Life In 19x19

This was my 14th game as 1d on Tygem and 13th victory (the 1 loss was an oversight, but aren't they all?)

Unlike most of the other games, in this one I didn't feel ahead in the opening. My opponent did a good job in finding the right direction to play. Fortunately he started erring in the later middle game, which is usually my domain

Here's a self review. Any comments are welcome.

Edit: BTW, I'm still waiting for tygem to upgrade my rank. In the meantime, players are refusing to play me or downright scold me with sarcasm like "you have good manners" (then escape). Should I do something?

A couple of comments.

Bill, here's an answer to almost every of your good comments.



In the meantime I'm well into chapter 4 of "relentless" and this book is just about everything:

- it's a pro game commentary all right
- but it's also an overview of modern opening theory, including several corner patterns
- foremost it's a modern version of Davies' Attack and Defence, in my opinion the 1 book every go player should read
- it has a comprehensive glossary of terms
- and last but not least, it has been carefully crafted to contain almost every conceivable proberb and heuristic, backed up by military or philosophical tradition of the likes of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli

If I could find one criticism but rather it's a matter of preference, morevoer one that is in tune with mine: the vocabulary is at times quite challenging. As an avid speaker of languages the richness of the English used in the book feeds my appetite more than it putts me off but I can imagine that go players who are not so keen or proficient at it, will find some of the comments hard to read without a dictionary as a companion.

I still think that is fine (next diagram).

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm14 9 pt. spans
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . 1 . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . O . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

The span on the top side is the same as the span on the bottom side, 9 pts. The wedge on the top side has the advantage of making Black's development somewhat less easy.

As for the one space jump in the bottom right corner, my heuristic suggests the jump towards the bottom.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc Exchange A
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . W . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X . O . . . . . , . . . B . O . . . |
$$ | . . O . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc Exchange B
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . B . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X . O . . . . . , . . . W . O . . . |
$$ | . . O . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Next week I'm on a business trip and ironically this will give me some time to study go.

- Relentless games 3 & 4 plus repetition of the first two.
- As many Hitachi go problems as possible
- One game a day

Question: with 16-1 on my tygem account and increasing coldness among the fellow 1 dans to accept a challenge, should I simply start over again with a new account instead of waiting until the system gives me a higher rank?

Why don't you challenge 2-dans?

(I wish I had your problem....)

Self review. COmments welcome.

Your connection in ko on the right side is only ko if B disconnects correctly. The actual B hane in the game let you connect without ko

mitsun wrote:Your connection in ko on the right side is only ko if B disconnects correctly. The actual B hane in the game let you connect without ko

Amazing ...

Just curious because I'd do it on reflex - in the top right, why do you not immediately make the S16 exchange (after say B23 where it to me looks like he wants to build on the right)? Is it because you want to use the R14 stone differently or because B won't play there yet?

Majordomo wrote:Just curious because I'd do it on reflex - in the top right, why do you not immediately make the S16 exchange (after say B23 where it to me looks like he wants to build on the right)? Is it because you want to use the R14 stone differently or because B won't play there yet?

If Black plays there it is gote.

If I play there, I gain points in sente but it also reinforces Black and weakens my stone.

The right side is very big and I will invade it soon (as I did in the game). I want to keep maximum space and leverage for my invasion, for example by attaching to that pincer, crosscutting or other sabaki techniques, keeping a possibility to suddenly convert Black's wall into a target, using the presence of my pincered stone (and again, this happened in the game).

This potential is worth more to me than a few points in the corner.

If I manage to live in the bottom right, however, Black will find his forces concentrated around S14. If S16 still undermines Black's life, then it should be played immediately. If Black is strong enough to ignore S16, then it becomes a sente endgame play for White.

Figures, thanks! I'm much too keen on making these boundary plays even after I'm settled I think.

Hmm, won't you double rank soon on Tygem with that score? Skipping 2d completely?

Majordomo wrote:Figures, thanks! I'm much too keen on making these boundary plays even after I'm settled I think.

Hmm, won't you double rank soon on Tygem with that score? Skipping 2d completely?

Yeah, it happened. 3d now. Thanks.

Tygem 3d game. Looks like 3d here is not the plateau yet.

http://www.hitachi.co.jp/Sp/tsumego/igo ... ems-e.html

The elementary problem is bizarre. White is dead already, or not?