Sunday was the Bar Low tournament in London! It didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped; I decided that I'd be pretty happy if I could win half my games, but I ended up with a final record of 0-5. I didn't keep records of the games, but overall I think I struggled most with the time control. 25 minutes then 25 stones in 5, increasing to 30, 35 and so on felt really brisk, and I often ended up using way too much time thinking in the opening and early midgame, leaving not much thinking for late game.
Games 1 & 2 I was never really ahead, and in the end both of those opponents went on to win all their games. I'm more upset with the latter 3, all of which I went into the endgame if not ahead with a decent winning chance. Game 3, while I was feeling nicely ahead going into endgame, my opponent played a very deep invasion right as my main time ran out and it all fell to pieces in the ensuing complications. Game 4 was a 2 point loss, which really could have gone either way. Game 3 was again annoying, this time I was playing way too fast in the overtimes. Worst moment was after restarting the clocks from counting out overtime stones, I connected a 2 point atari when there were way bigger moves left. Ended up losing by 10.
Still, it was a fun day out, and nice to chat to some other people playing go!
I played a couple more games on KGS tonight and didn't manage to break the losing streak, so I'm feeling a little discouraged at the moment. Hopefully a little sleep will fix that and I can post some sensible analysis soon.
Re: dutchie's journal
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2018 1:47 pm
by dutchie
So after that post, I went on a truly ridiculous losing streak, which must have been well over a dozen losses in a row by the end (counting the tournament). I don't remember how a lot of the games went now, and maybe I'll review them some other time, but I finally broke it on Tuesday and got another win just now! I'll post up both of the games, with a post game review on today's since my opponent stuck around. Any thoughts welcome as always!
Re: dutchie's journal
Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 3:40 pm
by dutchie
Another couple of games tonight. The second had aspects of a thing I've noticed happening somewhat often in my games where I just suddenly end up in the midgame with a bunch of influence and no territory and I do a terrible job of converting it all into points. Any tips and a review greatly appreciated!
Re: dutchie's journal
Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 4:11 pm
by dfan
The first move that looks funny to me is . You need to make a base (and this move doesn't really do anything to Black's group on the left, which is totally alive). Extend to H3; it threatens Black's group as well.
and also don't feel right; you're forcing Black to connect two groups and make territory. The C14/D14 stones were potentially weak; now they're fine. You kind of owe a move at F16 or F17 to finish that pattern off; another big point is O17.
: One usually plays this at J4 and then jumps back to G4, but I don't like this much anyway, since Black is not weak so there's nothing much to attack. If you're going to play in this area I prefer the shoulder hit at L4. Of course your wall is not doing much but I wasn't a fan of its creation in the first place.
Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 4:12 pm
by EdLee
Hi dutchie,
Re: dutchie's journal
Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 6:43 pm
by Bill Spight
A few comments.
Main focus: White should make life difficult for Black.
Re: dutchie's journal
Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 11:02 pm
by Joaz Banbeck
My reflex would be to play B3 at move 19. But I notice that no reviewer suggests it. Any opinions?
Re: dutchie's journal
Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 1:41 am
by Bill Spight
Joaz Banbeck wrote:My reflex would be to play B3 at move 19. But I notice that no reviewer suggests it. Any opinions?
W B-03 - B E-04
W F-03
looks better than the usual sequence, because White threatens B-06.
Re: dutchie's journal
Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 3:17 am
by dutchie
Thanks for the reviews all. Seems like I misevaluated the E3 cut at various points and need to play a little more forcefully.
Ed, 3 as clamp at 4 is maybe better, but still as black has k3 I wouldn't be sure to get a good result. So 2 looks playable to me, at least not easy to refute if it. Also black could play 2 at 4, then white doesn't have the choice of the clamp variation, only this cut one, or just submitting to crawling and taking sente (which might actually be ok).
. You need to make a base (and this move doesn't really do anything to Black's group on the left, which is totally alive). Extend to H3; it threatens Black's group as well.
and 
also don't feel right; you're forcing Black to connect two groups and make territory. The C14/D14 stones were potentially weak; now they're fine. You kind of owe a move at F16 or F17 to finish that pattern off; another big point is O17.
: One usually plays this at J4 and then jumps back to G4, but I don't like this much anyway, since Black is not weak so there's nothing much to attack. If you're going to play in this area I prefer the shoulder hit at L4. Of course your wall is not doing much but I wasn't a fan of its creation in the first place. 
hane is too much, or playable ?
drop is too much...
. )
,