The Wizard Road to 10k (and beyond)

[Potter]

My name is (unnamed) but call me Potter.
I've been playing go for a while now and I average around 14k- 16k on KGS, which is what I play on. I've been reading a few Study Journals myself and I believe that making one myself would help me track my progress and make me want to improve.
It'll be a long and fun road.

I'll post when I play a game today. Any opinions or tips on games or my study record are greatly welcomed! ^^

[EdLee]

Hi Potter, Welcome.

If you haven't heard of Bruce Wilcox's Go lessons,
"Contact Fights," I recommend it. You can google it
or contact Bruce on KGS (username: bwilcox ).




Disclaimer: I have no connection to Mr. Wilcox,
except I bought Contact Fights over 10 years ago,
(my only purchase from him), and it helped me.

[judicata]

Best of luck. Looking forward to the game.

[Potter]

Here's the game I played. It was against a supposed 3d guest on KGS.

http://files.gokgs.com/games/2014/8/22/gfds-Potter.sgf

[EdLee]

Hi Potter,

just extend to D15. That's the local, shared vital point.

you let W get the vital point, in sente.

painful result for B. W's shape is super strong.
Go back and compare the result if you had simply extended
to D15 on . Get a feeling how much you've lost here,
just by missing the basic vital point D15.

not good. If you want to jump out, simply E13 is better.
C3 (3-3) is very big. You get pushed around here,
all because of . Important to study .

the exchange - is good for W.

this move contradicts . If you want to play here,
then play here directly, without the exchange - ,
which made W stronger. Does this make sense ?
After the exchange - , W's lower left corner
is stronger, then you play — this doesn't make sense.

not good.

completely wrong. If you want to fight,
you must first jump out, say, F7, etc.
This move is hurting your C6 group — you are killing yourself, faster.
Locally, the push-thru at E12 is big.

standard bad habit. Locally, just connect.

[Potter]

Hi Potter,

just extend to D15. That's the local, shared vital point.

you let W get the vital point, in sente.

painful result for B. W's shape is super strong.
Go back and compare the result if you had simply extended
to D15 on . Get a feeling how much you've lost here,
just by missing the basic vital point D15.

not good. If you want to jump out, simply E13 is better.
C3 (3-3) is very big. You get pushed around here,
all because of . Important to study .

the exchange - is good for W.

this move contradicts . If you want to play here,
then play here directly, without the exchange - ,
which made W stronger. Does this make sense ?
After the exchange - , W's lower left corner
is stronger, then you play — this doesn't make sense.

not good.

completely wrong. If you want to fight,
you must first jump out, say, F7, etc.
This move is hurting your C6 group — you are killing yourself, faster.
Locally, the push-thru at E12 is big.

standard bad habit. Locally, just connect.

Thank you! I shall interpret these into my game!

[Potter]

I'm going to compete in the American KGS+ August tournament in an hour or 2. I'll post the report of my first game after it happens.

I practiced some Tsumego and Tesuji, turns out I'm fairly good at Tsumego.

I played 2 games that helped me learn; I lost both though.

One I lived where I shouldn't have and felt good, but I messed up on the rest of the board.