Life In 19x19

Hello everyone,

I've been studying go for a couple of weeks by watching lessons on the internet and practicing on my own board. I played my first game online today at online-go.com. Needless to say it did not go very well. I played quite fast and make a lot of silly mistakes. I'd like to get some feedback on this game, which finished with me losing by 7.5pts (probably lost by a lot more if he didn't test me on the top left corner at the end). I'm especially curious on how to properly respond to invasion moves such as white 48, 76, etc.

Any comments/feedback is much appreciated!

Hi glacier,

Welcome.

S6.

You save a useless stone. Much better to atari at R8.

You allow this huge move because of your mistake at .

P7.

Tenuki is good; taking the last open corner is good.
However, (more advanced) M3 is also very good -- attack W's weak group there.

This move makes almost no sense.
Look at all the White stones on the right -- What are you trying to do with this move?
W has the option to cut -- but maybe your stone is too small -- W may just tenuki.

, These two moves are ridiculous.

Mistake.

W's moves are not good. At least R12.

Soft. Hane P11.

Wrong direction. J17. You want to push toward your Power -- your Wall.
You profit on the LEFT. Your Wall is NOT for making territory directly.
Use your Wall to attack.

This move is unbearable. Locally, M17.
Globally, tenuki. Example: M3. ( See ).

This move is worse than Pass. You removed 1 point from yourself for no reason !
Verify for yourself there's nothing White can do there locally. See .

K13.

No fighting spirit. N11.

Bad shape for yourself (hitting yourself on the head); wrong idea.

Unbearable. See . Locally, at least N9.

Unbearable.

glacier, The empty triangle is not always bad:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ . . . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . . . .
$$ . . . X X . . . .
$$ . . . X . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . . . .[/go]

However, , , are ALL bad.

107 Pass.

109 Counter-atari H11. Your K11 stone is useless (not important at all) !

102 and 112 are both bad empty triangles.

145 Bad empty triangle. S2.

155, 157 -- You missed a nice combination here.
After 155, Can see you see how you can capture 2 White stones here ?

Hi glacier,

Welcome to Go, again.

General comments based on the above game:

- You're doing fine as a beginner -- continue to study and play.
- Learn to see when the Empty Triangle is a bad shape for you.
- DON'T try to save every single (useless) stone !
- (More advanced) Learn to see important stones, versus UN-important (useless) stones.

- If you haven't played 100 games already, try to make 100 as soon as you can.

EdLee, thank you so much for taking the time to review my game! Your comments were incredibly helpful. I've only played a handful of games so far, any suggestions on which online platform I should practice on?

Hi glacier,

The popular ones include IGS, KGS, OGS, Tygem, etc.;
different people have their own preferences.

Just a quick thought: when I see a move like black 51 I think of the proverb "answer a fool according to his folly and you will become like him." You're opponent is playing silly moves on the 2nd line, also called the line of death. Instead of playing down there as well, consider a move like H16 which adds a lot of pressure to your central control. When you do this, your opponent will have to choose between dying or saving a tiny group in gote. Also, you and your opponent followed each other a lot. This means continually playing in the same part of the board. Always take a step back before placing a stone and examine whether there's a larger threat to be made elsewhere. It's a cool feeling when your opponent plays what he thinks is a threatening move and you don't even give it the time of day.

Btw, his plays in the top left corner did not alter the score. Something you'll need to understand.

Thanks for the tip on the second line invasion. I never saw these moves in lectures so did not know how to properly respond to them in the most punishing way.

Regarding the moves on the top left, I sort of get that the scoring is not impacted if we are placing stones one-to-one in that territory. However, if I choose to ignore one of his moves and tenuki, wouldn't that affect the overall scoring of the area? I would have assumed the overall effect of the move I ignored by passing in this case would have added 1 point to myself?

Also should I have played at K7 instead of passing at the very end? I think we both missed that one.

Welcome!

Some food for thought.

Thank you! This was great!