I'm back... first serious game in a while

[Nikolas73]

Howdy folks! Been away for a few years but decided I wanted to take Go more seriously in 2020. So I joined the Canadian Go Association's online league... here is my first game from there obviously I'm still a little rusty! I added some of my own comments/reflections but would appreciate if anyone can point out whatever I may have missed.

I'm particularly curious about how to deal with .

Cheers!

[ez4u]

My first reaction for handling 64 is don't play 63!

1. What were you hoping to achieve in this area? White 64 is a common and obvious possibility for White. Did this surprise you itself or did you anticipate it but things developed differently than you expected?

2. If you sit back and look across the board after 62, what other areas might you have chosen to play in instead?

[gennan]

Why is this an even game?

However, given the rank gap, black seems to do suprisingly well. According to KataGo black is doing fine for quite a long time and white 64 is not a big problem. Move 65 is not a big mistake and perhaps many of the options that you propose would be fine.

But after move 76, black mishandles the position with a fierce and overaggressive attack on white, suddenly throwing away the game. KataGo feels that black has a lost game by move 86.

[Uberdude]

But after move 76, black mishandles the position with a fierce and overaggressive attack on white, suddenly throwing away the game. KataGo feels that black has a lost game by move 86.

Eh?! I don't see an attack, but some bad exchanges and then a bunch of tenukis that allow white to easily make 2 eyes as it seems black decided he wanted to fix his weaknesses and not attack.

[gennan]

I got the feeling that black was trying to attack, so I called black's "action" an attack. But you're right, I don't really understand black's intentions. Perhaps he was just trying to make some forcing boundary plays for endgame purposes? Move 81 does look like a territorial move. But KataGo thinks move 81 is the most damaging mistake in the whole exchange, losing about 10 points at once. Black really needed to defend at 82.

It does depend on black's evaluation and intention if one should call move 81 too slow, too fearful, too greedy, an overplay or an oversight. So perhaps I shouldn't try to guess.

Whatever black's intentions, KataGo thinks the game was close before this "action" with perhaps a small advantage for black, while black has a lost position afterwards.

[Joaz Banbeck]

My first reaction for handling 64 is don't play 63! ...

Or, play like you really meant to play 63.

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$$ | . . X O . . . O O O X . X X X O O . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . O X O . . . . . X X . . |
$$ | . X O X . . . . X X X . . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . 3 , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | O O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O O . O O . . , . . . . X X X . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . . . . |
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$$ ---------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O O O . . . . . X . O O O . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . O O O X . X X X O O . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . 3 , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | O O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O O . O O . . , . . . . X X X . . |
$$ | . X X X . X . . . . . X . O X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

With 63, you strengthened your group. ( It may have been a bit paranoid, for your group looked strong enough for the circumstances. ) But now that you have this overly strong group, act like it is part of your game plan. It is, right?

Follow the proverb of driving targets up against stronger groups.

We can't all be pros, but we can be consistent. A mediocre plan is better than no plan.

[Nikolas73]

1. What were you hoping to achieve in this area? White 64 is a common and obvious possibility for White. Did this surprise you itself or did you anticipate it but things developed differently than you expected?

2. If you sit back and look across the board after 62, what other areas might you have chosen to play in instead?

These are definitely questions I need to get in the habit of asking myself! I felt that after I had to protect against the cut at M16, but perhaps that wasn't as urgent. And I truly didn't have a plan for after .

Why is this an even game?

This was played in the Canadian Go Association's online league (open to anyone): https://canadiango.org/league/instructions
There are no handicaps in these games. We were paired because our CGA ranks are similar.

I don't really understand black's intentions.

Me neither I recall I was trying to preserve territory on the lower right side. Wasn't actively trying to kill the white group, but I was disappointed at how large it became and how I subsequently found myself needing to defend the top black group. I think you're both correct that I suffered from attacking the white group without fully committing (e.g. the tenuki at , which locally would have been better at N5, but globally Q15 could be considered more urgent?).

With 63, you strengthened your group. ( It may have been a bit paranoid, for your group looked strong enough for the circumstances. ) But now that you have this overly strong group, act like it is part of your game plan. It is, right?

Follow the proverb of driving targets up against stronger groups.

We can't all be pros, but we can be consistent. A mediocre plan is better than no plan.

That's very insightful, thanks, and sums it up nicely: consistency is crucial. I'll keep this in mind as I start playing again!