Life In 19x19

Knotwilg wrote:Hi

I hope pak0's dreams and goals haven't come to an end?

No, I just had to take a short 3 year break, because of real life things =).

I think I remembered that go exists around the time Lee played AplhaGo. So I dug up my books and board and started playing again a little.

My time is kinda limited, so I'll be careful with setting ambitious goals this time, but so far its not bad.

I'm 9k+ at IGS with a 66% winrate, which is around the level I stopped playing last time(I think). My reading is still pretty terrible but I don't think I deteriorated too much in the other areas.

Goals for now: Play a game a day. Do tsumego when I have some free time.

I managed to celebrate my promotion to 8k with quite the loss

The move I regret most is F10, if I play that at G9 instead I get a clear attack on black while building the middle. In the game instead I goof multiple times and manage to convert my framework into nothing. Kind of a bummer, since until then I thought I was ahead quite a bit.

Another game another loss, according to leela i was ahead pretty much the entire game, but still managed to throw it

I looked at my history, the vast majority of my losses come from games against people one rank below mine. Makes sense, I really hate reverse komi. I always feel pressured to build a mojo, and when my opponent comes in I don't know how aggressive I can be against his invasion.

Maybe I'll try a little alphago style and go for early 3-3 invasions, that will probably give me a more comfortable game.

Today was not a good day, maybe 8k really was my peak

All of the go books I have read so far tell me that walls are really good at helping you win games, unfortunately I really don't see it.

Your requested theme is "walls". Here are some comments about your "building walls" and "using walls".

1) Building walls
Good: 63
Can do better: 41, 67-75, 79, 115


2) Using walls

good playing away from walls: 55, 77, 87, 107, 127
can do better in playin away from walls/strength: 57, 59, 79, 99, 131

In detail:

@Knotwilg: Thanks for all the comments/variations.

I have also been going over some of my lost games with Leela.

I think my problems with walls is less a problem and more of a symptom of the cause: I'm too scared of fights.

I watched some of Bats "Back to Basics" and he almost never seems to fight, but I guess that approach only works when you are playing people 5-10 ranks weaker in even games.

So all in all this is ok, I now know what I have to work on.

paK0 wrote: I watched some of Bats "Back to Basics" and he almost never seems to fight, but I guess that approach only works when you are playing people 5-10 ranks weaker in even games.

I don't think you can avoid to fight at all costs: if the opponent takes small territory, then jumps into your sphere of influence like a madman, he needs some punishment.

But Bats surely has it right there often no need to fight.

Sometimes I really hate this game...

I think if you answer you win by 1,5

Yeah, it's dreadful. So, lessons learnt:

"At the end of the game, count your liberties again and again"
"When the opponent plays a move that doesn't seem to work, look again"
"When you feel tired and want the game to be over, close your eyes for 5 seconds and concentrate again"

Knotwilg wrote:I think if you answer you win by 1,5

Yeah, it's dreadful. So, lessons learnt:

"At the end of the game, count your liberties again and again"
"When the opponent plays a move that doesn't seem to work, look again"

The main problem with these is that by now I really should know them by heart, but after 150~200 moves my brain seems to go into energy saving mode.

paK0 wrote:

Knotwilg wrote:I think if you answer you win by 1,5

Yeah, it's dreadful. So, lessons learnt:

"At the end of the game, count your liberties again and again"
"When the opponent plays a move that doesn't seem to work, look again"

The main problem with these is that by now I really should know them by heart, but after 150~200 moves my brain seems to go into energy saving mode.

The 80% rule may help. People praise going all out, even doing "110%". But when endurance is a factor, keeping something in reserve, like 80% effort instead of 100%, is a good rule of thumb.

Bill Spight wrote:

paK0 wrote:

Knotwilg wrote:I think if you answer you win by 1,5

Yeah, it's dreadful. So, lessons learnt:

"At the end of the game, count your liberties again and again"
"When the opponent plays a move that doesn't seem to work, look again"

The main problem with these is that by now I really should know them by heart, but after 150~200 moves my brain seems to go into energy saving mode.

The 80% rule may help. People praise going all out, even doing "110%". But when endurance is a factor, keeping something in reserve, like 80% effort instead of 100%, is a good rule of thumb.

Mh, that sounds interesting, but also really hard. Limiting physical activity is really easy, but for my brain it feels like its all or nothing. Still, I'll give it a try, maybe something like no reading during my opponents turn.

I'd be grateful for some comments on this game.

I won by 0.5 but it was with reverse komi and after he messed up in the endgame, which mean he must have been crushing me quite badly during the rest of the time

I definitely messed up on the right side, I think R10 was too far and I should no have extended towards his wall with and instead jumped.

101 was clearly an overplay

The top left I'm not sure, I think overall that went pretty well for me.

The main problem was that his bottom got incredibly big, I somehow missed my chance to get in there cleanly.

my 50cents

47 not quite a peep and very close to the wall (either peep q14) or perhaps E2 before it gets enclosed
52 so annoying this move!
59 tempted to atari q8 before defending, the ladder doesnt work for black though
61 mybe try p11 to get out ahead, making light shape

a healthy dose of good shape study would probably help your game lots.
try play nice shapes and good things will happen. dumpings are so ugly, uggghhh