Life In 19x19

This is a game I played for the ASR league recently. I felt really good about the way I played until the late middle game, after which the game seemed to fall apart. Of particular interest to me is when the bottom left corner should be secured from the seki that resulted, and weather my strategic thoughts during the opening and middle game were valid, and where they might be mislead. Thanks!

You generally seem a bit too relaxed. It's perhaps more common for people to be over aggressive and overplay and deny their opponent any territory (Kirby, I'm looking at you!), but here you let your opponent get some thick solid territory, which was ok as you built your own nice thing, but then when he came in you were too soft and let him ruin too much of it and you couldn't then inflict equal damage to his territories. Also a few specific comments:
-e2 was double sente and you had a chance to get it
-h16 was indeed big because it makes k16 weak: W can't actually connect to it even if he answers. So it increases your territory and liberties in sente and then you can do your gote corner move if you want and think about cutting later or otherwise using the aji.

I think Uberdude is correct. You do not seem to imagine your opponent's stones as objects of attack. As you noted in the game file 77 should have attacked the right side stones. But also...

In the game you responded to White's invasion with 'a'. You can't do that! Try 1, or 'b', or 'c', or even 'd'.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Whatever you do, don't play 'a'!
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X X . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O O X X O . O . d b . . X . . . |
$$ | . X O . . O O . . . . c 1 W . . X . . |
$$ | . X X O O . . . . . . . . . a . . . . |
$$ | . O O X . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . . X . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . O X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O . . . . . O . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O . . |
$$ | . O O . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . X X O . . . . . . . . X O O . X . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . X . . X X . X . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . , . . O X . , X . . |
$$ | . . X X O . . . . O . . O . O X . X . |
$$ | O O X O O . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . X X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

In the game you played 'a' below. This would only make sense if it were some type of long-range attack on the White right-side stones. It wasn't. So do something else instead. What would White have done if you cut at 1? The two cuts at 'b' and 'c' mean that White is not going to get out of this situation without significant damage.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc What does White do here?
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X X O . . . . O O X . . . . |
$$ | . . X X X . . O . . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O O X X O . O O O X X . X . . . |
$$ | . X O . . O O . . . . X X O . . X . . |
$$ | . X X O O . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . O O X . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . X . . X . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . a , . . . . O X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O . . . . . O . . X O . . |
$$ | . . b 2 4 . . . . . . . . . O . O . . |
$$ | . O O 1 3 5 . . X X O . O . . O . . . |
$$ | . X X O . . . . O X . . X O O . X . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . O X . . X X . X . . . |
$$ | . . X O c . . . . O . . O X . , X . . |
$$ | . . X X O . . . . O . . O . O X . X . |
$$ | O O X O O . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . X X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

In the game White played 1 and 3 as a standard tesuji to make an eye along the side. But that only works if 3 is sente. However, here the very strong Black position at the bottom is the signal that 3 can't be sente. Capture 1! That means no eye for White and more points for Black.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc Think about the alternatives
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X X O . . . . O O X X X . . |
$$ | . . X X X . . O . . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O O X X O . O O O X X . X . . . |
$$ | . X O . . O O . . . . X X O . . X . . |
$$ | . X X O O . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . O O X . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . X . . X . . X . . X . 2 . |
$$ | . . . X . O X . X , . . . . O X X 1 . |
$$ | . . . . . . O . . . . . O . . X O 4 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O . . |
$$ | . O O . . . O X X X O . O . . O . 3 . |
$$ | . X X O . . O . O X . . X O O . X 5 . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . O X . . X X . X . 6 . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . O . . O X . , X . . |
$$ | . . X X O . . . . O . . O . O X . X . |
$$ | O O X O O . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . X X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

In the game White cut with the marked stone and you surrendered with 2. Don't do that unless you have read out the alternative. The cut is unreasonable. Just kill it with 1 and 3. White tries extending the liberties of the cut stones? Calmly connect with 5, forcing 6, and 7, forcing 8.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc What does White do here 2?
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X X O . . . . O O X X X . . |
$$ | . . X X X . . O . . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O O X X O . O O O X X . X . . . |
$$ | . X O . . O O 8 . . . X X O . . X . . |
$$ | . X X O O . . 7 X . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . O O X 5 3 1 . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 6 O . X W 2 4 . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O O O X . . X . . X . . X . X . |
$$ | . . . X . O X . X , . . . . O X X O . |
$$ | . . . . X X O X . . . . O . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . O . O O . . . . . . . O . O . O |
$$ | . O O X . . O X X X O . O . . O . O . |
$$ | . X X O . . O . O X . . X O O . X X . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . O X . . X X . X . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . O . . O X . , X . . |
$$ | . . X X O . . . . O . . O . O X . X . |
$$ | O O X O O . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . X X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Uberdude wrote:You generally seem a bit too relaxed. It's perhaps more common for people to be over aggressive and overplay and deny their opponent any territory (Kirby, I'm looking at you!)...

I just noticed this comment. I'll try to be careful with that.

Thanks for the insight ez4u and Uberdude. It looks like my pendulum has swung from greedy fiend to total pushover. I think I have been trying to play calmly and simply to avoid overplays and needless complications. Somehow that translated to "play slackly" in my brain. I had just finished re-reading attack and defense too...