The way to BlackBelt

[Elom]

This position comes from one of the games where I could learn the most from:

$$W Preposition
$$ | . X O , . . O X O ,
$$ | . . X O O . O X X .
$$ | . . X X . . . . . O
$$ | . . . . . O . x X O
$$ | . . O X . . . . .OX
$$ | . . X . . . . . . O
$$ | . . . X . O . O O ,
$$ | . . . . X O . . . O
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ --------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W Preposition
$$ | . X O , . . O X O ,
$$ | . . X O O . O X X .
$$ | . . X X . . . . . O
$$ | . . . . . O . x X O
$$ | . . O X . . . . .OX
$$ | . . X . . . . . . O
$$ | . . . X . O . O O ,
$$ | . . . . X O . . . O
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ --------------------[/go]

$$W After marked exchange
$$ | . X O , . . O X O ,
$$ | . . X O O . O X X .
$$ | . . X X . . . . . O
$$ | . . . . . O . X X O
$$ | . . O X . . . . .OX
$$ | . . X . . . . . . O
$$ | . . . X . O . O O ,
$$ | . . W B X O . . . O
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ --------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W After marked exchange
$$ | . X O , . . O X O ,
$$ | . . X O O . O X X .
$$ | . . X X . . . . . O
$$ | . . . . . O . X X O
$$ | . . O X . . . . .OX
$$ | . . X . . . . . . O
$$ | . . . X . O . O O ,
$$ | . . W B X O . . . O
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ --------------------[/go]

White is unsure of where to play now.

The situation after this did confuse me

Whoops.

, Yes, you saw that correctly. Now white is losing.

best way to resign

[Elom]

Two newer games, one of them isn't so good a game but I hope it shows some of my weakest fundamentals.



The next one was very interesting. White made a mistake in the upper left, but the game itself was one where I'm not likely to be able to identify the mistakes.



It feels as if there may be a special heangma for white at move 53 (rather than just bumping at e15) that I haven't seen yet. Thanks for any suggestions you may have!
It's been a small hiatus in posts, mainly in the hope of correcting the most glaring fundamentals before posting new games .

[Elom]

two interesting games

The first game is one in which one side obtained most of nearly every corner, yet the balance didn't seem too shift to that side very much. It may not have been the best kifu, but there are still some grey areas left unattended. Some of my own kibitz about having no idea of what was going on is included.



In this second game, white tries to find a feel for handling weak groups, and fails spectacularly move 62 is a move I'm unsure of and 110 is the one where I have most regrets.



edit: m58 may have also been a waste.

[Sennahoj]

Some comments on the first game

[OtakuViking]

Here are my comments on the first game.

[Bill Spight]

A couple of comments on the first game.



Edit: Added a couple of variations.

[Charles Matthews]

Game 2. Try sometime a strategy of reinforcing your relatively weak groups, and attacking your opponent's relatively weak groups.

[Elom]

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your insights on the game!

Sennahoj's comments on whether sacrificing the upper right was necessary was especially enlightening, because I had dismissed the possibility of a center strategy that included saving them, but the variation looked more effective than in the game.

The variations by Otakuviking and Bill Spight on the upper right and left where eye-opening, as I never considered the possibility of immediately using the aji in those areas.

Now I know why the wall was neutralised (white didn't extend... ) but when black invades on move 33, can white attach to the stone at q5 before manoeuvering to attack the q10 stone? (it somehow feels as if the awkward position means that it's difficult for white keep black weak enough to attack properly).

Move 54 might require some explaining after counting the score, it seemed that it would be difficult for white to accumulate the necessary amount of ground by playing normally, making 54 essentially an overplay-- it was expected that black will immediately punish white in the upper left and finish the game, but black followed after 54 (*relief*)

[Elom]

I decided to review my games from the Alan Turing main tournament, and this is the first one that finished. There where a few basic mistakes from both sides, the timidity from black in some situations surprising me while looking through the record afterwards.

[Elom]

Game 2:

[skydyr]

I've attached some comments to the second game:

[Charles Matthews]

Game 2:

The fighting goes wrong from onwards.

Firstly, the peep for is a special-purpose Go Seigen play: i.e. don't assume you can play it randomly and get an advantage. One to the left is more orthodox, but here I think neither is really appropriate. The cap at is OK, so play it at once.

Then is rather submissive. Hence you can treat as kikashi. White has a strong play at M8 to bear in mind. at G14 would at least be coherent.

expects too much: self-karami. Clearly is plain strong. Now you see why needed to be at . You have lost a tempo.

- getting shut in here is no good.

Ouch. Black has become thick (the cut at F15 for White looks like fantasy football). Playing out this corner now is like endgame, and will just make Black thicker.

I would say you have to try to kill this invasion. Of course the game is hard to count. looks like the wrong end to me.

So it turns out that the E7 and H7 fortification is not great shape. White was on the back foot. On the top side G19 rather than E19 changes the eye shape position plenty. (Of course E19 is the gambler's play.)

[Elom]

First games of december

a game against darkfores1



Hitherto, the number of live games played in the last two months remained at three or less; it seemed that would be interesting to try a game with what was claimed to be one of the recent developments from Facebook, darkfores1. Naturally, I was quickly eliminated.

[Charles Matthews]

First games of december

a game against darkfores1



Hitherto, the number of live games played in the last two months remained at three or less; it seemed that would be interesting to try a game with what was claimed to be one of the recent developments from Facebook, darkfores1. Naturally, I was quickly eliminated.

I would play at Q2, consistent with Black's strategy on the lower side.

is probably mistaken direction. Fighting on the outside is more serious.

I would probably have played one to the right. Because there would be better options than . But what do I know? By , it is three weak black groups. Or four, if you count the lower right. So one point lower looks better, if uglier shape. looks too automatic, creating a "small gap". Black ends up one tesuji short of an exit on the lower side.

[Elom]

Thank you for your interesting notes on the corner fight-- it actually never occurred to me how easily my opponents are able to create weak groups out of my stones. It seems like black is picking a fight for the sake of it (without giving a persuasive reason to fight). White had an easy opportunity at k4, for example.

This next game may be another example. I was hoping to play a nice game, and considering my current (poor) form, it was a reasonable answer to my query.

In the end, I couldn't do anything, but it was something to enjoy and learn from.

European Youth Online Go Team Championshps, 3rd round
Uk v Croatia,Serbia, Slovenia
b1





nb: it had been so long since I'd used kgs, it had set my rank to about 8? and multiple failed attempts against darkfores/aya to bring it to around four resulted in moving down to 10k.