Laerthd study journal

skydyr · Post by **skydyr** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 8:19 am

Laerthd wrote: Concerning time, I played this game with 10min of main time and 10min/25stones. Do I really need more time? It already takes quite some time to complete a single game.

If those were the time limits, that should be fine. The way the file presented it, I thought it was 10 minutes sudden death.

Laerthd · Post by **Laerthd** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 3:12 pm

PlaySlow wrote:Hey Laerth! Hope you will succeed in your journey! The biggest tip i can give you is that play to have fun & pleasure. Otherwise you'd got bored since go isn't an easy game.

I try to keep it fun but I also want to improve quickly because in the near future I won't have as much time to concentrate on the game

PlaySlow wrote:Good luck!

Thank you

I missed a couple of games I think and couldn't even open my book but I have looked at the invasion of the corner with 3-3 from preview game and I don't think it was possible. Here is my most recent game against a 17k+. Time setting was 15min/25 stones but I cannot remember the main time. For once I won but I am not really satisfied with my game. As always, comments are more than welcomed.

Now I review my game just after completion but I think it might be more efficient to split my go into one game in the morning, book reading at lunch and review in the evening. With a bit of luck the concepts I learn at lunch will be useful during the review.

schawipp · Post by **schawipp** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 4:35 pm

At

or

: Black can play and create at least a ko for life/death (how?). Also at

black can play a better move and kill white (imho). I would recommend to have a close look on the whole sequence starting with

.

At

there is an important shape point, which should keep the w group alive easily (well, in the game the w group survived anyway, but only thanks to b's mistakes in the followup).

Laerthd · Post by **Laerthd** » Wed Aug 17, 2016 12:19 pm

It's been a long time since the last post. My laptop isn't working anymore so I could only play 1 game since last time.

Here it is, against a 14k kgs ranking. I am white and end up winning by only 3.5 points.

The long development in the begining was weird and in the middle game I wasn't sure where I was going to score any points. In the end I think he was pressured by time and allowed me to win.

schawipp wrote:At or : Black can play and create at least a ko for life/death (how?). Also at black can play a better move and kill white (imho). I would recommend to have a close look on the whole sequence starting with .

At there is an important shape point, which should keep the w group alive easily (well, in the game the w group survived anyway, but only thanks to b's mistakes in the followup).

Hi schawipp, thanks for the pointers to look at. I would have played

at c7 and I think

should have been played at D7. As for

and

I am still looking into it.

skydyr · Post by **skydyr** » Wed Aug 17, 2016 1:44 pm

I'd agree with your assessment that black let up the pressure and lost because of that near the end.

Here are some comments:

Laerthd · Post by **Laerthd** » Fri Aug 19, 2016 9:00 am

Thank you very much for the comments skydyr, I tried to keep them in mind when I played. That being said, I think I should reread the last review I/someone else did of my game before playing another one because I forgot many things in between.

Here are 2 other games I played on KGS.

The first one was against an opponent of unknown strength. He had 4 handicap stones and I didn't know how to start but I think I did well in the beginning. I gamble that he couldn't keep his stick alive but was wrong so I was obliterated. I didn't review this game (although I know I should since obviously I have many things to learn from a lost game) but I post it anyway for completeness.

The second game was against a 13k and I won even if my moves where messy when dealing with his invasions. This time it's commented.

After this kgs puts me at "10k?" but it seems a bit high. Maybe after learning go I'll try to understand KGS ranking algorithm...

skydyr · Post by **skydyr** » Fri Aug 19, 2016 2:11 pm

In the first game, ignoring keeping the black group dead to play on the outside for a few points was the game-losing mistake. For the second:

dhu163 · Post by **dhu163** » Fri Aug 19, 2016 3:14 pm

Here is my review

You have many impressively good comments added yourself. I've tried to add mine signed DH
There are long stretches where both sides play worthless moves : moves 65 to 83, 110 to 119, (in fact 109 to 149)
, but each time, you got lucky and played the big point first. That is why you won. Also, you gained over 10 points overplaying in the endgame. You need to learn to fix your 2nd line attachments (move 108,120, 146). But each time your opponent let themselves be pushed around.

My main tips are:

1) be careful building weak walls in the centre - you may get cut to pieces, or let your opponent live easily when you have to defend (move 12,16,28, you were slightly punished around move 44, 50, as move 54 is a painful retreat)
though perhaps your opponents aren't yet strong enough to punish it
2) forget about where the last move was played, play elsewhere. you would be 5 stones stronger if you played the 30 points over the 2 point moves. Often you and your opponent were playing 1 point moves, and once you played a move worth 1/3 point (move 132)

3) move 36 was an overplay, you need to learn to value the sides and corners much more both for eyespace and territory and easier ability to kill cutting stones. (though easier ability to die). Perhaps it also showed some greed - instead just forget about those few points of B territory and play to reduce and expand your own area, or you may lose more in a counter attack

otherwise you crushed your opponent in multiple levels of the game, and demonstrated your strength, so well done!

dhu163 · Post by **dhu163** » Fri Aug 19, 2016 4:14 pm

In the handicap game, perhaps your opponent was quite strong, but you were very far behind even if you killed your opponent's group (by nearly 30 points)

Lots of nice ideas from you, but you showed your bad habit of playing very weak shape in the centre

Lots of fighting to comment on, and guiding proverbs too - there's lots you can learn from this game

was extremely strange and critical mistake, looks like you didn't notice atari

see better move

see better move

sequence around w115 where you make critical mistakes in killing the B group - don't attach to weak stones

Laerthd · Post by **Laerthd** » Sat Aug 20, 2016 9:44 am

Thank you skydyr and dhu163 for the reviews. Especially the handicaped game since I didn't review it myself.

Today no game but instead I read the review and an older one from skydyr and I have some questions. There is actually quite a lot of questions so I apologies in advance for flooding you with them.

In the game against CoSting (the last one of page 1)

not a question but an answer. I thought I could live by using a threat on the cut. Apparently this was overly optimistic.

Should black just fix his cutting point at N16?

Why is it poor shape? And following that, how does :B63: make it a bad shape?

:b119: Also not a question but I didn't realize I was in sucha bad position. I need to start counting during the game. For now I only work by guessing and put to much emphasis on the center.

:w138: When you say not strictly necessary, do you mean white can live without it and there are bigger points on the board?

:w140: I wanted to play low to use the d4 stone, was that a bad idea?

In the game against scalsensei (no handicap)

skydyr's review

Thank you, I couldn't see that the cut was not a threat.

What should black have done? Would B17 or E18 be fine?

dhu163's review

In the variation, why is this a bad shape? (see diagram)

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$Wc Why is black shape bad? $$ ---------------------- $$ . . . . . . . . . .| $$ . . . . . . . . . .| $$ . . . . O X . . . .| $$ . . . . O . X X . .| $$ . . . . . . . . . .| $$ . . . . . B . O . .| $$ . . . . . . . . . .| $$ . . . . . . . . . .| $$ . . . . . . . O . .|[/go]

In the game against lol456 (handicaped game)

What do you mean this is a overplay? What would the normal play be?

why is it a desastrous shape?

:w113: Is it a good shape because it's a table shape?

:w115: Would just playing E6 have been fine?

Some of the numbered stones in the text don't display well, anyone know why?

Apparently I really need to pay attention to bad and good shapes so I'll focus on trying to learn that for now. As dhu163 mentionned I should also learn to stop following my opponent but I already try not to do that in my games so I can only say that I'll try harder ^^'

dhu163 · Post by **dhu163** » Sat Aug 20, 2016 4:28 pm

Some good questions to reply to - you've improved a lot in a short space of time.

If I can presume to comment on your questions to skydyr too:

the cut is still a difficult fight. The situation is: your stones will not die. Instead you are fighting over how strong a group/wall can black build in the centre and how much territory on the sides can you claim.

this is actually a good move locally. I suspect skydyr wants B to play B17 for better endgame, but in this case, B needs to live (though I suspect with best play it is dead anyway). In addition, in this case B creates a cutting point, so if W protects with a tiger's mouth anyway, the endgame is exactly the same.

The bad habit is if you play this in general, letting your opponent block at A15 in sente often loses many points in endgame (otherwise you get to play A15 in sente yourself). Sometimes it also means your opponent can live with a dead group.

- numbers over 100 don't seem to work, e.g.

:b101:

back to my bit

this was hasty on my part. The shape is actually very good. Instead, I meant that it is complicated and harder to deal with due to the cutting point (see variation 2)

I mean that you should have blocked to take away the territory, get some potential eyespace on the side, and threaten the B stone to the left. In the game, B got all the territory, and W had a very weak group.

in the game, you were punished and got cut to pieces - what should have been your territory turned into a huge black territory - the sides are often bigger than they look to you, while the centre was far too small.

:w113: it both connects your stones and seals black in

:w115: if you played F4, under best play I think B is dead, however that depends on whether you respond correctly to the very tricky cuts around L12

skydyr · Post by **skydyr** » Sat Aug 20, 2016 7:18 pm

dhu163's comments are pretty-much spot on. With

admittedly, I wasn't really thinking about L&D when I made the comment, and usually it is bad endgame to play the descent as was mentioned.

As for the numbers, there are only emojis for 1-99 and 00 for each colour. After that you're on your own.

Regarding the game against CoSting, at

once you cut black's corner group is basically alive already, so there's no wiggle room there. Black's center stones have good access to the center, and are not short of liberties, so there's not a lot white can do their either. That only leaves the other side, but black can play there immediately, since the cut is not a big threat.

The other issue for more general situations is that when you invade, you take away territory, but you give influence in exchange. That is, by living inside, your opponent generally gets a wall oun the outside. Influence is most valuable early in the game, since it affects empty areas and those fill up as the game goes on. Later on, it becomes less and less valuable, because the areas it can influence become smaller and smaller as each sides stones become stronger through normal play. Invasions ideally occur immediately before your opponent would want to consolidate the territory. Too early, and the resulting wall would be too valuable, or (for consolidation) making territory would be too slow. Too late, and your opponent takes it first.

As a second thing to consider, when you're invading, you generally want to have 3 good followups, so that you don't come under too much pressure. And finally, it's also worth considering whether you should invade (which often ends in gote) or reduce from the outside (often ends in sente). This ties in to counting as well, since you need to know how much you need to ruin to win.

For

, I think black could just play one space farther away, instead of a contact move. I thought I put that in, but maybe not.

For

, it's poor shape because black is peeping at cutting the keima, and this move lets him cut it. Without really looking back at the game to read it, the standard idea would be some sort of move that keeps black split and white connected. Cutting your opponent and staying connected yourself are very basic principles to play by. I suspect you expected your opponent to extend towards his other stone, but you always need to look for ways your opponent can fight back.

At 119, it seems obvious to me, at least, that black's lower left is going to live. You can draw a line between the outermost stones of white's formation to get an idea of the territory it encompasses, say from E8 to M9. Without actually counting, but just roughly comparing territories, this area isn't much bigger than black's upper left. However, black also has the UR corner, the LR corner, and something that looks decently sized in the lower left, plus potential to make a lot of points with a simple extension along the bottom.

For 138, this is the result of a few thoughts:
First, white's group isn't in any danger of dying or being cut, so playing here only prevents a sente peep.
Second, white's group on the other side is strong too, so if black plays on this side, white can reduce from the other side.
Third, black's group is alive and also has good access to the side.

You may have heard the proverb to play away from thickness, and there's nothing thicker than unconditionally alive. Because each side has strong reinforcements here for any fighting, it's easy for each side to prevent the other from making a lot of points. Generally, you can consider that the end result will be kind of a wash, with neither side gaining over the other much. Because of that, I feel playing in a less developed area would be a lot bigger, without actually counting it.

For 140, that's a good question. There's something to be said for using that stone's aji, since it's already dead. My concern is that black could play, say, an attachment at H4 and then in the fight kill the aji and get stronger in the center. Then after the fight is done, black can still reduce from the right, and black is strong in the center so he can reduce white's center a lot. It's also possible that black might move into the center right away, betting that he can live and hurt white more than white hurts black. That said, white's behind right now, so maybe it's better to play your way and make things more confusing for black. Also, if white plays too high, black can just make points on the bottom to counter the additional points that white is getting in the center. I guess it's really a question of 'how do I hope or think black will screw up?' given that white is pretty far behind at this point.

Laerthd · Post by **Laerthd** » Wed Aug 31, 2016 10:13 am

Thank you for all the clarifications both of you

I played some games but didn't have the time to comment them all so here are 2 of my last games commented.
The first one against a 16k on IGS, I am happy about this game and think I played well.
The second one against a 14k on KGS with 2 handicap stones for him. I lost because because of the end game. Kind of disappointed by this one but sometimes you win sometimes you lose.

EdLee · Post by **EdLee** » Wed Aug 31, 2016 12:06 pm

Hi Laerthd,

Game 1.

In your var, please see ElephantsEye.

Maybe this var:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B $$ ------------------------ $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . $$ | . 6 4 8 . . . . . . . $$ | . 5 3 O 7 . . . . . . $$ | . 0 2 1 . X . . O , . $$ | . . O X . . . . . . . $$ | . . 9 . . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . . . . . .[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$Bm11 $$ ------------------------ $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . $$ | . O O O . . . . . . . $$ | 2 X X O X . . . . . . $$ | . O O X . X . . O , . $$ | . 1 O X . . . . . . . $$ | . . X . . . . . . . . $$ | . . . 3 . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . . . . . .[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B :b2: $$ ------------------------ $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . $$ | . O O O . . . . . . . $$ | O C C O X . . . . . . $$ | . O O X . X . . O , . $$ | . X O X . . . . . . . $$ | . . X . . . . . . . . $$ | . . . X . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . . . . . .[/go]

It's big for W to connect his weak group (you let him);
now he doesn't have a weak group any more.

F3 direction (approach) is good.

P2.

Not small, but gote. You should tenuki.

Bad habit. Forcing your opponent to make good shape, to live, (to get a good result for him) without a very good reason is bad. For one thing, you just waste at least one ko threat.

In your var, to tenuki is a good idea, but

atari at M1 is bad -- just pull back at M2.

R15.

Laerthd · Post by **Laerthd** » Thu Sep 01, 2016 6:18 am

Hey EdLee, thanks for the tips.
I did read about the elephant eye in "L'âme du go : Les formes et leur esthétique" by Fan hui but lately I seem to make a lot of elephant eyes. I will need to be more attentive.
Can I ask you how you make your diagrams? Do you write them or is there a piece of code that translate positions to their related writing form?

Today KGS had the good idea to match me with CoSting with whom I played some times ago so here goes the revenge.

Unfortunately I lost this time. I think this is mainly because:

I am bad at reading
I have gaps in my concentration

The good news is that I almost completed my first goal of losing 100 games. I estimate my lost games at 97. Next goal will be to reach SDK. For this I will try to solve Cho Chikun' s encyclopedia of life and death part 1 but even though it says elementary I find them quite hard.

Life In 19x19

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