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Deliberate Practice

https://lifein19x19.com/viewtopic.php?t=11952

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Re: Deliberate Practice

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 4:16 pm
by studying
Game 32
I played an even game on IGS tonight. I was going to again say that I was disappointed in my play, but after several games of saying that, maybe the better analysis is simply that I've hit my current potential. (Working up from 3dan on Tygem may have given me the unconscious idea that I should be walking over all my opponents, instead of being fully challenged by them.)

In any case, the game was rather moyo based, and I struggled to avoid panicking about the size of my opponent's territory. That only made things worse, and I was forced to start a desperate capturing race to try to win. Fortunately, I actually played that race pretty well (it's usually an Achilles heel of mine), and my opponent made a mistake that meant I was able to still get a win. Here's the game: https://gokibitz.com/kifu/419K1GnP


And, yes, I realize I still owe answers to questions and comments from Knotwilg's last two reviews.

Re: Deliberate Practice

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:01 pm
by ez4u
Black's hanging connection at 27 is not normal. I think that 2 and 4 below would leave him unable to play 5 as in the game. Instead Black will need to protect against an invasion with something like 'a' perhaps. That will result in a much flatter position than the game. Black definitely gained a tempo here in the game.
Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X 3 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O X 2 |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 X O . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . O X . X . . . . . . . X . . O . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]


White 46 feels like White is trying too hard. White can't reasonably expect to cut Black off so the direction of 46 seems small. If Black had just kept jumping in the game, what would White have done? Should White have played 46 around 2 and forced Black to live small while building some outside influence?
Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . O O O . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . 3 . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . 2 . 4 . 6 . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . O O O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . O . . O . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . O X . X . . . . . . . X . . O . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Re: Deliberate Practice

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2015 6:12 pm
by studying
Thanks, ez4u. I had forgotten the first shape you show here, but hopefully it'll be more obvious to me next time around. As for the attack on the Black stones, I'm coming around to the idea that White should just seal Black in. That thickness makes it both much easier for White to invade the bottom, and harder for Black to expand the upper right. I still need to train myself to better appreciate the value of influence/thickness over pure territory.

Re: Deliberate Practice

Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2015 3:54 pm
by studying
Games 33 and 34
I played two reverse-komi games on IGS against 4dans today. The first was probably a good example of the parts of the game where I struggle. As is often the case, I feel like I don't get sufficient profit off of my attacks on weak groups. And, more particularly, I seem to have a bad habit of jumping in the middle of large-knight groups, when I have a nearby weak group. It never ends well. The result was a narrow loss at the end. https://gokibitz.com/kifu/Vy20IBZu



I then made the mistake of playing a second game. I knew I was tired and it showed, particularly in the opening. I was way too willing to give me opponent thickness in exchange for a few points, and it meant I was playing catch-up throughout most of the game. I'm somewhat reluctant to even post this game, but the idea behind the study journal was to review and post all of them, so here it is in all its ugliness. https://gokibitz.com/kifu/EkCB9BWd


It looks like I've settled pretty well into the 5dan range on IGS, which at least gives me a baseline to try to improve from.

Re: Deliberate Practice

Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2015 12:39 pm
by studying
Game 35
Another loss on IGS today, this time playing Black against a 5d+. On the one hand, I'm happy with myself for experimenting a bit in this game, on the other hand, the result isn't what I would like. That said, the major mistakes that I found in my review (73 and 119) seem more attributable to playing to quickly rather than conceptual misunderstandings, so hopefully there's still room for improvement with better self-discipline. Here's the review: https://gokibitz.com/kifu/NkcELdGO

Re: Deliberate Practice

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 6:01 pm
by studying
Games 36 and 37
Ugh. The losing streak continues, this time with 2 losses on Tygem. The first game is another classic example of the fighting-based Tygem games where I struggle. In the second game, I fought better, but made a dumb endgame mistake that cost me the game. I wish I knew what to do to snap out of this. The only redeeming note is that I also happened to watch Haylee's Game 96, which was also a loss from her, and therefore a nice reminder that even very strong players can make mistakes.

Re: Deliberate Practice

Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 5:01 pm
by studying
Game 38
I still don't feel like I'm playing my best, but I'm happy to report that I at least snapped the losing streak tonight. I still made quite a few mistakes, but since it seems I made one fewer mistake than my Tygem opponent, it was enough. Here is the game review: https://gokibitz.com/kifu/4kUHdiId

Re: Deliberate Practice

Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 6:03 pm
by studying
Game 39
I played another game on Tygem tonight, which turned out to be a bit of a steam-roll. My opponent made a number of overplays, but this time, I felt like I was able to read effective ways to punish them. The result was an overwhelming win that felt quite nice after my recent struggles. Here's the game review: https://gokibitz.com/kifu/Vyoy5LKu


One thing I've noticed looking back at this journal, is that I seem to have much better results playing as Black than as White. I want to spend more time thinking about why this might be, and hopefully the answer will give me some idea of where my studying time is best spent.

Re: Deliberate Practice

Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2015 1:26 pm
by studying
Game 40
Here is another reverse komi game against an IGS 4dan. The opening was both rather peaceful and somewhat difficult I found, and given my previous comment, I was nervous playing as White. That factored into my judgment to start the fight that ultimately decided the game. Luckily for me, my opponent chose a bad ko threat. Here is the review: https://gokibitz.com/kifu/N1DMqP9d

Re: Deliberate Practice

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 11:08 am
by Knotwilg
The story of game 40 is: Black refuses to build anything in this game and allows White to make territory in all corners AND reduce his only moyo. It would be sufficient for White to lead that reducing group to the centre, making it safe and reducing the centre in one go. The margin would not be large but sufficient to overcome reverse komi. However, White seems to have no confidence in his lead and needlessly goes all out.

You have analyzed the fight sufficiently, so here are my comments on what happens before move 105, with the above story as the central line.

Re: Deliberate Practice

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 5:44 pm
by studying
Game 41
Here is yesterday's game against an IGS 5dan. My IGS games tend to have very long end-games, and this one is no exception. I find that both very challenging and very helpful, as this is one of the areas of my game where I think I can substantially improve. Still, it'd be naive to think there weren't other errors in my play, and you can see the several of them that I caught in the review here. https://gokibitz.com/kifu/V1PT0VZK

Re: Deliberate Practice

Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 7:08 am
by Dragonfist
I'm not sure I agree with the whole forcing yourself to study idea. Go is a hobby after all. To each his own though.

Re: Deliberate Practice

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 4:13 am
by studying
Dragonfist wrote:I'm not sure I agree with the whole forcing yourself to study idea. Go is a hobby after all. To each his own though.

I guess the unstated premise of this journal is that I want to improve my play. The point of deliberate practice is that improvement doesn't happen (or doesn't happen very quickly) from simply playing around and treating the game as a pure hobby, but instead requires some conscious effort. I don't have any problem with people who want to treat Go as a pure hobby, but I don't think doing so is consistent with my goal of improving.

Re: Deliberate Practice

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 3:11 pm
by studying
Games 42 and 43
Here are two recent games I played on Tygem, but neither is terribly worthwhile. I'm not sure exactly why, but I simply wasn't in the right mindset to play in game 42. Despite reasonable time limits, I played as though it were a blitz game, not bothering to read at all, and barely using any of my time. Even though it remained close, eventually I made enough errors that I needed to resign. I think Kirby's recent "Garbage In, Garbage Out" post sums up this game better than I could.

For Game 43, I played better, and was able to stable calm and deliberate throughout the game. That didn't stop me from making some terrible reading mistakes, including overlooking some terrible aji in the corner. Fortunately, I had built up enough of a lead that I was able to recover from that error.

In short, I need to continue working on my reading skills, instead of simply playing fast and loose and hoping things work out.


Re: Deliberate Practice

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 10:59 pm
by Loons
Hum. This is a joseki, right:
Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bc
$$ | . . . , . . . . . ,
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . 0 . . 8 . . .
$$ | . . . . . 4 7 . . .
$$ | . . . O . 2 3 . . ,
$$ | . . . 6 5 1 . . 9 .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ +---------------------[/go]
I guess the game looks quite like that. I don't really like this choice here.

Black 2 at 6 says corner territory is very important here.

The basic line is this, right:
Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bc
$$ | . . 8 , . . . . . ,
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . a . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . 4 . . . .
$$ | . . . O . 2 3 . . ,
$$ | . . . 6 5 1 . . . 7
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . .
$$ +---------------------[/go]
Black has played one wing of a hoshi, and white has problems given white 'a' directly is a little narrow, right?
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