TwentyTwentyOneDan

[jlt]

I won't comment everything, here are a few remarks.

looks small. Corners are usually bigger than a small extension on the side. Any move that protects the corner, like the kick R4, looks bigger.

better capture immediately with H4, thus turning two weak groups into a single strong group.

at Q2 would be good.

why are you attacking that meaningless stone? Identify your weak groups. The groups N2 and Q9 are weak, if you connect them you will only have one group to defend instead of two. For instance, play at O9. This connects the two weak groups, and at the same time takes a liberty from the cutting stones O8.

your opponent punished you for creating a weak group.

you are adding a stone to an already strong group, while E8 is weak (and the problem with the other weak groups hasn't been solved).

Around moves 99 and after, you create shapes with many weaknesses (cutting points).

[WriterJon]

UPDATE: END of week THREE of twenty

Things have been a bit slow. I was short on my goals for games played, and some of the flashcard processes. But am a bit ahead on a stack of other things. That probably represents the areas where my interest is taking me. I think I will try an lean into that a bit. The important thing is that stuff is getting done. I haven't seen much movement in my ratings, though this could be because I'm not playing enough games to tip the scale at the mo.

Here's the state of things:

GAMES

1. Play min of 10 slow games/week (min 10 min on the main clock). At least one each on KGS, OGS, WBaduk & Tygem.
22/100 (24)

READING

1. 38 Basic Joseki - (38 chapters).
2 Joseki a week, flashcards for the main joseki, just read the variations.
16/38 (14) Joseki read

2. Tesuji (Davies) - (16 chapters)
1 chapters/week. Flashcard the problems.
4/16 (5) sections read & flashcarded

3. L&D (Davies) (36 chapters)
2 chapters/week. Flashcard the problems.
9/36 (11) chapters read & flash carded

4. Attack & Defense (10 chapters)
Read 0.5 chapter/week
5.5/10 (3.5) chapters read

5. Endgame (5 chapters)
Read 0.5 chapter/week
2.0/5.0 (2.0) chapters read

6. Relentless - (8 main games)
Play through the 8 main games, reading only the main commentary, dipping into variations as needed.
0.5 games/week
6.0/8.0 (5.5) main games played through

7. Get Strong at Tesuji (534 problems)
27 problems/week. Mostly treated as reading practice.
120/534 (117) problems done

8. GGP4B3 (77pp)
4 pages/week. Mostly treated as reading practice.
11/77 (17) pages of problems solved

9. Shape Up! (20 chapters)
Read 1 chapters a week.
4/20 (4) chapters read

10. Openings (501 problems)
do 25 problems a week. Fairly quick, just trying to cement basis opening stuff.
120/501 (117) problems solved

KGS RANK AT THE START OF WEEK two OF twenty: still mid-9 kyu

[WriterJon]

UPDATE: END of week FIVE of twenty

I didn’t update last week because it was a bit of a mess and I wanted to do some readjustment. Plus delaying a week allowed me to do a quarter-point review of what is working and what is not.

Being massively ahead on some things allowed me to slack off in some areas to catch up in others.

As you can see, I finished the main games in "Relentless". It feels like far more than just a book of game records. I will definitely be returning to it at some point.

In fact, one thing I want to think about, and pick the community's brains about, is how best to handle re-reading books. Several of these books feel like they are getting across 5-25% of their knowledge. That’s useful stuff, but I’d like to go back and collect some of the rest when I am better equipped to absorb it in terms of either skill, time, or both.

How do you guys approach rereading/studying books?

GAMES

1. Play min of 5 slow-ish games/week (min 10 min on the main clock).
26/100 (25)

READING

1. 38 Basic Joseki - (38 chapters)
20/38 (10) Joseki read

2. Tesuji (Davies) - (16 chapters)
4/16 (4) sections read & flashcarded

3. L&D (Davies) (36 chapters)
9/36 (10) chapters read & flash carded

4. Attack & Defense (10 chapters)

6.0/10 (2.5) chapters read

5. Endgame (5 chapters)
3.0/5.0 (1.5) chapters read

6. Relentless - (8 main games)
Play through the 8 main games, reading only the main commentary, dipping into variations as needed.
0.5 games/week
8/8 main games played through

7. Get Strong at Tesuji (534 problems)
138/534 (134) problems done

8. GGP4B3 (77pp)
21/77 (20) pages of problems solved

9. Shape Up! (20 chapters)
5/20 (5) chapters read

10. Openings (501 problems)
136/501 (125) problems solved

KGS RANK AT THE START OF WEEK six OF twenty: just crossed into 8-kyu

[WriterJon]

This is the game that tipped me over into 8 kyu. I'm not sure how much value it has for teaching, so I'm posting it more as a record. But comments and thoughts are always welcome.

[jlt]

Just one question: did need to respond at T18? If not, did have to connect at S16?

[WriterJon]

Just one question: did need to respond at T18? If not, did have to connect at S16?

First thoughts: The way I read it, there's no way to make the cut work at R18? Which is kind of what the hane was threatening.

But after tenuki...

$$b
$$ ----------------------
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . X X X . . X . . |
$$ . . O O O O X X O . . |
$$ . , . . . . O O 1 3 . |
$$ . . . . . . . . 2 S . |
$$ . . . . . . . 4 . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$b
$$ ----------------------
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . X X X . . X . . |
$$ . . O O O O X X O . . |
$$ . , . . . . O O 1 3 . |
$$ . . . . . . . . 2 S . |
$$ . . . . . . . 4 . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

...black gets sente as well as 4 points of territory and another sente endgame move at the square.

But, what I think you are Socratic-methoding me towards is the fact that the sente matters less locally because, presumably, my tenuki is either bigger or equal to his 5. tenuki. Or is sufficiently urgent that 1. in the diagram isn't big enough to do now?

[jlt]

We are at the very beginning of the game. At that stage, some moves are very big, like approaching a corner, invading at 3-3 or responding to a corner approach. Some of these moves haven't been played yet.

In some cases, you may want to play other moves than 3-3 or corner approach, namely when a move is urgent: defend a weak group or attack a weak group of your opponent. Playing at doesn't do any of these jobs. If you thought that your group was weak, then taking an extension at R12 would have been better: this makes an extension for your wall while putting pressure on the stone R10.

In the sequence of your last diagram: yes Black keeps sente (remember that you tenukied so Black had to wait until he gets sente to be able to play ) and got more points, but White also became much thicker. The white wall was never there to make points, a wall is used to make influence, to attack, etc. The exchange gave a few points to Black but made White's wall much more efficient, so White gained more than Black.

By the way, your diagram doesn't correspond to your game, you have to remove a line:

$$Bc
$$ --------------------
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . X X X . . X . |
$$ . . O O O O X X O . |
$$ . , . . . . O O 1 3 |
$$ . . . . . . . . 2 S |
$$ . . . . . . . 4 . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ --------------------
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . X X X . . X . |
$$ . . O O O O X X O . |
$$ . , . . . . O O 1 3 |
$$ . . . . . . . . 2 S |
$$ . . . . . . . 4 . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

Black won't play the endgame at the square, as it is gote. It's White who will get that move. But in fact should capture, so as not to give White ko threats:

$$Bc
$$ --------------------
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . X X X . . X . |
$$ . . O O O O X X O 3 |
$$ . , . . . . O O 1 . |
$$ . . . . . . . . 2 . |
$$ . . . . . . . 4 . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ --------------------
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . X X X . . X . |
$$ . . O O O O X X O 3 |
$$ . , . . . . O O 1 . |
$$ . . . . . . . . 2 . |
$$ . . . . . . . 4 . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

[WriterJon]

Thank you, jlt. This is a fantastically clear response to my very muddled thinking!

[WriterJon]

UPDATE: END of week SEVEN of twenty

I’ve played very little lately, and fallen a little further behind on some of the books (though I did finish Attack and Defence outright).

Most of my play currently is correspondence games.

One thing I want to try and do is play 7-10 games on KGS so I can get a sense of if all this reading is doing anything to the quality of my game.

GAMES

1. Play min of 5 slow games/week (min 10 min on the main clock).
27/100 (35)

READING

1. 38 Basic Joseki - (38 chapters).
2 Joseki a week, flashcards for the main joseki, just read the variations.
27/38 (14) Joseki read

2. Tesuji (Davies) - (16 chapters)
1 chapters/week. Flashcard the problems.
4/16 (7) sections read & flashcarded

3. L&D (Davies) (36 chapters)
2 chapters/week. Flashcard the problems.
9/36 (14) chapters read & flash carded

4. Shape Up! (15 chapters)
Read 1 chapters a week.
9/15 (7) chapters read

5. Get Strong at Tesuji (534 problems)
27 problems/week. Mostly treated as reading practice.
162/534 (189) problems done

6. Openings (501 problems)
Do 25 problems a week. Fairly quick, just trying to cement basis opening stuff.
156/501 (175) problems solved

7. GGP4B3 (77pp)
4 pages/week. Mostly treated as reading practice.
31/77 (28) pages of problems solved

8. Attack & Defense (10 chapters)

Read 0.5 chapter/week
10/10 (3.5) chapters read

9. Endgame (5 chapters)
Read 0.5 chapter/week
5.0/5.0 (3.0) chapters read

10. Relentless - (8 main games)
8/8 main games played through

KGS RANK AT THE START OF WEEK seven OF twenty: back down to 9-kyu

[WriterJon]

Life interfered a little bit with a busy work week, an uptick in my interest in Western chess, and my first vaccine dose leaving me fatigued for about 10 days.

My Go life at the moment is mostly made up of correspondence games on OGS, a smattering of tsumego every day, and wistfully browsing the Yellow Mountain Imports webpage.

I did finish a few more of the books, but still have a few to finish working through.

After a period of book-heavy study, I am looking forward to coming back and mostly putting my Go time into playing games. Hopefully, I'll have some .sgfs to post here shortly.