Life In 19x19

Uberdude wrote:Just a few quick comments:

- I'm not sure g15 was good, how about o4?
- Don't like s9 as it makes black stronger. In the normal Chinese when this happens black already has q14 so there was not so much chance to come in the right side so you don't mind making that area stronger, not you do. o5 instead?
- p7 needed?
- k16 was poor, if o17 harder for white.
- s16 wrong order, r14 could o18 turn and white will have to live in gote (yeah you have clamp but that's small).
- c11 kick?
- e5 soft
- d9????? maybe reduce now, or f16.
- b8 can he tenuki?

For G15, I was concerned about black moving the stone, but it does seem small in comparison.

How would you follow up with O5, assuming black responds? I took P7 later because I didn't want black to build too much strength in sente, but I'm not sure.

Regarding C11, I thought after the kick that black E11 would be annoying, and there would be more aji for the other black stone also. I'm very uncertain about the position, though, as it spirals into many many variations.

What do you recommend instead of E5? Inside shoulder hit? B7? I agree he can tenuki b8 instead and I probably should have reduced directly.

I feel like my go has been very uninspired lately. Lots of passive moves, or blunders I should have seen didn't work with a bit more reading, and a general sense that I lack a plan and the killer instinct.

I'm attaching a couple games for commentary. I've looked over them, but mostly I just see a few places where I played passively, or didn't read very much, and lacking spirit in endgame. I don't get a strong sense of any particular thing that's wrong with my play in general. In the one game, I feel I killed myself with the double hane that was too much, and in the other, with a few passive moves in the lower left that let black live easily without much compensation. Advice, please?

A few comments on the first game.

I like your sequence at , and agree that I felt I was ahead as white around .

Could you elaborate a bit on the situation in the upper right at and ? I'm not sure how you would expect black to play against it or white to follow up?

skydyr wrote: Could you elaborate a bit on the situation in the upper right at and ? I'm not sure how you would expect black to play against it or white to follow up?

After the two space jump at I expect the one space jump to Q-14. That makes both peeps against the two space jump good, so I am afraid that I would then make the side attachment at L-16. Upon reflection, maybe that is better than the jump. True, it strengthens the Black pincer stone, but White is strong in the top left, and it prepares a double approach in the top right.

After the boshi at , if Black plays keima towards the top the side attachment is usual. I expect White to make a base on the right side. If, as I expect, Black plays keima towards the bottom, the pincer at is the key point for the attack, I think. The future is murky, however.

Here's a game I won recently, where I felt my opponent resigned early. I think I would have at least waited it out longer.

skydyr wrote:Here's a game I won recently, where I felt my opponent resigned early. I think I would have at least waited it out longer.

At , when White goes for it, White has five groups none of which has a decent shape. So probably they have to try something: Black has an advantage.

Normally goes at Q7 to cut, I think. Don't get shut in.

The point I really wanted to make is that is the wasteful way. Play at S18 instead. White can't capture without getting cut. This technical point comes up all the time (123 principle in action).

White gets discouraged, answers everything. Fair enough.

Going back: needs to be one to the right to get some momentum. should be P5. is all sorts of bad shape.

For I would try H8 to induce E10 and then extend along the side. ends up playing on a small scale.

is just helpful to Black. Clearly White should deal with upper side as priority. is an overplay: P17 is fine here. goes at L16, but is all wrong. As White I'd be thinking F11, G13 and then M18 to get back in the game. should be one to the left, but now Black should win.

I'm including another game in which I ended up pulling ahead of my opponent at the end, but got off to a terrible start and had a somewhat tense midgame. Some annotations are included.



I suppose my main question is what should I have done instead in the upper left, and whether the general game strategy was sound or just something that worked due to my opponent's mistakes.

At 22 you wrote, "The upper left did not work out as planned, and I felt black was behind at this point."

So, what was your plan? Why did you pick 7, 11, and 17? What did you expect?

I wanted to have some vague sort of playable shape on the left while concentrating on the top with . was looking to concentrate on the top, and so I didn't get sealed into the corner. I considered pushing white along with ataris but decided it was bad play, and also atariing the two stones from the other side, but that seemed to keep me stuck in the corner too.

A very few comments.

I've heard that about Go Seigen and mukai komoku before, but I don't understand why exactly. That white doesn't have the approach backed up by a corner stone seems obvious, but I never found a spectacular pincer strategy to use or anything else that seemed to really make it shine. What was his reasoning behind it, or was there a particular game plan that went with that analysis?

I was in the Nova Chinese New Year tournament last weekend and played three games (plus a disappointing win by forfeit).

I'm not going to go into the games too much, but I've noticed something about my go that is remeniscent of something I think Uberdude said about the team malkovich game we played.

Several times, I put myself in terrible positions by making invasions where I should have just played to make my opponent overconcentrated or played on the other side.

Here are the beginnings of the two games to see what I am talking about:

It's been a while since I've posted in here, since I haven't been playing as regularly of late. I'm attaching a game I lost, but in which I felt I played fairly well, along with a self-review. I felt behind for much of the game, but in the end, I think it turned out okay. I certainly lost by less than I expected when the group got cut off.

Another close loss from DGS:



I've made some comments in the game, but would appreciate any insight into the points raised or other things that stand out.