A beginner's journal of little interest

[Bonobo]

BTW, Boidhre, while reading Herman’s thread “Which special situations have you encountered in your games?” I just learnt that the game situation we encountered (i.e. should have encountered) at the end of our (I think) first game on DGS Kaya is called “Golden Chicken Standing on One Leg” … just wanted to tell you, in case you didn’t know the name. I think it’s a beautiful name for such a thing, and I guess after that game I’ll forever remember this shape

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You’re certainly right, Boidhre, it was Kaya, not DGS!

</edit>

[Boidhre]

BTW, Boidhre, while reading Herman’s thread “Which special situations have you encountered in your games?” I just learnt that the game situation we encountered (i.e. should have encountered) at the end of our (I think) first game on DGS is called “Golden Chicken Standing on One Leg” … just wanted to tell you, in case you didn’t know the name. I think it’s a beautiful name for such a thing, and I guess after that game I’ll forever remember this shape

Nah that was our first Kaya game I think. Yes, I'm still kicking myself for not seeing it in the game.

[Bonobo]

Nah that was our first Kaya game I think. Yes, I'm still kicking myself for not seeing it in the game.

Oh, sheesh, thanks, corrected. And stop kicking yerself, buddy, methinks this was a thorough lesson for both of us

[Boidhre]

A horrible game for me, made me feel very weak. I included the joseki I think I should have played. I'd never seen either this pincer or fuseki from white before, so eh, was a bit thrown by the whole thing. I think flattening white's moyo with an approach from the top on the top left stone would have been superior to the large keima approach that I did. Anyway, here's the game: :/



I really need to get out of that jump out reflex to a pincer.

[skydyr]

A horrible game for me, made me feel very weak. I included the joseki I think I should have played. I'd never seen either this pincer or fuseki from white before, so eh, was a bit thrown by the whole thing. I think flattening white's moyo with an approach from the top on the top left stone would have been superior to the large keima approach that I did. Anyway, here's the game: :/

I really need to get out of that jump out reflex to a pincer.

The key to playing pincers by jumping out is to understand that the reason you jump out is so that you can attack one of the pincering sides against the wall of stones you create. Sometimes you press down, sometimes you counter-pincer, sometimes you do something else. In this case, with the elephant-jump/peep white leaves a weakness behind in between the two stones that you might exploit, so you can either try playing there directly or counter-pincering, knowing that white has to spend a move to protect that.

Because of the 5-4 stone, it may be better to attach under the original 3-4 stone and make a base instead, but you still want to attack white back in some way using your stones.

[Bill Spight]

A textbook case.



Main focus:

Jowa says, Don't run.

[Boidhre]

Jowa says don't run was screaming in my head when I jumped out, that's why I was referring to the reflex. I should have tenuki'd not having a good local response in mind. An absolute disaster of a game, and has me feeling very pessimistic about go afterwards but valuable as a lesson about weak groups and linear thinking.

[Boidhre]

I've been struggling tonight, over my horrible misread in that turn based game I posted in study analysis and my decimation at the hands of a 4k, with feelings of depression, anxiety and such and such (note: I'm not saying that I became depressed!). Now, most of this is due to the medication change making my mood very "wobbly" making what would normally make anyone feel a bit glum into a thought cycle that was more damaging (in CBT terms, I went from "I made some mistakes tonight" to catastrophising it into "I'm an utter failure at go." My psychologist set me a task for the month. Opposite action, when I feel disinclined to do something for irrational reasons I'm to make myself do it to try and show those reasons to be wrong. So tonight, instead of just dwelling on being low, I did some problems instead that weren't trivial for me to solve (10-5k tesuji problems). Why does go effect me so seriously? Well, honestly, anything can set me off. Screw up anything and if I'm in the wrong frame of mind it rapidly turns into a thought cycle that is damaging.

So the key for me is:

First, accept that it's fine to feel bad. You screwed up something, it's natural to feel a bit crap afterwards. Allow yourself to feel bad for a while, don't wallow in it but just feel it for a bit.
Second, find ways to show myself that I'm not an utter failure at whatever I failed at. Amass evidence against the idea that I'm an utter failure.
Third, talk about it. I find it helps to be open about these kinds of things. A burden shared is a burden halved and all that.

So I have a method to deal with the downs, I hope someone else can read this post and glean something useful out of it for themselves.

[Boidhre]

Position from a game, where would you respond? (Position has been played out already)



I can only find 5 games with this corner position on GoGoD after the position had played out. I played Q14 which seemed to be the most common response. I'm just curious about why this is played so little and so is my opponent (a friend).

[topazg]

Because White can be split I think - it's a really thin shape to make really. It's a very common joseki with a low approach to a 3-4, but not a common one with the 4-4

[Boidhre]

A free game with a friend:



Had spent the day studying invasion and reduction so lacked my usual cautiousness to my demise.

[Boidhre]

Oh and in happy news my go club will be going twice a week come the college term! I'm very happy about this and about the prospect of new players joining us!

[Bill Spight]

I am impressed with your last game against grooviest. Sure, you were behind after 100 moves, but rather less than one would expect, given the rank difference.

Keep it up!

[mitsun]

In the lower right corner up to move 15, something has gone wrong for B. Do you see the problem? Can you figure out how to get a better result? When something like this happens to me, I know it is time to crack open the joseki book ....

$$
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . X . |
$$ . . . O , X X . |
$$ . X . . O O X O |
$$ . . . . . . O . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ --------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . X . |
$$ . . . O , X X . |
$$ . X . . O O X O |
$$ . . . . . . O . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ --------------[/go]

B is over-concentrated -- too many stones defending too little territory. The empty triangle is a clue that the shape is wrong.

$$
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . 7 . |
$$ . . . 2 , 1 . . |
$$ . 3 . . 6 4 5 . |
$$ . . . . . . a b |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ --------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . 7 . |
$$ . . . 2 , 1 . . |
$$ . 3 . . 6 4 5 . |
$$ . . . . . . a b |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ --------------[/go]

This is one common continuation, when B wants to make a quick solid base. Note that if W plays hane (a), B can counter-hane (b), perserving his eye space.

$$
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . 7 . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . 2 , 1 b . |
$$ . 3 . . 6 4 5 . |
$$ . . . . . . a . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ --------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . 7 . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . 2 , 1 b . |
$$ . 3 . . 6 4 5 . |
$$ . . . . . . a . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ --------------[/go]

This is another common continuation, when B wants to develop faster along the side. In this shape, if W plays hane at (a), and B decides to respond locally (he could also tenuki), B must play the solid connection at (b) to defend his position with a single move.

$$
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . 7 . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . b . |
$$ . . . O , X X . |
$$ . X . . O O X a |
$$ . . . . . . O . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ --------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . 7 . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . b . |
$$ . . . O , X X . |
$$ . X . . O O X a |
$$ . . . . . . O . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ --------------[/go]

In the game, B got the sequence wrong and ended up playing two defensive moves where only one was necessary. In effect, he let W get the nice move (a) in exchange for the nearly useless move (b).

[Boidhre]

I checked Kogo's immediately after the game (only resource I have at the moment, should I get something better? I've been considering it) and saw that I should have played the following:

$$
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . O , X 1 . |
$$ . X . . O O X a |
$$ . . . . . . O . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ --------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . O , X 1 . |
$$ . X . . O O X a |
$$ . . . . . . O . |
$$ . . . . . . . . |
$$ --------------[/go]

When I looked at the result from the game I saw that I gave white a free move to force me into bad shape where I ended up playing the move I should have played anyway. Now W at a is no longer forcing and I think this is a much improved position for Black.

Is my analysis close to correct here?