Life In 19x19

Posted: **Mon Oct 27, 2014 7:27 pm**

skydyr wrote:In S2W's variation from to there is a ladder, but unfortunately it is white's three stones that are caught in it after one move. I think black's fight should be favourable if white goes the other way as well, so I'm inclined to think the double hane may be an overplay.

I try to make at least one massive blunder in each review in case I give the reader the impression that I know something about the game.

Thanks for pointing it out.

Posted: **Mon Oct 27, 2014 9:35 pm**

S2W wrote:
skydyr wrote:In S2W's variation from to there is a ladder, but unfortunately it is white's three stones that are caught in it after one move. I think black's fight should be favourable if white goes the other way as well, so I'm inclined to think the double hane may be an overplay.

I try to make at least one massive blunder in each review in case I give the reader the impression that I know something about the game.

Thanks for pointing it out.

Don't worry, I'm sure I've made much worse mistakes posting before. Please don't look for them. :bow:

Posted: **Thu Oct 30, 2014 11:21 am**

Its been a long time since I took such a beating, but this game I got completely trashed. I think I played a little to fast, but my opponents two invasions still went way too well, I guess there really is something to hane at the head of two^^. Any help is welcome.

Posted: **Thu Oct 30, 2014 11:30 am**

Two quick things to think about that sum up most of the early problems:

1) Don't let your shape get broken. In both invasions, your opponent pushed up and you couldn't respond well. Better not to give this opportunity and keep everything connected.

2) If your opponent is pushing on the 2nd line, KEEP GOING! They don't call the second line the line of defeat for nothing. I guarantee you'll get a better stone/point ration than 1/slightly less than 1 with yours.

Also, when your opponent invades like that, and you want to take the outside (as you indicate with your play) it's important to keep your shape without too many cutting points, and to be willing to give up a few points to accomplish your strategic goal.

More later when I have time.

Posted: **Mon Nov 03, 2014 9:08 am**

If someone could have a look at this I would be grateful. I've played more than usual recently and it goes well most of the time. I have one recurring problem though: My mojos rarely amount to anything. My opponent invades and from that point on my game just falls apart.

Posted: **Mon Nov 03, 2014 10:05 am**

To address your main question:

:b41:

builds a moyo and that's it. Good moyos are built while doing something else. :w42:

invades because White has his hands free to do so. While attacking the invasion, your wall becomes stronger but it has no purpose towards the bottom.

Technically :b47:

should continue the attack from the weak stones towards the strong stones. Now you are squeezing out the toothpaste.

These and other remarks come back in below sgf.

Cheers

Posted: **Mon Nov 03, 2014 10:25 am**

Some thoughts:

:b7:

: Because white played high, this is a bit soft. The 2 space high pincer is typical, though it can be complicated. The one space low may also work. Pincering is a good choice in general here. The rest of the exchange seems reasonable for black to me.

:b23:

: It may be worth considering splitting the left or approaching this stone from the left, since white has a lot of potential on the left, but the topside potential is limited by black's low stone at P17. Through :w34:

seems good for black.

:b37:

seems really slow. The corner group is alive and doesn't need any help right now. Better to approach the bottom left directly, or play another big move like that. At :b39:

trading the rest of the side for the corner is not big enough, I think, and you could instead consider the 3-3 point or C4 to gouge out the corner or keep white small there.

At :b47:

, C9 attacks white's shape. If white takes E8, black takes C8 to peep and connect under anytime. If white takes C8, black takes E8 to peep, and if white takes D8, you can take D10 and leave white heavy with an empty triangle to boot.

At :w60:

you may want to peep at G10 first. It's hard to attack this group now, though, because white can play B10 to live at any time. It's worth considering if there's a good black invasion into the lower left corner now that black is strong there.

Later, around :w80:

white is trying to make sabaki here. With :b87:

to

, though, black takes a vacation from the fight, and lets white get two moves in a row locally, so black fails to benefit. Another option, at :b75:

is to fill at R15, and if white lives in the corner, just control the side stone with P10 as a follow-up.

:w96:

is an odd place to resign, as white was already alive here. Black also has decent center potential, with a move or two around K5. There's still a decent reduction of the bottom left corner left, and the top is wide open to turn a lot of that into dame. The game certainly look playable to me.

Posted: **Mon Nov 03, 2014 1:58 pm**

Thanks, as always the variations are very helpful.

I played a game just now that was a lot like this, my attacks usually start to fizzle once my opponent starts pushing against my stones. Maybe its time to reread Attack and Defense again =)

Posted: **Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:30 pm**

One conceptual idea, if you don't do it already, is to put yourself in your opponents shoes. You've just created a weak group. Which points would really help you to take? Which points can you ignore and still make it out safe? Which would make you cry if your opponent took them? Does the order matter? Where would you like to cut your opponent to make something of the fight?

Now turn it around and figure out how to attack those points, either by taking them directly or making them bad indirectly.

Posted: **Fri Nov 07, 2014 10:42 am**

Inspirational thought of the day:
The more I play go, the more I feel like influence is completely useless...

Posted: **Fri Nov 07, 2014 12:35 pm**

I'm not much stronger than you, so take anything I say with a grain of salt, but move 86 seems to work particularly poorly with the influence you'd built up to that point. After you played it, you found yourself pushing black into the center and being uncertain about which side to defend. I think 86 at O11 would have let you seal black in on the right side and build a huge center territory from which you could work on reducing black's territory around the edges. Black had a territorial lead, but I think the game would have been close.

Posted: **Fri Nov 07, 2014 12:50 pm**

I know that I was squeezing the toothpaste there, but I failed to find a move that actually contains black.

Does O11 really work? I looked at it in the game, but I'm pretty sure I dismissed it immediately because of the elephant jump it forms with Q9

Posted: **Fri Nov 07, 2014 1:40 pm**

paK0 wrote:I know that I was squeezing the toothpaste there, but I failed to find a move that actually contains black.

Does O11 really work? I looked at it in the game, but I'm pretty sure I dismissed it immediately because of the elephant jump it forms with Q9

I think black could make you sacrifice the Q9 stone and get some more territory on the side, but preserving your center is more important than that single stone. I don't think black can completely break into the center… it's amazing how hard it is to break through a weak wall when ALL the ladders work for the other side. That's one of the things influence is good for. :-)

It's possible there's something I missed, though!

At any rate, white's only hope in this game is to make a big center to combat black's big upper left. I think O11 would at least have had a good chance of making that work.

Posted: **Fri Nov 07, 2014 2:12 pm**

paK0 wrote:Inspirational thought of the day:
The more I play go, the more I feel like influence is completely useless...

Ah! Time to switch to the New Fuseki.

Posted: **Fri Nov 07, 2014 2:23 pm**

Bill Spight wrote:
paK0 wrote:Inspirational thought of the day:
The more I play go, the more I feel like influence is completely useless...

Ah! Time to switch to the New Fuseki.

I wish it were that easy^^. Man, what would I give for an opening move between 4-4 and 3-4.

Life In 19x19

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