Hey there,

I was hoping someone could review one of my last games. I've been watching Dwyrin's Back to Basics series recently - and trying to take notes about shape, direction of play, moyos, etc. This seemed to work for getting me from 20-16/17k ish, but now I find myself facing really aggressive DDKs who hane everything, make as many cuts as possible etc.

I know I have some serious shape issues as well as overplays to work on. Additionally, I played some blitz-y games against the 15k bot on OGS and the AI had me losing almost universally once the opening was finished. I've started to read In the Beginning by James Davies - but I also feel like there is something I'm strongly missing?

One thing I think is important to mention: in my games against humans, I often find myself with a large open center and a wall on one side that comes from me leaning against/attacking my opponents stones. I often hope to convert this to territory, but and up losing around half of it to invasions/crosscuts, etc... I'm wondering how to not let that happen? I feel like the answer is some form of "get better at invading" so I can make more forcing moves on my opponents and not let them take my territory so easily.

Any help is appreciated, thanks. My OGS name is Ghostofthro and my most recent game (against a human) is below:

Link to the game: https://online-go.com/game/29326289


SGF:



I know I really messed up the endgame by going for small points instead of protecting my cutting points. I'm more wondering about the early/middle game. In the sequence from -:w46: I feel like I got very greedy, and instead of threatening invasion/leaning on them in order to build moyo, I just haned and left a bunch of cutting points. After that, I think the game falls apart because I get into a huge fight.

Any ideas are appreciated, thanks.

Hi Ghost,

P3
R6
Q4 (your corner may pay for your tenuki )
Q4
S3 (your corner has a problem)
P2 fixing this corner is big; your move not so big
P2
follow-itis, nothing big to build here; still P2.

I have had success helping beginners advance to the 15-10k range My more committed go buddies start by taking nine stones and, with study and lots of games with many other folks, they are soon past my skills and giving me two or three stones.

Takes a few months of nonaggressive, interactive, fun and chatty games with lots of undos. Happy to meet you on OGS but you've got to commit to 30-50 games.

_________________
David Bogie, Boise ID
I play go, I ride a recumbent, of course I use Macintosh.

Other remarks:

Move 56: you are trying to attack Black. In general it is better not to attach to weak stones

https://senseis.xmp.net/?DontAttachWhenAttacking

This proverb has many exceptions of course, but in your game you could have considered a move like N8.

Move 64: your stones L9 and N8 form a knight's move (keima). Black has a stone at M9 and threatens to rip your keima (https://senseis.xmp.net/?RippedKeima). To prevent this, you should play at M8.

Move 68 forms an empty triangle. This is a bad shape (https://senseis.xmp.net/?EmptyTriangle). If you want to move away from N8, consider jumping at N6.

Move 86 should be at M3 (Edit: typo, I meant M2), so that the group L2 is separated from its friends P3. This way, both groups will need to live separately.

Here are some fundamentals.

Fundamentals in the opening (and middle game)
O1 - first corners, then sides, then center
O2 - don't let your group be surrounded / surround the opponent's groups
O3 - make a base / deny the opponent a base

Fundamentals in the middle game

M1 - secure weak groups first, attack weak groups, then turn to open area (urgent before big)
M2 - connect your weak stones / cut the opponent's weak stones apart
M3 - when attacking, do so from a distance
M4 - attack from a direction where you can profit (make territory)

Fundamentals of technique (handle with care)

T1 - hane the attachment, hane at the head of two, hane at the head of three
T2 - respond to a shoulder hit (with a stretch)
T3 - connect against a peep
T4 - block the thrust
T5 - respond to a hane (stretch, counter hane)

Fundamentals of shape

S1 - the more liberties the better
S2 - connections give more liberties
S3 - notable bad shape: empty triangle

Caveat: such fundamentals are heuristics to guide us in our reading but can easily grow into an excuse not to read. Reading is a very important aspect of Go. As we increase our knowledge of the game, we should put ourselves into a position to make decisions earlier, because we can exclude certain variations earlier, rather than merely playing intuitively.

Dwyrin is rather suggestive of the bad habit not to read too much. I have recently grown more enthusiastic of the teachings by Baduk Doctor, who generally applies the same principles but 1) is stronger 2) emphasizes the importance of reading.

Game discussion

10 - O1
12 - O2
14 - O3
28 - O1
up until 48 you play technically very well, trying to get ahead and connecting your stones. The problem is that you are exchanging a big top side for a hard to secure center (O1)

With the cut of 49 the middle game starts

54 - M3 correctly applied
56 - M3 mistake
58 - T5
64 - O2/M2
68 - S3
86 - M2
91 - the fact that Black successfully invades is a consequence of your emphasis on the center over the corners, opposite to O1
124 - nice hane and subsequent kill
148 - important to strengthen the corner which had been weak throughout the game, because of its being surrounded early

Overall, your technique is quite good but your intentions should shift to put more emphasis on the corners and attacking weak groups rather than making (central) territory