Life In 19x19

Posted: **Tue Jul 07, 2015 7:24 am**

White's c3 is rather dangerous for him: if you can play q12 in sente to make a ladder work then b3 and all the obvious ataris followed by f3 threatens a ladder, and then with b4 connect you kill the corner (b7 sente to get more liberties after white a2). The timing of the ladder maker is a bit tricky, if after c3 maybe white ignores and plays d6 or g4, and black r12 is not so devastating as white can simply extend to r7. But if q12 is before the corner then you feel a bit bad for an aji keshi when white then plays differently in the corner.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B $$ +---------------------------------------+ $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O . X . . . . | $$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . X O 5 0 . . . . . . . . . . X . . | $$ | . . X X O 8 . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . 3 O O 7 9 X . . X . . . . . X . . . | $$ | . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$Bm11 $$ +---------------------------------------+ $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O . X . . . . | $$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . 6 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . 5 O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . 7 . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | 9 . X O X O . . . . . . . . . . X . . | $$ | . 1 X X O O . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . X O O X X X . . X . . . . . X . . . | $$ | 2 O 4 . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

P.S. I would play k3 at k4 to avoid being so flat.

Posted: **Tue Jul 07, 2015 11:49 am**

skydyr wrote:As a counterproposal to Otakuviking's reasonable suggestions, perhaps it's worth considering that just because the ladder is good for black it doesn't follow that saving the stones immediately is the best course of action. White's not in a rush to fix the aji in the lower left, so black doesn't need to be in a rush to play there.

I don't know, it seems really big but maybe I'm wrong. I have a tendency to fix shapes early, that's why I'm a bad handicap-giver ^^

Also thank you, Uberdude!

I actually thought about the cuts but my feeling was that it would be unnecessary. Splitting White seemed good enough. Though that is also one of my bad habits, thinking something is good enough and not bothering going one step further : D

E.g. this problem:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$Bc Get Strong at Tesuji - Problem 424 $$ | . . . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . . . . $$ | . . . O . . . . . $$ | . X X O . O . . . $$ | . . O X X O . . . $$ | . X O . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . . . . $$ +------------------[/go]

Here is another loss from today. Essentially I made the same mistakes, playing aimless moves with no vigour. Maybe that is my flawed understanding of "plain" moves, maybe I'm incorporating a missunderstood version of Shuei's simple yet effective style into my games but with no positional judgement to back it up. To test this thesis I will stop replaying Shuei's games and go over to new waters: Chen Yaoye.

Anyway here is my short review. Although, like with the last game, I have a feeling what the "bad" moves are, I'm really stuck on finding better alternatives...

Posted: **Tue Jul 07, 2015 1:28 pm**

SoDesuNe wrote:
skydyr wrote:As a counterproposal to Otakuviking's reasonable suggestions, perhaps it's worth considering that just because the ladder is good for black it doesn't follow that saving the stones immediately is the best course of action. White's not in a rush to fix the aji in the lower left, so black doesn't need to be in a rush to play there.

I don't know, it seems really big but maybe I'm wrong. I have a tendency to fix shapes early, that's why I'm a bad handicap-giver ^^

I don't mean to suggest that it's not a big move, just that it may not be the biggest. It seemed to me that, as black, I would love it if I played a big opening move, white spent a move killing off the aji in the lower left, and then I got the next biggest opening move as well. By taking care of the aji, white doesn't really threaten any black groups or form a huge framework.

Black could also consider approaching from above on the left side directly, looking to induce white to fix it and then stabilising the new group or taking another big point. I'm not sure if this is better or worse than coming out directly however.

Posted: **Tue Jul 07, 2015 3:47 pm**

For 25, what do you think about D6?

Posted: **Tue Jul 07, 2015 11:39 pm**

Loons wrote:For 25, what do you think about D6?

I thought about it, but it did not really appeal to me. I guess I just saw White's Tengen stone and that there will be no potential for me in the center. Later on, there was though ^^

Another question is, which follow-up do I have after D6?

Posted: **Wed Jul 08, 2015 4:44 am**

I can hardly imagine not playing there.

It aims at attacking the 'y' area, which I think would be embarrassed to either try to connect to or be split from bottom left. The game move is exchanging x for y, where I am not entirely sure what 'x' achieved.

Its second meaning is that it combines your left and bottom left, which would surely multiply points.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$Bcm25 $$ +---------------------------------------+ $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . O . X . . X . . . . X . . . . | $$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . | $$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . O . . . . . , O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O . . . . . x . . . . . . . X . . | $$ | . . . , X . . X . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . O . . . . . . O . . y . O X . . . | $$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . X . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Posted: **Wed Jul 08, 2015 1:34 pm**

Yeah, you're probably right. At least it establishes some sort of gloabl presence.

Here is a 5H game, I'm White. I tried kinda hard here, taking at least twice the amount of time I usually take but I guess I - again - fixed the shapes too early and made the game "narrow"/too easy for Black. Some comments included.

Posted: **Wed Jul 08, 2015 9:22 pm**

There are a lot of people here who are better than I at giving handicaps, but here are a few comments. Black played solidly, and did OK in the one big fight. Congratulations to him.

But White's play was hardly dynamic. As you know.

Main focus: Avoid taking gote as White in a handicap game.

Posted: **Fri Jul 10, 2015 8:22 am**

Thank you, Bill!

I like your second suggestion for :w5:

very much. Since Black always plays the one-space-high-pincer, I'm sure to explore this move : D

Regarding :w13:

, I assume approaching directly keeps the iniative (C14)?

I guess, I also try to Tenuki a bit more and hope, that I can get away by evading Black's blows. Or give him 4H next time : o

Posted: **Thu Jul 30, 2015 3:17 am**

So, I'm back from the NGA summer camp and it was great! Playing face to face against a variety of equally strong and stronger players is what I'm missing the most in my Go club and is - I think - also the main reason for my slow progress.

I even would have loved to play more scheduled games but don't get me wrong, there was a lot of Go activity still : D (Won the Tsumego competition in the Kyu-group!)

Thanks to the reviews I also got several tips on how to improve. In almost all of my games I made the same mistakes: overreacting when my opponent has some stones on the fourth line (meaning: invading or reducing too early), immediately trying to live locally when I got access to the center and bad judgement, when it comes to Moyos (like giving up around 20 to 30 solid points just to jump into my opponent's Moyo).

So all in all, I need more patience and experience : )

In the tournament I managed to confirm my EGF 2-kyu-rating, losing narrowly against a Shodan and without much chance against a 2-dan, although the game was not awful on my part but he beat me to the big points and I also had a very bad position after the opening.

Too bad I didn't get three wins ot of four rounds because the book prize was an english translation of the Gengen Gokyo in four volumes :o (The new korean one. I got John Fairbairn's Kindle book but when possible I prefer paper books).

Posted: **Sat Apr 06, 2019 5:14 am**

Started working in 2015, finished my studies a long the way and except for our club tournament in 2016 I did not play any Go since 2015... I'm still involved in organising the occoasional Go event and we recently partnered up with the local Chinese language center to offer beginner courses. They also provide the rooms for our upcoming tournament!

I really got into (tournament) chess in 2017 until work made me stop early this year. Although motivation was already in decline because the adult chess meet-ups were... not my cup of tea. I much prefered visiting the youth club because the energy level and the competitve spirit was much higher. If you lost a game at the adult meet-ups there would be a lot of talk about opening lines and variation whereas in the youth club, you would spend maybe a minute on missed tactics on both sides and then go on with the next game. That being said, both started at inconvenient times for me so I couldn't attend regulary.

So in May our club tournament takes place again and I thought it wouldn't be the worst of ideas to dust off a little bit. Played some odd games on KGS and OGS, managed to get to 3-kyu and tackled some GGPfB vol. 1 (so far two wrong and one inferior ^^). I would really like to browse through my recommendations on Sensei's and replay some Shuei and Go Seigen games but we'll see how much time I'll have besides work ^^

I'm really astonished how far Go analysing tools have come, though. Recently downloaded Lizzie and looked at some of my online games: Not as refined as chess programs but still really cool to get a feeling where the AI would have played. Great times : )

Posted: **Fri Apr 12, 2019 1:18 pm**

Played an interesting game against a 1-kyu at our meeting this week.

I misread one corner tsumego, suffered from tunnel vision in a big fight (instead of completely kiling his center group I missed a play which allowed him to trade his center for another corner of mine) and even poorly defended a ko-threat in the endgame resulting in him being able to save a part of his center group - which he pointed out beforehand, so I defended but therefore lost the ko, which was quite big in endgame terms.

No surprise, I lost by about ten points : D

The interesting part was that I tried to play flexible and light instead of fixing the shapes too soon. Allowing cuts where I thought I could handle them and readily sacrifice stones for benefit elsewhere. Not too successfully overall but the approach was quite refreshing. Reading and concentration is not up to par right now but I'm working on it. (I tried to remember the game today but I could not figure out the order of moves in a lot of situations so the game record would have been severely flawed.)

Finished GGPfB vol. 1 with two wrong and one inferior and started GGPfB vol. 2 (already one wrong, made a ko when I could have killed outright). I also solved 120 of 160 tsumegos in a japanese problem book (labelled 9- to 1-kyu), quite a few wrong/inferior though.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$B Black to play and get the best result $$ ------------------ $$ | . . . X . . . . . $$ | . . . . X O . O . $$ | O X X X O O . . . $$ | X O O O . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . . . . $$ | . . . . . . . . .[/go]

This one was quite nice in terms of not only living but also getting the most points out of it.

Posted: **Tue Apr 23, 2019 12:41 pm**

Finished GGPfB vol. 2, almost finished the japanese problem book (151/160), started GGPfB vol. 3, re-discovered goproblems.com (solved 190 problems so far) and Cho Chikun's elementary go problems via OGS. Sadly, I forget on which problem I was (somewhere between 250 to 300, I guess) so I have to start over : (

Attack and Defend also lays ready on the bedside table.

Tomorrow's our club meeting, maybe I can show a good game then!

Posted: **Tue Apr 23, 2019 3:35 pm**

If you rediscovered goproblems.com, you should check out tsumego-hero.com!

Posted: **Wed Apr 24, 2019 1:15 pm**

Thanks! I checked it out and it's nice but I'll stay on goproblems.com for the moment : )

Played an even teaching game against a 6-kyu at the club. Had to resign because I missed/misread several cutting points in my moyo at the end and badly handled a fight/capturing race before where he could kill me. A long way to go to the "glory" of yore : D

Life In 19x19

SoDesuNe paves his road to Shodan

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