4-5 months ago, I was comfortably playing at 1D on Fox and had ranked up to 2D on two occasions. I got sick for a while and my ranking fell precipitously to 3k, but now that I'm feeling better, I'm back at 1k. However, something has changed. I can't for the life of me get back to 1D. If I had to guess, I think that the issue is somewhere in my late middle game fighting. The fuseki and early middle games go much as they did 4-5 months ago: My opponents greedily take territory or create weak groups giving me what has always seemed like an advantage going into the late middle game. Then, everything falls apart. Where I used to have no trouble closing out the game, I can't seem to do it. Is it possible that I've gotten worse at the Fox style of play? On other servers and in my local club, I'm playing at least a stone above where I was 4-5 months ago.
Here are two good examples. In both, I was quite happy with my direction of play. I made a joseki mistake in the second one, and I made what I can now see are tactical mistakes in both. But none of them seem like they should have been fatal at my level. And going into the late middle game, I felt like I had a very winnable positions. I should also mention that I've been careful to only include what I saw during play in the notes in case that helps.
Game 1: By move 45, I thought this game would be straight forward. In terms of direction of play, I managed to do exactly what I was hoping to do, but somehow my opponent managed to keep at least 7 individual groups alive. First move that seems like a possible mistake is 72, but the first clear mistake that I can identify doesn't occur until move 163.
Game 2: First clear mistake is at 78, but by 92, the game felt VERY comfortable. But again, my opponent managed to out-fight me in the late middle game.
What am I doing wrong?
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BlindGroup
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What am I doing wrong?
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ez4u
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Re: What am I doing wrong?
A few thoughts on the first half of the first game.
play from the wider side and away from your strength so approach from F3 not C6.
play on the wider side and away from White's strength. You have no follow up to this move. R14 over O17. Also consider R10, Q10, N4, O4, and so on.
the hanging connection feels nice but since White is completely alive at the top and on the left, there is the danger that Black ends up doing nothing but running out into the center here. I would also consider attaching at C13 here and see how White reacts. If white hanes and you crosscut, what happens? If White pulls back and you push along the third line are you unhappy? Note that if White ends up cutting E14, you have the attachment at F8 waiting to limit what White can achieve in the center while expanding the bottom.
why not just connect at E11 and turn elsewhere? Is the game play really the most urgent/largest point on the board?
you 'force' White to destroy your eye in the corner. 
From 47 to 63 Black achieves next to nothing... in gote!
should you look around, recognize that White really hasn't achieved much either, and settle for fixing everything up with the attachment at F8?
if you simply play J4, what will White do?
absolutely F8!
simply F11?
play from the wider side and away from your strength so approach from F3 not C6. play on the wider side and away from White's strength. You have no follow up to this move. R14 over O17. Also consider R10, Q10, N4, O4, and so on. the hanging connection feels nice but since White is completely alive at the top and on the left, there is the danger that Black ends up doing nothing but running out into the center here. I would also consider attaching at C13 here and see how White reacts. If white hanes and you crosscut, what happens? If White pulls back and you push along the third line are you unhappy? Note that if White ends up cutting E14, you have the attachment at F8 waiting to limit what White can achieve in the center while expanding the bottom. why not just connect at E11 and turn elsewhere? Is the game play really the most urgent/largest point on the board? you 'force' White to destroy your eye in the corner. From 47 to 63 Black achieves next to nothing... in gote!
should you look around, recognize that White really hasn't achieved much either, and settle for fixing everything up with the attachment at F8? if you simply play J4, what will White do? absolutely F8! simply F11?Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21
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Joaz Banbeck
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Re: What am I doing wrong?
At move 13 in the first game, he made a small play. B19 is an endgame move. It threatens to undermine your corner, but it requires TWO gote moves to do it. You ignored it. 
Even if you don't know the joseki, a quick glance at the position suggests that he should immediately trap your F17 stone before it hurts him. You should be happy that he bungled it.
So the last thing that you want to do is force him to make the correct move. But you did:
There are two ways to exploit his error.
1) The aggressive way looks like this:
I find this too aggressive for my tastes. He can push southward at D15 and you can't hane because of the weakness around B17. He can continue with D14 and maybe even D13, and you still have to submit by staying on the third rank.
2) The more elegant way to do it is like this:
Now you are solid on the side. He can capture B18 if he wants to, but it is small, and now definitely gote.
The threat of you running with F17 is very real, so now he must play F16 to stop it.
Then you are solid on the side, and you have sente. And F17 still has some aji if you ever happen to approach along the top.
=================================================================================
At move 22, his B19 play still looks small. If he tries to follow up on it by capturing B18, it still is gote.
So you can keep ignoring it until the temperature is so low that saving B18 is a big move for you.
The temperature is not that low yet. The extension shown is rather conservative. You might be able to go further.
Even if you don't know the joseki, a quick glance at the position suggests that he should immediately trap your F17 stone before it hurts him. You should be happy that he bungled it.
So the last thing that you want to do is force him to make the correct move. But you did:
There are two ways to exploit his error.
1) The aggressive way looks like this:
I find this too aggressive for my tastes. He can push southward at D15 and you can't hane because of the weakness around B17. He can continue with D14 and maybe even D13, and you still have to submit by staying on the third rank.
2) The more elegant way to do it is like this:
Now you are solid on the side. He can capture B18 if he wants to, but it is small, and now definitely gote.
The threat of you running with F17 is very real, so now he must play F16 to stop it.
Then you are solid on the side, and you have sente. And F17 still has some aji if you ever happen to approach along the top.
=================================================================================
At move 22, his B19 play still looks small. If he tries to follow up on it by capturing B18, it still is gote.
So you can keep ignoring it until the temperature is so low that saving B18 is a big move for you.
The temperature is not that low yet. The extension shown is rather conservative. You might be able to go further.
Help make L19 more organized. Make an index: https://lifein19x19.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5207
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Joaz Banbeck
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Re: What am I doing wrong?
Second game:
10: Must be at R3.
12: You just created a monster. Run away from it. Play something like L4 or M4 or M3.
56: Counter-hane. You are strong enough on the left that any attempts by him to do something with his hane will not go well.
Even his most aggressive moves go nowhere:
130: You can start a ko:
He has to fight it:
It is a two-step ko, but still way better than dying without a fight.
160: H8 still holds it all together.
10: Must be at R3.
12: You just created a monster. Run away from it. Play something like L4 or M4 or M3.
56: Counter-hane. You are strong enough on the left that any attempts by him to do something with his hane will not go well.
Even his most aggressive moves go nowhere:
130: You can start a ko:
He has to fight it:
It is a two-step ko, but still way better than dying without a fight.
160: H8 still holds it all together.
Help make L19 more organized. Make an index: https://lifein19x19.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5207
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EdLee
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connect );
Q3 still OK (zb 60% W).-
Knotwilg
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Re: What am I doing wrong?
As a general pattern I observed in game 1 you have a tendency to hane a lot when fighting. This gives leverage to the opponent and leaves cutting points. In several cases, merely stretching out to connect your groups and separate White's would have been sufficient.
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BlindGroup
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Re:
EdLee wrote:game 2,:
That is indeed what I was thinking about! In this case, I was worried that with the 3-4 stone, black was able to keep more of the corner than was ideal. I guess it's not so bad after all
