Life In 19x19

I agree, but...

The 'but' seems unnecessary.

I think in this game you may have done better by spending some more time per move. It looks like you were blitzing through that fight at the top.

In fact, it looks like you were playing about 8 seconds per move through the whole game, while your opponent was playing closer to 3 seconds per move. Sometimes when your opponent plays fast, it's tempting to match that pace, but you don't need to.

I was beaten by Calvin
Hopefully most of my comments are correct-ish. Some might be repeated from Calvin's.

EDIT: On second review, I'm pretty sure at Q18 refutes the move at P18, so forget my last variation
EDIT #2: at M3 in the variation should be at L3. Misclick, oops.

WindCaliber wrote:
EDIT: On second review, I'm pretty sure at Q18 refutes the move at P18, so forget my last variation

Q18 would be a good empty triangle, then.

Thank you both WindCaliber and Calvin for your comments! You can't imagine how valuable your opinion is for my Go I'll review thoroughly what you wrote and apply it in my next games.

Calvin Clark wrote: Ono, considering how the game evolved after this, how do you feel about move now? Which other moves did you consider?

I felt like didn't really help me in the center and even though I grabbed territory in the lower area, I feel like it wasn't worth it and a move like K5 or L6 (to make a horse head shape) would have been more interesting. As well as protecting my center influence, I feel like L6 attacks the lower part as well so Black has to make a choice from there. Do you agree?

OnoNoGo wrote: I felt like didn't really help me in the center and even though I grabbed territory in the lower area, I feel like it wasn't worth it and a move like K5 or L6 (to make a horse head shape) would have been more interesting. As well as protecting my center influence, I feel like L6 attacks the lower part as well so Black has to make a choice from there. Do you agree?

I'm not qualified to say. I just don't like the game move as I think it's too close to black's strong group and the fact that it got cut off is what made the game complex. I feel like any soft move near 'a' is sort of miai to black expanding 'b'. A shoulder hit 'c' (K4) may expand white, but it could be just the wrong idea and is likely to end in gote. White has known invasion possibilities at d-g, so I might try one of those and see if white's center stones will help indirectly; h-i would reduce black in the upper side and expand white, but the whole center feels like a big open skirt, so somehow I'm not seeing the moyo potential.

Maybe a stronger player can chime in?

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W Other ideas
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . X X O . X . . . . . X X . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , i . . . . , O . . |
$$ | . . O . . X . O . b h . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . O . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . O . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . , . X . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . X . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O . . a . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O , X . X . . c . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . O X X . . . . X . . . . g . d . . . |
$$ | . O . . . . . . . . . . . . f e . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm44
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . X X O . X . . . . . X X . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , O . . |
$$ | . . O . . X . O . . . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . O . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . O . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . , . X . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . X . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O , X . X . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . O X X . . . . X . a . . 1 2 b . . . |
$$ | . O . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I kinda like , aiming at "a" or "b". If , I think .

Very interesting comments about move Calvin and Bill. Maybe they are not the choice of the strongest players, but they sure make sense and give me another perspective on how to play Go.

Speaking of which, I just finished a game I'm kinda proud of. I tried to think more about sensible moves, take my time if I could when things get complicated and try to see ahead as far as possible. It lead me, to my surprise, to fight a lot more for influence than territory. I often gave up stones to grab more influence which I successfully turned into territory. I'm sure I made tons of mistake, but thanks to your many advice, I feel like I look at the game in a stronger way.



The first important reading I did was during the fight in the lower left corner. I decided to give up my stones in the corner and the few points that were there in order to build a wall towards the right side. My opponent played into it and after I felt like White was a lot better from this fight.

Concerning the fight at the top of the board, from to , I tried to calculate as much as possible but couldn't find a better way to go. If I try to capture Black stones, he gets away and manages to protect his corner and even though I gain a lot of influence, it didn't seem worth it at the time. But perhaps I'm wrong.

Thank you in advance for your comments!

Great job on the win Ono! You used your time much better this time—I think your oppononent should use their time better though, haha.

Here are some of my comments. Once again, the comments and variations are to the best of *my* understanding!

EDIT: LoL

EdLee wrote: Pretty sure this is not a good idea.
Approach from the more open, wider side ( F17 direction ).
.

Thank you for some great comments WindCaliber! And yes I completely missed that snapback haha. Fortunately it didn't cost me much or anything. But you don't have to say that it is to the best of your understanding, I truly value your comments on my games and would love to have more in the future you definitely help me understand the biggest mistakes I make and that is the most important part!

Thanks again!

Hi Ono,

Feels a bit soft on B. He ignored your approach.
Double approach, high D6 or low C6.

A joseki is push and cut.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ | . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . 7 . .
$$ | . . X X X O . .
$$ | . . O O 1 O . .
$$ | . . 4 3 2 5 . .
$$ | . . . 6 . . . .
$$ -----------------[/go]

After , W has variations.

Not sure about the game result: B gets a huge corner.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

Hmm... this one.
Approach from the more open, wider side ( F17 direction ).

C10.

Mis-click ?

W is very happy to just reply and block at o18.

R8 direction. ( Any local reply around M17 is too slow, too small for W. )

Bad.

After N17 atari, o16 atari -- you get a bad result:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ -----------------------
$$ . . . . . O X . . . . |
$$ . . . X X O X . X . . |
$$ . O 2 O 1 O O X X . . |
$$ . , . X O 3 4 O O . . |
$$ . . . . 5 . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B var
$$ -----------------------
$$ . . . . . O X . . . . |
$$ . . . X X O X . X . . |
$$ . O 2 O 1 O O X X . . |
$$ . , . X O 3 5 O O . . |
$$ . . . . 4 . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

Running with this stone is a wrong idea. ( Throwing good money at bad. )
R8 direction.

Pass. R7 direction.

Finally.

Bad...

...Unless W is confused. You are very happy to reply to , at Q7.
This exchange ( - Q7 ) is bad for B, good for W.

Recurring big problem: , -- not understanding the value of a reply, when it is very good for you.

EdLee wrote: Recurring big problem: , -- not understanding the value of a reply, when it is very good for you.

Hi EdLee

I agree completely! I'm going to keep an eye on these opportunities for replies that are good for me in my next games. Thank you very much for all your other comments, I truly appreciate it.

Concerning this:

EdLee wrote: Hmm... this one.
Approach from the more open, wider side ( F17 direction ).

If I understand correctly, I don't mind him extending his territory on the left side as long as I get my share of the top side if I approach with F17, right?

Hi Ono,

If I understand correctly, I don't mind him extending his territory on the left side as long as I get my share of the top side if I approach with F17, right?

At , use your right hand to cover up the right half of the board, including the tengen K-column.

Count how many stones on the left half. Count how many stones on the left half. Now do the reverse:
Use your left hand and cover up the left half of the board,
exposing the center K-column. Same questions:

How many stones on the right half?How many stones on the right half?Do you think W has any big development on the left side?Where, if any place, would W's development come from? However... So as an approach/invasion is one way to play; F17 open direction is another.

Thank you EdLee! Really enjoyed this explanation.

I got myself 3 wins today and it took me to 9-kyu. Big thanks to all of you for helping me reach SDK in no time! Let's see if I can stay there in the future... But anyway, here is the last game that I played. My theme was trying to find simple moves that gave me both good shapes and that made sense in terms of influence or territory. As you guys pointed out, I often ignore a simple move that advantages me so this time I tried to keep an eye out for these moves. Let me hear about the mistakes, thank you a lot in advance!!!