loss should have been no more than 20 or 30 points, I think. I should have played Q15 early to prevent the loss of my stones on the Q-line. Also, B91 should have probably been at G14, as this would have given Black life before White hems it in. Or rather, I should have attended to the C16 stone as soon as W attached. I still follow my opponent around the board much of the time, unfortunately. I am sure that I played better here than in my previous games, but still made a couple of big blunders that cost me the game. Much obliged in advance for your input.

[oren]

Why did you choose not to respond to white 4? Most moves after that made less sense to me.

[schawipp]

IMHO tenuki in response to an attach move like in order to take something else (while keeping the potential aji of your c16 stone for later) might be still a valid plan. However, at - after having let white play around there for three times - you are suddenly starting to walk away with that very stone, which feels quite inconsistent. Could you (or anyone) try to suggest a different plan at ?

[Bill Spight]

IMHO tenuki in response to an attach move like in order to take something else (while keeping the potential aji of your c16 stone for later) might be still a valid plan. However, at - after having let white play around there for three times - you are suddenly starting to walk away with that very stone, which feels quite inconsistent. Could you (or anyone) try to suggest a different plan at ?

I'll give it a shot.

See and in the SGF file.

[DrStraw]

Both players need to pay more attention to shape. In the middle game there were so many moves from both sides which left weak shapes behind or failed to take advantage of such a weak shape that the game was swinging wildly from one person to another at any move. Many of the moves, if played correctly could have swung the final score 50 or more points one way or the other.

While the comments by others or very valid I do not see that either player will improve quickly without attention to basic shape.

[schawipp]

@Bill: Thanks for jumping in . At I would probably have played a splitting move at around D10 right away (leaving C16 alone as it has been more or less abandoned from start). However you suggest to first add one or two more extra stones to C16 and then split the left side. Is that meant as a kind of sacrifice technique? On second glance (for me...) it seems that this may yield more forcing moves lateron in order to cut-off the white center stones (G7, J8) more clearly, or is there any other point which I missed?

[Bill Spight]

@Bill: Thanks for jumping in . At I would probably have played a splitting move at around D10 right away (leaving C16 alone as it has been more or less abandoned from start). However you suggest to first add one or two more extra stones to C16 and then split the left side. Is that meant as a kind of sacrifice technique? On second glance (for me...) it seems that this may yield more forcing moves lateron in order to cut-off the white center stones (G7, J8) more clearly, or is there any other point which I missed?

My first thought was to split right away, as well. But I also wanted to show possible plays in the corner, for tekesta's benefit. One concern about playing the peep first is that if White plays the solid connection, he might then sacrifice the second line stone and develop the left side. (But I don't think that this White player would do that.) In general I like to create some aji with kikashi and then sacrifice stones, but I can't say that that is best play in this case.