Beginner game

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jonnyp
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Beginner game

Post by jonnyp »

Hello all, this is my first post here. I'm a new player looking to improve (first goal is sdk).

Anyways, this is a game I played recently on Tygem. I added some of my thoughts after analyzing it so any critiques of my bigger mistakes and/or annotations would be appreciated! Especially as to how I could have disrupted his influence in the lower-right-center area (maybe 75 at o6?).

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EdLee
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Post by EdLee »

Welcome. :) Just a few notes. Pay attention to ataris.
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jts
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Re: Beginner game

Post by jts »

Act I
7: This isn't a bad move, but playing one move higher seems more consistent with your other stones (which are presumable aimed towards control of the center).
9: Both (in general) playing contact moves on lone stones , and (specifically) kicking an approach stone that hasn't been pincered yet, are frequently bad moves. You're begging your opponent to strengthen himself, and then he'll be stronger than you locally.
11: After you kick your opponent's approach stone, you have to strengthen your corner (at O17/O16, or conceivably o15/p15 etc.) If you could kick your opponent's stones and then immediately pincer them and still be safe, the kick would always be a good move.
13: Getting sealed into the corner is usually a bad idea... sort of a worst-case-scenario kind of thing. Make a jump to get through the line between O17 and Q14 (sometimes called a "sector line"); even if you get cut, at least you can separate his groups and attack one of them.
29: Peeping on neither side is appropriate. The space between those two stones gives you a huge number of options that complicate the game. (These options are called "aji", that is, "flavor".) You can peep on one side; you can peep on the other; you can wedge in directly (at O16), and then cut; you might conceivably catch the stones in a shortage of liberties, or sacrifice a stone to cut through at p15/p14. Or, you can just use it as a ko threat. Until you have a plan in mind that makes one of these options clearly better than the others, playing any of them merely destroys the flavor of your game, leaving white with a strong, solid position.
31: Your P9 stones can be easily and painlessly capture with one move (o8). Saving them might be worthwhile. Connecting at S14 would be a little slow, but leave you in a much stronger position. You can also jump ahead to R7 to try to get ahead of your opponent and take advantage of the P9 stones that way.

Intermezzo
At this point it's easy to tell you why White had a lot of influence on the right side. First, you let him seal you into the upper right corner; then you let him slice your stones on the right side apart and get a thickly connected position stretching all the way down the fourth line; then you invaded White's zone of influence (jumping into a pre-existing pincer, below the sector line) in a part of the board where white had more influence to start with.

Any of these things (getting sealed into the corner, giving the opponent a solid wall on the fourth line, invading his zone of influence where he can attack you easily) will give your opponent lots of influence. In go, you don't just give away influence and then reduce it to nothing later. The trick to reducing influence is to not give it away in the first place - or, if you do give it away, to take more than enough profit in compensation.

Act II
32: This kick is still bad, for reasons that you can see clearly: there's plenty of room for you to make a nice, comfortable extension.
33: But you can't make the extension right away! Extend up to the center first, then when White defends the corner, extend. If he tries to prevent your extension, you can try to seal him into his corner, like he did to you.
43: O4 is really critical in here. You need some access to the center, both to prevent White from getting mega-territory and to have options for eyes later. Q6 is intriguing because, as you see, you can force W to do something to defend himself, and then come back to O4, sealing W in. (However, it may be that he would end up doing still more damage to R8, you would defend, and then W could return to O4 himself.)
45: Give atari first, then decide where (and whether) you want to connect.
79: Cutting white's stones apart and breaking into the center with M5 is big.
81: Are you sure this is necessary? Making useless defense moves is as bad as passing... sometimes worse.
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Joaz Banbeck
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Re: Beginner game

Post by Joaz Banbeck »

9&13: You seem to be treating the 5-3 plays as territorial moves. A 5-3 off of a 4-4 is actually an attacking move. ( See viewtopic.php?p=36322#p36322 )

Also, 4-4 stones are not territorial stones. They are influence stones. They are 'high', not 'low'. ( See http://senseis.xmp.net/?HighAndLowMoves )
Help make L19 more organized. Make an index: https://lifein19x19.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5207
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jonnyp
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Re: Beginner game

Post by jonnyp »

@EdLee thanks for the lines, I didn't even see most of those moves >_<. I did think about connecting under on 19, but (ironically) I didn't want to give white too much influence in the center so I pushed through. I guess that's what I get for being too defensive with the 4-4 stone earlier though.

@jts thanks, these comments were very helpful. I had my doubts about letting him seal me in the corner but I guess I wimped out (as I seem to have done numerous times) :oops:

btw, your comment on 29 was very insightful :D

@joaz that makes a lot more sense. I knew that I handled my corner wrong somehow, but I couldn't figure out exactly where.

Thanks a lot for the comments, now on to losing more games :salute:
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