Life In 19x19

14k - unnecessary capturing? I sense much fear in you.
1d - The fighting is very lax for a dan player. As is the joseki knowledge and shape.
7k - Nobi! Nobi again! Nobi some more! Then capture when you don't have to.
5d - Mmm... definitely stronger than I am, I think... but looking closely, there were problems in life and death and endgame that I can pick out. Doesn't seem like pro play.
Pro - The flow and insight make this game different from the rest. I think this has to be the pro game.

1. 14k
2. 1d
3. 7k
4. 5d
5. Pro (Blitz)

Ofc both moves look kinda ugly, but to be honest my judgement for all 5 games is only based on the first few moves:

Game1: I noticed that a weaker player must play here cause of 25, I think a 7k would not miss the shapemove r5. I stopped viewing the game directly after noticing #25 because I think looking further could have distracted my judgement.

Game2: Here are the moves #7 up to #25 and blacks handeling of the c16 group my hints, I can understand why they play like this but somehow it doesnt feel completly right to me, so I guess the players must be around my rank.

Game3: Invading the chinese opening like this is bad, the player must be a kyu. After seeing the intense struggle in the first 50 moves I doubt these players are 14k so the only option left is SDK (7k).

Game4: Most of the kyu players havent the guts to play a opening like this, therefore I think the player must at least be a dan. The fighting in the first moves looks to complicated to be Shodan, but for black to be squeezed like the sequence up to #79 seems unthinkable for a pro. I've seen similar situations in blitz-games of highdan players on kgs = 5d!

Game5: The only option left is Pro. As mentioned I've seen this kind of avalanche-tenuki opening many times by proplayers.

I havent watched any game any further then 100 moves... hmmm thinking about this it seems pretty interesting. It is really possible to feel such a difference in strenth with only seeing so few moves?

What were your 'final hints' ?

Jonas wrote:What were your 'final hints' ?

1 - The moves I indicated, and the capturing when you don't have to, and a couple of meaningless extensions gave me the hint on 1.

2 - I figured was dan fairly early, as despite having the weirdest opening there were some sensible moves protecting and defending. White's attempts to attack Black's top left group were bizarre, so I assumed high dan was unlikely. So much of this game felt like the players understood principles (key points, taking away eyeshape) but got carried away with trying to implement them cleverly everywhere. There ended up being lots of aji-keshi moves and bad aji in their own positions left.

3 - Move 27 at Q4? Have I ever seen so many odd slow extensions in a single game? Move 64 at N15? On the other hand, no gross reading blunders, so had to be 7k.

4 - Definitely stronger than me. But so much overplay / squeeze fight nonsense. White looked like he'd gone silly with the initial cut in the top right, then pulled off S17 very nicely. This is just felt like lots of powerful overplay from both sides where they both pulled off half of it. Kind of like uber-magicwands on speed.

5 - Just from Black's perspective: Move 13. Move 17. Sequence 29,31,33. Moves 35+37. Moves 39+41+43. Sequence 65-91, especially 79. Everything just feels so good - the flow, the direction, the time and position of tenuki, the lack of giving bad shape. This just screams pro to me.

To me it looks like they are in ascending order of strength

1. KGS 14k
2. KGS 7k
3. KGS 1d
4. KGS 5d
5. Pro

I feel quite sure about 14k and pro game, a little less about 7k and 1d. As most of the games are above my level, the frequency of tenuki may have been a major criterium for me.

1st - Totally 14k.
2nd - 1d Have a vague idea about what happened there, but both player know about keeping sente a lot more than me.
3rd - 7k. Black is good at making empty triangles. I've seen that immediate wedging into low chinese so many times around that level cause i like to play it. So rather obvious
4th - 5 dan. Black certainly knew what he was doing, so did white.
5th - Pro. You just can feel it.

1: 14k
2: 1d
3: 7k
4: 5d
5: pro

1. 14Kyu

Move 47 is an early first line move. Even a 7 kyu should see that move 58 don't work. Move 62-63 are tiny. And later on you see some contact move "snake pushing". All mistakes that are very indicative of a double kyu player.

2. 1 dan

You see some reading mistakes and questionable plays, but both players seems to have a sense of pace, aiming at not playing small moves, trying to keep sente and not getting bogged down in earlier mistakes.

3. 7 kyu.

Neither player seems to have any respect for influence, and there are just cut groups everywhere. But the real reason I think this is 7 kyu is because of moves such as 64,88 and 181 that I just wouldn't expect from stronger players.

4. 5d.

This game either has some deep thoughts behind the moves, some really good instincts or both. But the way white handled the bottom makes me question the strength of the players.

5. Professional

Deep and clean, which I why I choose this one for professional

1. 14k
2. 5d
3. 7k
4. 1d
5. Pro

game 1: 7k
game 2: 1d
game 3: 14k
game 4: pro
game 5: 5d

Now I see that game 5 is a popular choice for pro. I eliminated that based on move 101. Connecting this worthless lump of stones felt too small. True there is a followup ko, but still.

wow..i dont know why #2 can not be professional. i guess they are distracted with unfamiliar shapes that they can not understand.

#1 being 14k is obvious.
#2 maintain delicate balance of moyo and points. definitly professional.
#3 plays ok but doesnt have dan shape.
#4 1dan level reading but can never be 5D
#5 is not professional. they leave themselves with toomany weaknesses to be a professional.

1. 14k
2. prof
3. 7k
4. 1d
5. 5d

I didn't really feel the sharpness in their reading. I think it's conceivable that they're 5d, but a move like 195 was definitely a signal to me that these two can't be pro.

i took little more time ...and you are correct.
#5 is better than #2.

#1: 14k
#2: 1d KGS -- the opening I would have believed it if you said 5d, but the later fighting was wacky. Maybe it's 5d blitz
#3: 7k
#4: pro
#5: 5d blitz?

EDIT: after looking at the end of #5, that one is probably pro. The gap is about 2.5 points or so for a naive endgame; I would guess that most 5d players wouldn't think of resigning there.

If #1 isn't the 14k I'll eat my hat. #3 looks distinctly kyu level, and weaker than me, so that would be the 7k. The others I'm less sure about, but I think #4 is the pro game, #5 is the 5d and #2 is the 1d.

So that's:
1: 14k
2: 1d
3: 7k
4: pro
5: 5d