I've made some comments here:
Progress in Black and White
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skydyr
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Re: Progress in Black and White
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jeromie
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Re: Progress in Black and White
I've written my thoughts on move 41 and the followup below. Take everything I've written with a grain of salt since I'm around your level. These are just my ideas. 
Here's the position after move 40: It's not an unreasonable invasion by white, so you shouldn't expect to kill the stone. So before you attack it, you need to consider where you are going to make profit. I think there are two major places you can look to profit: you can make territory in the bottom right, or you can build strength toward the center. Both forms of profit will come by attacking the stone. (It doesn't look to me like there's much profit to be made on the upper side, and I think your stones there are strong enough that they won't be in danger if you push white in that direction.)
The shoulder hit you played seems like a pretty reasonable place to start. I'm sure other moves could also work (perhaps the cap skydyr suggested), but the shoulder hit is nice.
When you play this, it seems you're saying that you want to keep white out of the center. It's a little dangerous because it invites white to hane at the head of your stones. Playing at "a" would be another idea that would help your bottom while keeping your shoulder hit connected. I think it's what I would have tried, but I can't say for sure if it's better.
But when you get to here: You played a move to expand your bottom corner. But that's not what you chose up above, so white breaks out into the center while hurting the bottom. A move like "b" would have kept white's group sealed in on the side, but now you haven't really met either of the local objectives. It's not all bad; you did get some center influence and some bottom territory. But you're vulnerable in both areas, and I don't think you had to come out of that fight with vulnerabilities.
Moral of the story: decide where you're going to take profit before you attack, and try to make your moves consistent with that purpose.
Here's the position after move 40: It's not an unreasonable invasion by white, so you shouldn't expect to kill the stone. So before you attack it, you need to consider where you are going to make profit. I think there are two major places you can look to profit: you can make territory in the bottom right, or you can build strength toward the center. Both forms of profit will come by attacking the stone. (It doesn't look to me like there's much profit to be made on the upper side, and I think your stones there are strong enough that they won't be in danger if you push white in that direction.)
The shoulder hit you played seems like a pretty reasonable place to start. I'm sure other moves could also work (perhaps the cap skydyr suggested), but the shoulder hit is nice.
When you play this, it seems you're saying that you want to keep white out of the center. It's a little dangerous because it invites white to hane at the head of your stones. Playing at "a" would be another idea that would help your bottom while keeping your shoulder hit connected. I think it's what I would have tried, but I can't say for sure if it's better.
But when you get to here: You played a move to expand your bottom corner. But that's not what you chose up above, so white breaks out into the center while hurting the bottom. A move like "b" would have kept white's group sealed in on the side, but now you haven't really met either of the local objectives. It's not all bad; you did get some center influence and some bottom territory. But you're vulnerable in both areas, and I don't think you had to come out of that fight with vulnerabilities.
Moral of the story: decide where you're going to take profit before you attack, and try to make your moves consistent with that purpose.
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Majordomo
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Re: Progress in Black and White
I very much agree with the whole "play consistently" thing - as in - I don't. I still really think that I should play R11 - but my followup from the shoulder hit tried to do too many things half-way instead of one thing well.
Thanks a lot for your comments, and yours as well Skydyr!
Thanks a lot for your comments, and yours as well Skydyr!
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Majordomo
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Re: Progress in Black and White
For this game I'd decided to be more aggressive (or confident maybe?) than I think I tend to be - fortunately I think my opponent played his own reckless style (such as deviating from joseki in the first corner (and although he got a better result than he should have I at least got away with sente and keep initiative). Then after some fighting sequences I'd managed to squeeze all the large points on the board and was without weak groups after which I played err, very defensively (read: slack) - my reason was that I knew I was ahead by a lot, but it's still a bad habit to get into I think - I'm not good enough to judge if I can or can't coast to victory so I shouldn't take things for granted like that.
Like the last game I also posted it on GoKibitz:
https://gokibitz.com/kifu/EJYGNno9b
And here is the SGF:
Currently reading Jump Level Up 4 - the series has made me a bit more comfortable with Semais like the top left in this game, but I still rely too much on wishful thinking - I think that the books reliance on giving you the goal is a weakness because there is no such thing in the game - after I finish the series I think I'll go over "The Endgame" and "Attack & Defence" (2nd time) before trying my hand at Cho Chikun's Intermediate since the whole - solve it without a solution or hint of the solution really helped me learn to read the first time around when I went through the elementary collection. From what I've gathered, is it so that the Graded Go Problems series also gives away the objective for each puzzle? If not maybe I'll get that because I want to practice tesuji (for cut / connect / capture / sente / shape / endgame etc.) as well as pure life and death.
Like the last game I also posted it on GoKibitz:
https://gokibitz.com/kifu/EJYGNno9b
And here is the SGF:
Currently reading Jump Level Up 4 - the series has made me a bit more comfortable with Semais like the top left in this game, but I still rely too much on wishful thinking - I think that the books reliance on giving you the goal is a weakness because there is no such thing in the game - after I finish the series I think I'll go over "The Endgame" and "Attack & Defence" (2nd time) before trying my hand at Cho Chikun's Intermediate since the whole - solve it without a solution or hint of the solution really helped me learn to read the first time around when I went through the elementary collection. From what I've gathered, is it so that the Graded Go Problems series also gives away the objective for each puzzle? If not maybe I'll get that because I want to practice tesuji (for cut / connect / capture / sente / shape / endgame etc.) as well as pure life and death.
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ez4u
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Re: Progress in Black and White
An interesting position arose in the previous game. When White stands at 2 (56 in the game) Black should resist with 3 and 5. If White resists in turn with 6, Black ataris with 7 and then fills a liberty with 9...
If White continues with the descent at 4 as in the game, Black can now cut at 5. White 10 looks like the toughest continuation. Something like the position below results. White has hollowed out Black's corner but has not made many points in the process. Meanwhile Black has massive thickness in the center. Along the way there are various other alternatives. However, White pretty much has to connect or the the upper right stones have to live separately in gote, leaving any stones in the bottom right at Black's mercy.
If White continues with the descent at 4 as in the game, Black can now cut at 5. White 10 looks like the toughest continuation. Something like the position below results. White has hollowed out Black's corner but has not made many points in the process. Meanwhile Black has massive thickness in the center. Along the way there are various other alternatives. However, White pretty much has to connect or the the upper right stones have to live separately in gote, leaving any stones in the bottom right at Black's mercy.
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
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"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21
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skydyr
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Re: Progress in Black and White
I've made some comments to the last game as well:
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Majordomo
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Re: Progress in Black and White
No offense, but are you sure you uploaded the correct SGF? That one appears to be without comments (the embedded and the attachment).
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skydyr
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Re: Progress in Black and White
Hmm... I'm not sure what happened there, but I'll take a look and see if I can find the commented copy.
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Majordomo
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Re: Progress in Black and White
Another game - this time on OGS against a 6k - according to this that should be 4k or thereabouts on KGS maybe so.
Weee, I won! I felt my opponent was a bit unreasonable - but while I flailed around I at least made something while he squirmed and made no points, so even with my poor endgame he had no way to catch up. Ignoring my last move after which he resigned (it was a misclick on my part and a big gain for him - I intended to play d6) I know I made a lot of mistakes - and doubtlessly got away with stuff I shouldn't have either, so comments are very welcome. Especially the stuff I'm looking at - should I be able to kill his one-eyed stick there after he plays H5? How should I have handled his invasion into my large knight enclosure (should I just block at R17 instead? Also I think I could have garnered more profit after the cut at H12, either by capturing the cutting stones or making it so that I could capture his stick (if he say stubbornly extends down).
Here is the SGF:
I've also posted the game on GoKibitz https://gokibitz.com/kifu/VybFzCR5W
Weee, I won! I felt my opponent was a bit unreasonable - but while I flailed around I at least made something while he squirmed and made no points, so even with my poor endgame he had no way to catch up. Ignoring my last move after which he resigned (it was a misclick on my part and a big gain for him - I intended to play d6) I know I made a lot of mistakes - and doubtlessly got away with stuff I shouldn't have either, so comments are very welcome. Especially the stuff I'm looking at - should I be able to kill his one-eyed stick there after he plays H5? How should I have handled his invasion into my large knight enclosure (should I just block at R17 instead? Also I think I could have garnered more profit after the cut at H12, either by capturing the cutting stones or making it so that I could capture his stick (if he say stubbornly extends down).
Here is the SGF:
I've also posted the game on GoKibitz https://gokibitz.com/kifu/VybFzCR5W
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Majordomo
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Re: Progress in Black and White
Today's game (though I hope to play a few more later today):
https://gokibitz.com/kifu/Vk0ky6XiW
I've added some thoughts on the game here - and I'm mostly curious about how I should have dealt with the upper right after I got cut off - and if I got away with murder or not.
I end up winning handily because I think my opponent overlooked that his lower right got cut off - after which I play kind of slack because I feel ahead (bad habit!))
Also, my "attack for profit" on his weak top group didn't really end up that well so again maybe I should have changed directions and targeted his right side group first.
Other things - I'm soon finishing Jump Level Up 4 - so just one more to go in that series and then I'm not sure, maybe "The Endgame" since I find it very difficult to think about and play properly when I'm in byoyomi.
Also, I'm soon hitting my 200th proper game (discounting silly computer blitz and smaller boards) - so yey, arbitrary milestone in 10 more games!
https://gokibitz.com/kifu/Vk0ky6XiW
I've added some thoughts on the game here - and I'm mostly curious about how I should have dealt with the upper right after I got cut off - and if I got away with murder or not.
I end up winning handily because I think my opponent overlooked that his lower right got cut off - after which I play kind of slack because I feel ahead (bad habit!))
Also, my "attack for profit" on his weak top group didn't really end up that well so again maybe I should have changed directions and targeted his right side group first.
Other things - I'm soon finishing Jump Level Up 4 - so just one more to go in that series and then I'm not sure, maybe "The Endgame" since I find it very difficult to think about and play properly when I'm in byoyomi.
Also, I'm soon hitting my 200th proper game (discounting silly computer blitz and smaller boards) - so yey, arbitrary milestone in 10 more games!
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Majordomo
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Re: Progress in Black and White
In this game I got a thick position, and my opponent played a lot of weird stuff (well weird to me anyway). And I had 2 great chances in this game to attack for profit or murder - his top group and his right side group were both not alive locally at one point, but I mishandled my attacks and wonder if there were any easier sequences or if I should have tried to cover them instead for profit and force them to live small?
In the endgame I bled away points and felt like I just followed my opponent around.
Anyway, this brings me to 5k so there's that, and I'm sorta on a roll with 4 consecutive wins now - so maybe I've improved - I certainly hope so!
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Majordomo
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Re: Progress in Black and White
So... I liked my position in both these games - but then I decide to blunder and throw it all away, so there's that. At least it makes me feel like I'm not doing all bad, it's just that I need to be consistent throughout the entire game...
This one felt close, but I liked my thickness and that I had some cash in the corners. Had I not blundered I'd have wanted to lean on his right side to build my center.
This game felt all but won, then I throw away everything and he wins with a handful of points. Lots of complications that I'm really not sure how I handled. I think I should have been able to do better given his tendency to (what I consider) overplay(?).
This one felt close, but I liked my thickness and that I had some cash in the corners. Had I not blundered I'd have wanted to lean on his right side to build my center.
This game felt all but won, then I throw away everything and he wins with a handful of points. Lots of complications that I'm really not sure how I handled. I think I should have been able to do better given his tendency to (what I consider) overplay(?).
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Knotwilg
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Re: Progress in Black and White
In the last game, after 172, the cut executed at 180 becomes posible.
It's not easy to see such threats but they can be game deciding.
It's not easy to see such threats but they can be game deciding.
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Koosh
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Re: Progress in Black and White
In line with Knotwilg's comment below, I want to share some advice that I give anyone that I am teaching.
When I am playing and teaching, I often see my moves ignored by my opponent in two specific cases.
1) my move is seemingly defensive and gote
2) my move is played in a strange spot, aiming at something
Many players get into the habit of simply ignoring the moves that their opponents make when they do not make immediate sense. This works well enough until SKD, but when you become a low kyu/dan player, it's a very dangerous habit. Your opponent is striving very hard to make moves that will do something...anything, really, and that something either works or doesn't work.
I caution my students (and myself) to try to always keep two things in mind while playing.
A) Don't blindly follow your opponent.
B) And oh, by the way, don't ignore your opponents move simply because you are following A.
Only tenuki if you've carefully considered the consequences. Gote and alive is often better than sente and screwed. - sounds like a quote from a famous pro heh
When I am playing and teaching, I often see my moves ignored by my opponent in two specific cases.
1) my move is seemingly defensive and gote
2) my move is played in a strange spot, aiming at something
Many players get into the habit of simply ignoring the moves that their opponents make when they do not make immediate sense. This works well enough until SKD, but when you become a low kyu/dan player, it's a very dangerous habit. Your opponent is striving very hard to make moves that will do something...anything, really, and that something either works or doesn't work.
I caution my students (and myself) to try to always keep two things in mind while playing.
A) Don't blindly follow your opponent.
B) And oh, by the way, don't ignore your opponents move simply because you are following A.
Only tenuki if you've carefully considered the consequences. Gote and alive is often better than sente and screwed. - sounds like a quote from a famous pro hehKo is the best solution.
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With Ko, I can keep eating and drinking until I am full.
Visit >>>Koosh's Study Journal<<<
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Majordomo
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Re: Progress in Black and White
Yeah, I've gotten lax I think - with hindsight the cut is obvious, but I guess I only did a very cursory glance and dismissed it - which is odd because like you say, if it doesn't allow for the cut then it is a strange aimless move that I should respect my opponent enough not to make. I'll blame too many blitz games where I play recklessly and carefree - which I think have helped me up my aggression in my normal games, but perhaps at the cost of patience. It's been my first run at trying blitz and it's been a lot of fun, but I guess I can see why people warn against playing too much of it.
Thanks for your comments =)
Thanks for your comments =)