Another beginner program...

[blindgod]

This is from my Malkovitch game with EdLee (I'm black). I made these comments in the game, but I wanted to put them here as well for the reasons below. In the game, I put my comments under a spoiler tag, but I've decided to put them openly here.

$$Bcm13
$$ -----------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 1 O . . . . . , . . . . O , X . . |
$$ | . . X X . X . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ -----------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm13
$$ -----------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 1 O . . . . . , . . . . O , X . . |
$$ | . . X X . X . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ -----------------------------------------[/go]

So after yelling at my computer long enough to make me feel better (but not so long as to compel my co-workers ask questions), I'm playing what I feel is the only reasonable response to W14. White has a number of very good follow-ups, but that's my fault at the end of the day. B13 & W14 actually illustrates one of the many problems I have with this game. On the one hand, I've had a lot of people (both online and in person) stress to me that I need to better protect my weak groups. At the same time, I've also been criticized for playing small while letting my opponent play bigger. After W12, the black group on the bottom left didn't look safe to me and so I played B13 to make certain it was. I expected white to extend from the wall facing his 4-4 stone at the top, at which point I was going to play W14 or attach under the white stone approaching the black 3-4 stone.

This points out an issue I've been having with this game. With the amount of time between moves, I'll run through a number of different possibilities for each one of the moves I could make on an SGF editor. I'll then play the one that seems to yield the best results. However, a natural stumbling block is that since white is much stronger than I am, I can't really trust my own judgement of what moves he might make.

For my own reference, for move 13, I seriously considered the following:

B5, B6, B7, E4, G5, Q5, Q6, & P3.

For move 15, I considered the following:

Q5, R6.

If there's anyone willing to give feedback on these options (if only just one of them), I'd be thankful.

[jts]

Obviously if Ed objects to any of these suggestions on the grounds that the game is ongoing, I can delete them. But I think the decisive moment has passed, so we're safe.

Ignoring P5 initially was strong.

For , I would have switched back to the lower right corner, but adding another move in the lower left can't be that bad; however, purely from a technical point of view, your leaves a weakness that I wouldn't expect you to be able to see. B6 looks better to me - but even here, I could be wrong (saying that not to be humble, to emphasize that your play is not so far off-track).

A hidden comment for later:

If I were continuing in the lower left I would also consider moves like D10 to deny W an extension from his wall; I tend not to play that way, but it's a suggestion for how to think about the position. If W gets a wall, and B ends with sente to deny the wall an extension, that is usually good for B, especially when the wall then comes under attack.

If I were playing in the lower right, P3, Q4, and Q5 all seem playable. However, I would strongly prefer P3; of those three, Q4 and Q5 seem like specialized tools. whereas P3 is a work horse. I would also look at pincers: the 3-4 stone is all about pincering approach stones, but it seems you didn't consider any? N3, for instance, is a pretty common (most common?) way to pincer R4. I won't comment on yet, other than to say, be strong!

[blindgod]

To be clear, I'm not asking what I should do next or in the future of this game (nor would I). I'm asking for feedback on moves already committed to. I can't imagine anyone thinking that this is grounds for complaint, especially in a casual game (as opposed to a tournament or a game that determines rank). When I play at the club, I sometimes ask for thoughts and feedback on moves with the understanding that I'm not going to change them or take them back. Heck, sometimes I get feedback whether I ask for it or not.

[jts]

I wasn't implying that you were asking for help, of course. But some of the moves you could have played instead of or would still be good moves now, or will be soon.

[blindgod]

Fair enough. For what it's worth, I do see a potential weakness for me in the lower left hand corner after move 13, but I don't know if it's what you see and I don't feel it's appropriate being more specific.

On another note, in the mail today was my copy of Falling Hard: A Journey Into the World of Judo. Finally, something to read other than Go books. This should be a good change of pace.

[blindgod]

Realize I've been slacking off writing here despite the fact that I'm continuing through my problem books. Now that I have two games going in the Malkovitch forum (and one more as soon as I can work out the details), I've actually been spending a lot of time on those. However, I think I've been going about these in the wrong manner.

I've been using an sgf editor for some of the moves, trying things out and seeing how they played. While this is fine, I'm not entirely convinced that this practice will translate into more skill in games where 1. I don't have 15-30 minutes per move and 2. I'd need to rely on my own reading to see where things go. As such, I'm stopping this practice and from here on out, I will only do reading in my head. I won't rush moves as taking time for each is, I feel, part of a turn-based game.

To further my experience, I will make myself play more normally timed games, both on KGS (where I haven't played much recently) and at the club, where I've taken the last two weeks off due to starting to fall asleep on the drive into town. It makes me nervous that I'm so tired at 5 pm that I have a hard time driving and I don't cherish the thought of having to make the hour-long drive home at 8:30 pm or 9.

However, one of the main reasons I go to the club is for the social aspect of playing there. I actually enjoy that more than playing itself, which is part of why I don't play online as much as I should in order to make the progress I desire.

Which is why I'll be going to my first two tournaments in the upcoming 30 days or so. I'll take records and I'll be interested to see how I do, especially playing live against people I don't know. I'm curious how I'll set my rank, which seems to fluctuate between around 16k-22k depending on how I'm feeling.

[Twitchy Go]

Firstly, Good luck at the tournaments!

I've been playing both my Malkovitch game with Wanderling. I think the benefit of such games comes from having to record your thoughts before committing to your move. Not from spending alot of time finding/reading the best move, although to keep the game fun that is encouraged.

Perhaps liken it to training your bodies endurance vs instantaneous power. Reading in your head, problem sets, and real time games are power. Studying theory and identifying conceptual problems is endurance. Your not going to sprint a marathon, or jog a 100m dash. Likewise you wouldn't train for both events the same way.(I think, don't run races myself) This analogy isn't quite perfect. But I thought I would share my 2c based on my impressions of malkovitch games.

I'm not trying to discourge you from reading in your head. But the format of malkovitch games lends unique opportunities for spotting conceptual problems in ones play. Or thats the impression I've gotten so far. I'm hardly an old hand at them.

[blindgod]

Was going to go to the club tonight but decided not to considering that I would have had to walk back and forth in almost 100 degree heat.

Looking at my Malkovitch games, I'm reminded of a Simpsons episode where someone sees Bart playing chess in the park and marvels that he's playing against 3 people. Right after this is said, each of Bart's opponents makes a move and says (in rapid succession) "Checkmate." "Checkmate." "Checkmate." Second Simpson's reference of the day.

Have been continuing with Graded Go Problems vol 2. I'm up to problem 230 or so and I noticed that once I got over 200, my correct answer percentage went way down. This is slightly encouraging to me as this has in the past happened around problem 150-170 or so. Again, my worst performance is in life&death (though that's gotten somewhat better) and capturing races (still not good).

[blindgod]

Have finished up through problem 250 in Graded Go Problems for Beginners vol 2 with 199 correct. This gives me a 79.6% correct, which is slightly short of the 80% I was looking for. In order to get 80% overall correct, I need to get 63 correct out of the final 77 problems.

One thing I noticed was that even the more difficult Life and Death problems seemed relatively easy compared to the problems in 1001 L&D, and I was able to breeze through them quickly with with almost no mistakes.

[blindgod]

http://files.gokgs.com/games/2012/6/23/RMeigs-blindgod.sgf

Ignore the comments at the end. I was trying to load the game in the KGS Teaching Ladder, but was having difficulty since a spectator was still "in" the game.

My own thoughts:

Moves 10-20: I felt almost completely lost with no real sense of what I should be doing. This is illustrated by the amount of time taken for moves 10, 16, & 20.

Move 50: Not useful. Would have been better at N13 or F9.

Move 64: Would have been better at N13.

Move 82: Probably not as severe as I could have been. However, I was determined to play a peaceful game because I'm terrible at fighting and I really wanted to win.

Move 94: Should have been at L16, M16, or M15. I think L16 would've been best since I had just enough liberties to avoid snapback.

Move 104: Embarrassing. I didn't see the oiotoshi until the moment I played. Should have been at M15.

Move 110: Should have been at R3. As silly as it seems, with everything going at the top, I forgot about the bottom right. This has been an issue in other games: tunnel-vision. I think it has to do with the adrenaline rush I get when playing online.

Move 118: Intentional sacrifice. I thought about playing S5, but didn't like the possibility of the cut at R5 since I wanted to keep things as simple as possible (as described in my comments on move 82). I was expecting the following:

$$B
$$. . . . . . . . .|
$$. . . . . . . . .|
$$. . . . . . . . .|
$$. . . . . . . . .|
$$. . . . . . 5 3 .|
$$. . . . . X X O .|
$$. . . . X O O 1 4|
$$. . . . . . . 2 .|
$$. . . . . . . . .|
$$ ------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

This way, he lives small and is contained without the cut at R5. Since I wasn't confident that I could kill him, I considered this to be the best outcome for me.

Of course, if I had played R3 earlier, this wouldn't have been an issue.

Move 130: Should have been at E6.

Move 146: Not sure if necessary.

[Yukontodd]

ddks, especially below about 15k, always play a huge amount of contact play. It feels like you're attacking those enemy stones, so you're grabbing him and pushing him about. Of course, he's also grabbing you and pushing you about. You'd think that the one with the most stones will come out ahead, right? So, who has the most stones in this physical confrontation?

Whichever person gets "attacked" by being contacted gets to play another stone, making himself stronger. You're always a stone behind when you initiate a series of contact-moves. If you touch a weak stone, you make that weak stone get stronger, right? So, you should probably not attach to a weak stone. To attack a weak stone, you have to do so from afar. You surround it without touching it, cut it off, seal it in. It might live, but it will be a small life.

When do you attach? Attach against groups that are already strong, attach to defend yourself, make room when you're being surrounded. When you have a weak stone that gets touched by an opposing stone, smile and start making your position stronger!

Very general rule, of course sometimes it's good to go after a weak stone, and you need to make contact plays as the game goes on. But, in the beginning, when the board is near empty and you're mapping out positions, resist attaching against a weak stone, and see how the game forms up for you once the stones begin to come into contact with each other. You might still lose, but your game might start to feel more in control.

Anyway, that's my two cents. I hope it helps.

[blindgod]

So I decided that since one of my problems was getting nervous and anxious during games, I've resolved to play free games that don't determine rank. This way, I might be more able to play and experiment without a loss affecting my rank in a negative way. This might seem silly, but I've experienced enough of people not taking lower ranks seriously to make me want to keep my rank higher. However, always playing conservatively likely limits growth.

So here's a game I played today with no intention or care other than that of trying new things.

http://files.gokgs.com/games/2012/6/28/t3o-blindgod.sgf

[blindgod]

Played my first official games this past Saturday, as I took place in a four-round AGA tournament. Not knowing where to put my real rank, I chose 15 kyu as it's one stone stronger than my current KGS rank. I ended up winning my first game (an 8-stone handicap game) against a 7 kyu on points. I sat out the next round. I then lost a 9-stone game to a 1 kyu by resignation, and then I lost a 9-stone game against a 2 dan on points (though not that many).

In all three games, I noticed the same strategy on my part: the big middle. I've been seeing it a lot in my games lately, and I'm not all that happy. It seems that if I can get a big middle (which seems natural with a high handicap) and play a peaceful game (not much fighting or captures), I can do pretty well. The first game that I won went this way, as well as the game against the 2nd dan, which I lost by less than ten points. The 1 kyu made me fight and that was my undoing.

[Boidhre]

(caveat: I'm a beginner too!)

You must fight! You get those extra handicap stones to help you fight!

[blindgod]

Played a casual game with Atheri this afternoon. Tried doing 7 stones instead of 8. I was doing alright until he killed off a large group of mine in the lower right. Obviously, I need more work on tsumego. For playing in the tournament last weekend, I got a copy of 1001 L&D Problems. This is good for me because I now have my own copy instead of having to constantly renew the library's copy.

Despite that, I made a lot of mistakes. 62 seemed a bad idea the moment I played it. After the game was over, Atheri made the suggestions that 6 would have been better at F17 & that 12 would have been better at J4 or J5. I wonder if it would have been better for me to attach at D14 for move 16 (and the joseki that results from this). I had more than a little difficulty concentrating while reviewing because a homeless woman sat down next to us and she smelled terrible. To be clear, I'm not blaming her or anything like that. But it did draw my focus somewhat.

http://lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1837