Good endgame, bad middlegame

[Ian Butler]

So I'm finally going to study the endgame a bit, and focus on that. Along with that comes positional judgement, in which I'm just terrible.

Funnily enough the first game I play to do that, the endgame is pretty much all I do well (relatively). My opening is not good and my middle game is just bad.
I'm trying to focus on strength of stones/groups and not as much on "making points", but in this game it turned out bad. At one point I guess I'm behind like 30 or even 40 points. In the end I lose by 10, which means my endgame was actually okay.

Where do you think it goes wrong for white in this game? My guess is the following:

Around move 63 I decide to exchange my two stones for some strength facing the left side. But this means the weak black group makes a capture and becomes strong. My compensation is way too small.

EDIT: actually the opening itself is okay, maybe even good. It's right after the opening things go wrong.

[Tryss]

210 at B14 would win you the game, It doesn't only cature a couple of stones, but white may be able to kill half of the black stones (maybe with a ko, maybe just seki, but black won't have more than 10 points on the left side at the end).

Of course, you can (and should) play that before, at move 198

[EdLee]

[WindCaliber]

This is a mistake to jump after the kosumi-tsuke, and it's good that you followed up with the hane on top.
Attaching locally at R8 may be better, I think.
This move doesn't really do anything.
Local mistake. You can capture the cutting stone or the 5 black stones on the right by pushing with O6.
Small and gote. Maybe E13 or F13 to enlarge your territory. I think AlphaGo liked this sort of move.
Why not just connect at R2?
Blocking at J3 is pretty big. Black was able to scoop out a huge chunk of territory.
Black got to double peep and cut you off. Perhaps the tigermouth at Q12 would be better.
152 I don't think Black can do anything here. Virtually any move at J5, K5, or K4(best) to protect your stones should work.
178 O15!


As Tryss mentioned, Black had a huge weakness at B14 that would have won the game for you.

[Bill Spight]

Main focus: Damezumari.

In three recent games the game could have been swung in the endgame, not by clever tesuji, but simply by the threats of ordinary plays in close quarters. Right now, probably the most effective way improve your endgame is to find those very short combinations near the very end of play. Doing so can easily be worth a couple of stones (ranks).

[Jujube]

Yes, like Bill and Ed say, respond to attachment with hane. Move 50 is basic shape.

Groups go first. Points are second. Go is about:

- The relative strength of groups
- The evaluation of risk
- The ability to play the strongest possible move

I hope that you can play in such a way that you reinforce your own groups whilst weakening the opponent's

E.g. move 36: pushing against strong groups is really small.

Like Bill shows: Attack!

Do you think that the opponent's stone is annoying and is damaging your territory? Their stone is the weak stone. Use their wriggling escape to gain profit. You are asking: if I get cash, I will let your family live. Gain profit from this negotiation.

[Ian Butler]

Thanks for the many comments. They are all interesting and I've looked over them a few times now already. But it's always easy to see now: Okay it's obvious where I went wrong. It's tougher to identify likewise mistakes in future games.

Nevertheless that's what needs to happen in order to improve.

If anyone wants to be kind enough to comment once again, what do you think is the thing I should remember from the game?

Bill already said shortage of liberties. It's definitely something I need to exploit more and be careful in my own groups. I'm reading 'Get Strong at the Endgame' right now and I'm seeing it pop up there often.

Cheers!