It's been a while since I last uploaded some games. I'm playing slightly stronger opponents now, and dropped the 2 handicap stones against the mid-level kids. This is good practice and quite humbling, as one or two wrong or slow moves mean dead groups. Below you can find two of those massacres. The first is a game with a bad opening for me, the second one, with a good opening.
(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2]
RU[Chinese]SZ[19]KM[7.50]
PW[Ma Dong Yuan]PB[Hushfield]RE[W+Resign]
;B[pp]
;W[dd]
;B[pd]
;W[ep]
;B[cp]
;W[dn]
;B[cn]
;W[cm]LB[dm:A]C[I'm still working on the star point joseki in my joseki dictionary, so I had no clue to handle approaching 5-4 point. In a game I played online a couple of days ago, it turned sour as well. I should maybe skip ahead to have a quick peek at this one. The crosscut at A is joseki.]
;B[bn]
;W[dm]
;B[eq]
;W[fq]
;B[dq]
;W[fp]
;B[fc]LB[kp:B][mq:A]C[The wrong direction. Should limit white at A or maybe even as far as B]
;W[df]
;B[jd]
;W[nq]
;B[qn]
;W[jp]C[White's joseki choices work well together. Black should not have let this happen.]
;B[qf]
;W[pb]
;B[nc]LB[nb:D][oc:B][pc:C][qc:A]C[Again, a joseki mistake. I don't feel too bad about those happening, I'm studying joseki every day, so eventually I'll know the right responses. And making wrong ones in game are a good way to gain some more joseki knowledge during the review.
There are joseki moves at A-D. As you can see I was standing only inches from the darts board and the dart still managed to fly in the bartenders eye instead.]
;W[qc]
;B[qd]
;W[rd]
;B[re]
;W[rc]
;B[pj]LB[ob:A]TR[nc]C[Black got away reasonable well with the marked move. Before playing here, black should play the forcing move at A to guard the upper side.]
;W[db]
;B[pr]
;W[no]
;B[nm]
;W[jf]
;B[hd]
;W[hf]
;B[ij]
;W[kj]LB[gj:A]C[Probably an overplay by white. Black went in a bit on the deep side, but white can't reasonably expect to kill the invading stone. Jumping to A was Yan Laoshi's suggestion.]
;B[ig]
;W[if]
;B[ki]
;W[li]
;B[kh]
;W[jj]
;B[lh]LB[ii:A][bl:D][lm:B][nr:C]C[The losing move. Black should play A, as it's the urgent point for both sides in this shape. Afterwards, white will be reduced a lot. And because there are more openings marked B-D, black might reduce enough to win the game.]
;W[ii]
;B[ih]
;W[hi]
;B[gh]C[Overplay. Doesn't work.]
;W[hh]
;B[hg]
;W[gg]
;B[gf]
;W[fg]
;B[gi]
;W[jh]
;B[hj]
;W[ji]
;B[im]
;W[km]
;B[di]
;W[gj]
;B[fj]
;W[gk]
;B[fk]
;W[ik]
;B[gl]
;W[hk]
;B[fn]
;W[do]
;B[eh]
;W[bj]
;B[eg]
;W[ef]
;B[fh]
;W[ff]
;B[dk]
;W[cj]
;B[dj]
;W[el]
;B[fl]
;W[ch]
;B[jn]
;W[kn]
;B[em]
;W[dl]
;B[gn]C[Black is alive, and the game is still playable]
;W[mh]
;B[nr]
;W[mr]
;B[oq]
;W[mq]
;B[ec]
;W[dc]
;B[le]
;W[jo]C[This is a valid threat against the group, but I got distracted in didn't check to read if the eye was still there.]
;B[er]
;W[en]
;B[fm]
;W[hm]
;B[hl]
;W[hn]
;B[ho]
;W[in]C[I would have loved to play out the endgame as practice, but black died big and there was no point.
In conclusion: the fact that I didn't know most of the joseki that should have been played in this game didn't matter, the life and death of a big group did. I managed to live, then died anyway. So: more go problems.])
(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2]
RU[Chinese]SZ[19]KM[7.50]
PW[Hushfield]PB[Amy]RE[B+Resign]
;B[dp]
;W[pd]
;B[dc]
;W[pp]
;B[ci]
;W[fq]
;B[cn]LB[dn:A]C[The proper move for black in this fuseki is to play at A.]
;W[jp]
;B[qf]LB[nc:A]C[Not the right direction, black should approach at A.]
;W[qh]
;B[of]
;W[nd]
;B[pi]
;W[qe]
;B[rf]LB[nc:A][qi:B]C[This is playable when white's extension is at A. Now, the joseki move is at B.]
;W[ph]
;B[oh]
;W[qi]
;B[pj]
;W[qj]
;B[pk]
;W[ql]
;B[og]LB[qc:A][om:B]C[This is slow, because if white cuts here, black can take away the corner territory with A, and live that way as well. Black should either play around B or tenuki to play another big point.
Yan Laoshi judged the opening "very good for white". In game, I thought it was slightly better for white, but not much. At this point, however, I started making overplays. ]
;W[gc]LB[gc:1][jd:3][de:2]C[White's goal is easily spotted, and black doesn't have to go along with it. Because the upper left is not as safe as it looks, a splitting attack seems like a good plan for black.]
;B[jc]
;W[ge]LB[de:A][je:B]C[Makes miai of A and B. ]
;B[je]
;W[de]
;B[ce]
;W[cf]
;B[cd]
;W[df]
;B[jg]LB[ec:C][qc:A][re:B][np:D]C[At this point I thought for a long time about what to play. The options I considered are shown from A-D. Would you pick one of these moves and why? Or would you propose a move E instead, and why? You can find Yan Laoshi's followup in the variation.]
(;W[qc]
;B[hd]
;W[gd]
;B[hi]
;W[ec]
;B[eb]
;W[dd]
;B[db]
;W[fb]LB[ei:A][cj:B]C[This is small. It would be better to move out at A, which also threatens the attachment at B.]
;B[ed]
;W[fc]
;B[ff]
;W[bc]C[Overplay.]
;B[cc]
;W[bb]C[Further overplay.]
;B[bf]
;W[fe]
;B[hb]C[Overplay by black.]
;W[bg]
;B[be]
;W[ch]LB[dh:A]C[This is not good shape. Better would be to jump at A]
;B[bi]
;W[eg]
;B[dh]
;W[gg]
;B[gf]
;W[hf]
;B[hg]
;W[fg]
;B[he]
;W[if]
;B[ig]
;W[ei]
;B[di]
;W[fi]
;B[eh]
;W[gi]
;B[fk]
;W[jf]C[I wanted to create more cutting points, but the black thickness makes sure that any cut here is an absolute overplay. Yan Laoshi did not hesitate to call this the losing move.]
;B[kf]
;W[ef]
;B[gf]
;W[ff]
;B[ie]
;W[gf]
;B[hj]
;W[ek]
;B[el]
;W[dj]
;B[fh]
;W[gh]
;B[dl]
;W[bk]
;B[bh]
;W[hh]
;B[ii]
;W[ih]
;B[jh]
;W[ji]
;B[ke]
;W[ki]
;B[kg]
;W[gj]
;B[hk]
;W[gk]
;B[gl]
;W[hl]
;B[ik]
;W[gm]
;B[fl]
;W[kl]
;B[il]
;W[hm]
;B[kk]
;W[lk]
;B[kj]
;W[lj]
;B[jj]LB[li:A][jl:B]C[Black has miai options by cutting at A or living at B. White is dead and resigns the game here.
It's strange how game reviews work here. I thought I was about to get scolded my reading is poor and I need to do more problems, but instead Yan Laoshi emphasized a couple of times the opening was really good for white. Perhaps the do-more-problems part is starting to get obvious
])
(;W[rd]
;B[ed]
;W[ff]))
These are just two games, but I've played many more and lost about all of them, except for the games against Andy, a beginner. The concept of beginner is really weird for European standards, by the way. His direction of play and evaluation of the value of moves is almost non-existent. However, he can read quite well, and will not let you get away with overplays inside his sphere of influence. Although he sometimes still misses sneaky moves that cut off some of his stones, I would say his reading is much, much better than most European beginners. I think the study regimen is mostly responsible for this: he plays less than the other kids, and has to do many more problems. I would love to post a game with him, but alas, still cannot remember the games I played with him.
I think one of the main reasons the games are getting worse, is that I'm playing a bit faster. I'll focus on taking enough time to think about each move again, and force myself to read ahead, even with moves that seem no-brainers. Probably, I should read ahead especially in those cases.
On the plus side, the problems are going better and better. I've done 1298 problems since I got here 17 days ago. That averages to about 76 problems per day, which is well below the standard of 100 problems a day the students set themselves here. I'll work even harder at life and death in the coming days, but am enjoying the problems more and more. The book I'm currently working through is:
围棋经典死活3600题(初级)The problems are for the most part rather easy, but they manage to really drill home certain tesuji for life and death, that speeds up the recognition in reading.
