This was my 14th game as 1d on Tygem and 13th victory (the 1 loss was an oversight, but aren't they all?)

Unlike most of the other games, in this one I didn't feel ahead in the opening. My opponent did a good job in finding the right direction to play. Fortunately he started erring in the later middle game, which is usually my domain

Here's a self review. Any comments are welcome.

Edit: BTW, I'm still waiting for tygem to upgrade my rank. In the meantime, players are refusing to play me or downright scold me with sarcasm like "you have good manners" (then escape). Should I do something?

A couple of comments.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Bill, here's an answer to almost every of your good comments.



In the meantime I'm well into chapter 4 of "relentless" and this book is just about everything:

- it's a pro game commentary all right
- but it's also an overview of modern opening theory, including several corner patterns
- foremost it's a modern version of Davies' Attack and Defence, in my opinion the 1 book every go player should read
- it has a comprehensive glossary of terms
- and last but not least, it has been carefully crafted to contain almost every conceivable proberb and heuristic, backed up by military or philosophical tradition of the likes of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli

If I could find one criticism but rather it's a matter of preference, morevoer one that is in tune with mine: the vocabulary is at times quite challenging. As an avid speaker of languages the richness of the English used in the book feeds my appetite more than it putts me off but I can imagine that go players who are not so keen or proficient at it, will find some of the comments hard to read without a dictionary as a companion.

I still think that is fine (next diagram).

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm14 9 pt. spans
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . 1 . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . O . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

The span on the top side is the same as the span on the bottom side, 9 pts. The wedge on the top side has the advantage of making Black's development somewhat less easy.

As for the one space jump in the bottom right corner, my heuristic suggests the jump towards the bottom.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc Exchange A
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . W . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X . O . . . . . , . . . B . O . . . |
$$ | . . O . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc Exchange B
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . B . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X . O . . . . . , . . . W . O . . . |
$$ | . . O . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Next week I'm on a business trip and ironically this will give me some time to study go.

- Relentless games 3 & 4 plus repetition of the first two.
- As many Hitachi go problems as possible
- One game a day

Question: with 16-1 on my tygem account and increasing coldness among the fellow 1 dans to accept a challenge, should I simply start over again with a new account instead of waiting until the system gives me a higher rank?

Why don't you challenge 2-dans?

(I wish I had your problem....)

Self review. COmments welcome.

Your connection in ko on the right side is only ko if B disconnects correctly. The actual B hane in the game let you connect without ko

Amazing ...

Just curious because I'd do it on reflex - in the top right, why do you not immediately make the S16 exchange (after say B23 where it to me looks like he wants to build on the right)? Is it because you want to use the R14 stone differently or because B won't play there yet?

If Black plays there it is gote.

If I play there, I gain points in sente but it also reinforces Black and weakens my stone.

The right side is very big and I will invade it soon (as I did in the game). I want to keep maximum space and leverage for my invasion, for example by attaching to that pincer, crosscutting or other sabaki techniques, keeping a possibility to suddenly convert Black's wall into a target, using the presence of my pincered stone (and again, this happened in the game).

This potential is worth more to me than a few points in the corner.

If I manage to live in the bottom right, however, Black will find his forces concentrated around S14. If S16 still undermines Black's life, then it should be played immediately. If Black is strong enough to ignore S16, then it becomes a sente endgame play for White.

Figures, thanks! I'm much too keen on making these boundary plays even after I'm settled I think.

Hmm, won't you double rank soon on Tygem with that score? Skipping 2d completely?

Yeah, it happened. 3d now. Thanks.

Tygem 3d game. Looks like 3d here is not the plateau yet.

http://www.hitachi.co.jp/Sp/tsumego/igo ... ems-e.html

The elementary problem is bizarre. White is dead already, or not?

Hitachi go problems, elementary level

1) throw in
2) vital point
3) capture three to make an eye
4) diagonal play on the first line tesuji
5) 1-1 ko
6) bulky 5 vital point
7) shortage of liberties | strange things happen at the 1-2 point
8) ko
9) vital point
10) diagonal play on the first line tesuji
11) throw in for ko | strange ...
12) ko | strange
13) shortage | strange
14) throw in | strange
15) placemen & throw in
16) vital point
17) miai
18) crane's nest
19) shortage
20) maximize eye space
21) death in the hane
22) maximize
23) attachment
24) death in the hane

25) strange things ...
26) throw in
27) centre of 3
28) strange things
29) diagonal on the 1st line
30) tiger mouth & vital point
31) strange things, ko, throw in
32) diagonal on the 1st line
33) vital point
34) 6 space seki
35) crooked 4 nakade
36) placement and hane
37) bulky five
38) bulky five, throw in, seki
39) L+1
40) capture 3
41) capture 3
42) strange things, ko
43) recapture
44) shortage of liberties
45) strange things, ko
46) bulky five
47) recapture
48) sacrifice, shortage of liberties

49) door group
50) counting liberties
51) strange things | ko
52) rectangular six in the corner
53) rectangular six in the corner
54) 1st line connnection / weak diagonal
55) flying saucer
56) sacrifice; corner properties
57) counting liberties
58) strange things; counting liberties
59) throw in & ko
60) door group
61) vital point, shortage of liberties
62) vital point
63) throw in, shortage of liberties
64) vital point, shortage of liberties
65) (missed it)
66) shortage of liberties
67) (missed it)
68) miai, shortage
69) stretch to increase/reduce liberties
70) eye in the belly
71) shortage
72) strange, shortage, miai

73) vital point, shortage
74) death in the hane, eye shape, reading
75) vital point, ko
76) vital point, ko
77) vital point, ko
78) first line descent
79) vital point, ko
80) vital point, ko
81) comb, vital point
82) comb, vital point
83) under the stones
84) fix weak point
85) vital point
86) first line diagonal, ko, net
87) shortage
88) shortage, miai (missed it)
89) sacrifice, liberties
90) clamp
91) throw in, force
92) first line diagonal
93) nakade
94) vital point
95) vital point
96) vital point

3 missed after 96 problems, that's 1/32 or 3,125% wrong.

The elementary problems are sometimes trivial (1 known move), sometimes already reading exercises. For example, in problem 96 I really had to force myself to read properly. And it's when exploring the more brutal variations (reduce eyespace from outside, cut) that one discovers the vital point.

These are very good exercises to start a reading program. I'll try and complete 1000.

97) shortate of liberties
98) hane
99) crooked 4
100) eye in the belly
101) shortage
102) under the stones
103) vital point
104) throw in
105) strange, ko
106) descent first line
107) double snapback
108) nakade
109) nakade, ko
110) vital point
111) vital point
112) vital point
113) eye in the belly
114) shortage of liberties
115) shortage
116) bulky five
117) ko
118) diagonal first line
119) vital point, ko
120) descent first line