Life In 19x19

Which liberties?

2-2 seems proper, but I read that if he plays 2-2 after my hane, I can still live. So I thought he’d still block, then I could play 2-2 anyway. And then I’d have the hane for free, which seemed slightly better. Of course that didn’t happen.

Thanks for the analysis, by the way, Knotwilg. I guess it’s reassuring if he played so well.

Normally I skim through the game afterwards with KataGo, but I was so frustrated last night that I skipped both that and Inseong’s review.

Kirby wrote:Which liberties?

His and yours. Now he has 3 liberties, you have 4. After he plays the 2-2, he has 4, you have 3.

After you connect underneath, he has 6 liberties. That means that you have to strengthen your stones on the left enough to kill. In return, he gets a lot of outside strength.

2-2 seems proper, but I read that if he plays 2-2 after my hane, I can still live.

You played to take the corner, he is playing to sacrifice it. If the question is whether you can live, his sacrifice is surely a success. That does not mean that not playing the 2-2 is wrong, but is it worth it?

He has already made a misstep by playing atari. I expect that the jump attachment is another, as it is so cramped. Those two plays are self-punishing. Playing on the 2-2 limits his outside strength.

Bill Spight wrote:

Kirby wrote:Which liberties?

His and yours. Now he has 3 liberties, you have 4. After he plays the 2-2, he has 4, you have 3.

After you connect underneath, he has 6 liberties. That means that you have to strengthen your stones on the left enough to kill. In return, he gets a lot of outside strength.

My point is, I have enough liberties to not be caught with the 2-2. So I don't think the situation is as simple as saying, "Count the liberties".

If I were going to die because I'm playing out a capturing race I can't win, then I can see "Count the liberties" as being an argument, but that's not the case here.

Rather, my mistake here was in my poor strategic choice to think only about the nature of being captured vs. not being captured.

That does not mean that not playing the 2-2 is wrong, but is it worth it?

No, it wasn't worth it, and as the game played out, I agree that my choice was a mistake. But I think it was a strategic mistake more than a liberty counting mistake.

My play at 19, while a bad choice, increased the effective liberties of my stones in the event that my opponent were to play the 2-2.

Kirby wrote:

Bill Spight wrote:

Kirby wrote:Which liberties?

His and yours. Now he has 3 liberties, you have 4. After he plays the 2-2, he has 4, you have 3.

After you connect underneath, he has 6 liberties. That means that you have to strengthen your stones on the left enough to kill. In return, he gets a lot of outside strength.

My point is, I have enough liberties to not be caught with the 2-2. So I don't think the situation is as simple as saying, "Count the liberties".

You're right. It's not. I should have said more.

If I were going to die because I'm playing out a capturing race I can't win, then I can see "Count the liberties" as being an argument, but that's not the case here.

No, but it raises a red flag. His play on the 2-2 gives you avoidable difficulties.

Agree that it was wrong, but mostly because I was a little optimistic about how my opponent would respond.

My thought process was this:

I can live if he tries to capture:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

Therefore, he probably won't try to capture. Instead, he'll prevent me from connecting, and then I can capture anyway:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc Variation A
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 2 X X . 1 B . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O O X O . O B . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O O . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

And in this variation, the marked black stones above are not that bad to have. The stones could be useful later, and it seemed a little bit better than this variation:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Variation B
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . B X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O O X O . O X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O O . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

But I didn't end with sente after my hane, so I didn't get to play the 2-2 anyway.

Coming back to that thought, Variation A isn't necessarily better than Variation B, because if I start from Variation B and do a hane now, white's block doesn't seem bad:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Variation B
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X X . 2 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O O X O . O X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O O . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

So even given this, there wasn't really urgency to play hane, even if things went according to my plan, I suppose.

Anyway, whatever. As stated, I don't feel good about this game anyway, so I'm gonna move on now.

Power outage. I did my 10 problems, but since I should resize them, I’ll upload when the power is back on.

And for tomorrow... I’ll do 10 problems.

Problems from yesterday: 6/10 completely correct, two I'll give myself half credit for.

That being said, I still have no power. Looks like I'm not the only one: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/ ... 334409002/

This is the only time in my life that I remember the power being out for more than a few hours. It's crazy.

I went to the store this morning to buy a generator. I'm using an extension cord from that right now. An electrician is coming over to setup a box outside so we can use the generator to power the entire house. Until then, we have no water.

I can't believe I'm living in the 21st century...

Kirby wrote:Problems from yesterday:

6/10 completely correct, two I'll give myself half credit for.

That being said, I still have no power. Looks like I'm not the only one: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/ ... 334409002/

This is the only time in my life that I remember the power being out for more than a few hours. It's crazy.

I went to the store this morning to buy a generator. I'm using an extension cord from that right now. An electrician is coming over to setup a box outside so we can use the generator to power the entire house. Until then, we have no water.

I can't believe I'm living in the 21st century...

Welcome to global warming.

Hang in there.

Wow that stinks. In 2012 a derecho came through (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2012 ... an_derecho) and we lost power for four days. The weather was over 90 degrees if I'm not mistaken, and consequently there was a run on ice. We had water, however, and I don't understand why you guys don't. You probably know this, but the generator can be dangerous (carbon monoxide) if kept too close to the house.

Anyway, glad your priorities still involve solving go problems.

Interesting story, Mike. Good point about the carbon monoxide. I read a bit about it and the generator is outside, but it IS close to the house. I should move it..

Our water is out because the well pump needs electricity.

A little sloppy today, but here are 10 problems I did. Getting late, so maybe I rushed too much:
Overall, 6/10. I should take my time on these more to make sure I do 10/10, though that'll require more time on the problems than I'm spending now.

Eventually I wanna do that, I think, but I'm taking baby steps.

Some more problems... This time, I just grabbed some from tasuki tsumego. The benefit of that site is that I don't have to compile a page of 10 problems myself.

I've got work to do tonight, so I did a few problems a little early.

Today's problems...

Also, found a turtle with a mossy shell in our yard:

So I haven't been playing many games of go. Just doing these problems, lately. But today was the new month for the AYD. I had a mediocre result last month, so I ended up just staying in the same league section.

Last game I played, I said that I felt pretty frustrated when I finished. I think I topped that this game. You can take a look at my blunder at the end of the game:



Again, very frustrating.

I guess I'm not so frustrated to give a brief review this time, though. I guess I'm getting used to losing.

Here:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O O . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . c . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , O . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . a . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

It was my turn as white, and I didn't really know where to play. My thoughts were:
* The bottom seems big because both black and white contend for influence there. So maybe I could play 'a'.
* The top right seems big, because I can prevent his enclosure. The "proper" way for this shape, I seemed to recall, was 'b'.
* I could play 'c', because the right side seems wide. But I was afraid of this variation:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

Black's move at seems to enhance his bottom right enclosure.

* And then in this situation, both the bottom right and top right were "approachable", so perhaps I could split the right:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O O . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , O . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

---

I spent a good amount of time on just this move, and in the end:
1.) I ruled out the side moves because, I thought, "bots like corners more than sides"
2.) The move at 'b' seemed better than the move at 'c', because of the kicking variation, and how the subsequent pincer aids the bottom right formation.

I looked at this position briefly with KataGo - didn't let it do many playouts, but it preferred to play on the bottom right, per my initial instinct... I guess bots *do* like the side sometimes. Furthermore, it liked 'c' better than 'b'. I suppose it's since the right is so open.

For the last part of my review, I'll just leave this diagram:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X X X O O O . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . O O O O O . . . , . . . . . X X X . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . O O . |
$$ | . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . 1 O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O X . O . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . X X O X . O X . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . O O X X O O X . O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O O . X O X O O . . . . O . . O . . |
$$ | . X O X . X X O X X X . O X X O . X . |
$$ | X . X O X . O X X . . X . O O X . . . |
$$ | . X X O . . O X X . X X . . . . . . . |
$$ | X O O O O . O X O X X O . . O O X . . |
$$ | . X X O . O X O O X . X . . O X X . . |
$$ | O O X O . . X O . O X . . O X . X . . |
$$ | . X . . . . . . O . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

*sigh*

Not gonna do problems today, because I had mini-problems in the game. And I guess I missed some