Not sure where my head was at with this one...

[sleepyEDB]

This should be a pretty quick review as I imagine someone could point out a few choice moves and then just give a summary.

I was trying to focus on some things I'd read recently, both in reviews here and in the book I'm currently reading (Learn To Play Go vol 5) about keeping good shape, using the haengma when choosing placement, and being a better judge of when to tenuki and where; and I failed at all three. I felt rusty and apprehensive after not playing for a week, but I got sucked into fighting early, at which I performed poorly, and lost any territory/influence I was trying to secure. One thing I noticed after was that he nearly always haned my hanes (meaning that he haned again after I would hane his attachment). For some reason this threw me off and I don't think I handled or any of the subsequent occurrences well.

I know resigning as a 25K isn't really in my best interest but I was out of time (one of the downfalls of trying to squeeze in a game on my lunch hour) and it just seemed lost to me by that point. I had also been in byo-yomi since about move 60 which doesn't help. I know that isn't an excuse and I need to get used to it, but it does affect my play and decision-making.



Thanks,


sleepy

[dfan]

is not a good move because once White blocks at B4, you have to defend against B6 in gote and then White is free to do what he wants (probably keep harassing you with D6) while you haven't even started making eyes or running away to the center. The standard responses to are D6 or E6. This is something you will learn on the way to 15k.

More importantly, is really never good until the endgame (even if White couldn't immediately capture you with B6); it doesn't do anything but fight over a couple of points while the whole board is virgin territory ready to be contested. These first-line moves really should always be saved until 1) the endgame, where you're mostly fighting over small amount of points, or 2) you need to play it to live or kill. You'll learn this on the way to 15-20k.

Most importantly at your level, , , and do nothing at all but feed prisoners to your opponent. At 25k you should already be able to see that there's absolutely no way they could ever possibly live or cause any trouble to White. You will have to stop making moves like this to get past your current level. And I'm sure you will!

[Ian Butler]

Some comments. Don't take them too seriously, nor my variations, since I am myself only a DDK player But some things that may help you:

- You were attacking a weak white group, good. Try to keep up the attack. You sort of give up halfway and let him out.
- Try to avoid getting surrounded. Often you hane/react to a contact play towards the edge of the board. Try to find the outside, first.

[sleepyEDB]

Hi dfan, thanks for the review!

is not a good move because once White blocks at B4, you have to defend against B6 in gote and then White is free to do what he wants (probably keep harassing you with D6) while you haven't even started making eyes or running away to the center. The standard responses to are D6 or E6. This is something you will learn on the way to 15k.

Interesting, thanks. I was just stuck on the 'if attached, hane' route and didn't consider extending to D6, and certainly didn't consider E6; though both make more sense when I now consider how close I was to the first line

More importantly, is really never good until the endgame (even if White couldn't immediately capture you with B6); it doesn't do anything but fight over a couple of points while the whole board is virgin territory ready to be contested. These first-line moves really should always be saved until 1) the endgame, where you're mostly fighting over small amount of points, or 2) you need to play it to live or kill. You'll learn this on the way to 15-20k.

Most importantly at your level, , , and do nothing at all but feed prisoners to your opponent. At 25k you should already be able to see that there's absolutely no way they could ever possibly live or cause any trouble to White. You will have to stop making moves like this to get past your current level. And I'm sure you will!

Yeah, looking back on it now that entire lower-left corner was really bad.


sleepy

[sleepyEDB]

Hi Ian, thanks for the review!

Some comments. Don't take them too seriously, nor my variations, since I am myself only a DDK player

Still better than a TPK!

- You were attacking a weak white group, good. Try to keep up the attack. You sort of give up halfway and let him out.

Yes, clearly this 'when to tenuki vs. continue to play locally' thing is going to take a while to figure out

- Try to avoid getting surrounded. Often you hane/react to a contact play towards the edge of the board. Try to find the outside, first.

Agreed, and these reviews helped me realize that. I will definitely try to find the outside first as the alternative is less than ideal!


sleepy

[Joaz Banbeck]

In the fuseki, many times the best move can be determined with a tape measure.

If there are no urgent tactical plays,just drop one in the biggest space. At move 9, that is the lower side. I would play K3.

[sleepyEDB]

Hi Joaz, thank you for the review!

I debated about playing at K3 but decided against it as I thought my stone would be all alone and ineffective; but then proceeded to play my stone in a corner where the surrounding white stones were even closer.

My only other thought was that approaching the corner first adhered to the 'corner, side, center' progression; though now I'm wondering if that only applies when they are unoccupied...


sleepy

[dfan]

My only other thought was that approaching the corner first adhered to the 'corner, side, center' progression; though now I'm wondering if that only applies when they are unoccupied...

Corner, side, center generally refers to the order in which they are occupied, yes.

[Uberdude]

My only other thought was that approaching the corner first adhered to the 'corner, side, center' progression; though now I'm wondering if that only applies when they are unoccupied...

Corner, side, center generally refers to the order in which they are occupied, yes.

AlphaGo and other such *-Zero bots thinks it applies even if the corner is already occupied by a 4-4 point