Life In 19x19

Here is a game I played recently. I actually recorded a video of my thoughts while playing which was informative for my self-review, but I'm too lazy edit to out the swearing. In general, I think that the opening went well for me, but I wasn't able to sustain that advantage through the endgame. There are definitely a few slow moves and I underestimated my opponents lower center potential.

I am playing white.

Hi, Calvin!

A few comments. Go to move 111.


Main focus: The endgame is fighting strength.

@Bill Spight

With respect to the game move at 112, I see your point. It's kind of a small-scale double-open skirt, so there is less value in trying to close the bottom. I guess I didn't see it that way in the game. I was doing more of a local pattern matching.

My failure to see C11 is, I think, psychological. I had previously decided (even before move 54) that the C9 and D9 stones were light and could be sacrificed, so I reminded myself for the next few moves after that not to try to defend them. Now, of course, the game changes and the circumstances change, and by the endgame I guess they become useful in a different way. So I need to be sharper in the endgame but also be willing to discard my previous evaluations. I had considered L4 for White 112, but not K5. That's clever to have the ladder breaker follow-up!

I think there is also kind a "weak player's consensus" going on, where a vital point is missed by both players because they each trust each other that it doesn't work, even if it does.

I felt kind of terrible playing this game. Getting into byoyomi around move 88 probably isn't conducive to my best play, but there are still conceptual problems I struggle with that would show in slower games. Any comments are welcome.

Another one, but this one is worse, and shows some of the dangers of not doing a positional judgement.

I will title this: "For the Love of Gote"

I seem to be lacking sufficient sharpness. I played when 'a' was still possible. Still, there are lessons to be learned in not getting into this bad situation to begin with.

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[go]$$B Where is my razor?
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X O O . . . O O O O X . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . X X O O . O X O X X . X X . |
$$ | . . . , . . . X X , X X X . . X O O . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . X O O O O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 1 O . . . . X X X O . a O . |
$$ | . . O . . X . O . . O O X . X O O X . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . X X X X X X . |
$$ | . X X O X X . O . . . O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X O . O . . . . . . O . . O . . |
$$ | . . X X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O X O . . . . . . . . . . . O . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . , . . . . X O O . O |
$$ | . . X O O O O . O . . . O O O X X O . |
$$ | . . X X O X X O . . . . . O X . . X O |
$$ | . . . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I haven't posted in a while, but this is a special case as I played one of Kirby's opponents and got smoked. There is a catastrophic collapse to greed near the last 40 moves or so:

Some of my own thoughts on the game. It hasn't been reviewed by others yet.

After (106 in the game), I started trying to make a profitable attack with . But after , I had some trouble evaluating the position and deciding what to do next. I feel that I had a good postion before but this was hard to handle. Ideas? Maybe I should have just backed off and played 'a' after this. At least that way I don't die. I sometimes get obsessed with attack and then the counterattack is worse.

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[go]$$W Moves 106 to 112
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O O . |
$$ | . . . O X X . . . X . . . O . X O X . |
$$ | . . . O . O X . . , . . . . . X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . O O . . . O X . . . . . . 7 . . . . |
$$ | . X . X O O X X X . . 3 . 6 . . a . . |
$$ | . . X . X X O X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O X . X O O X X O . 2 . . , . . . |
$$ | . O O X . X . O X O . O . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . O O X . X O . 1 . . X X . . X . |
$$ | . . . . . X O X O . 5 4 . X O . O O . |
$$ | . . O . . X . X X O O . . . O . . . . |
$$ | . . . O X O O . X X O . . . O . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . X . O X O X X . . X O O O . |
$$ | . . X O O X . O . . . . . . X X X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

In this game, I got toasted in an early fight. I think for a while I had a decent fight going, and there is always this question of whether even to allow the fight.

In the game in the previous post, I had recalled one of the positions from Viktor Lin's blog where AlphGo Teach seems to recommend different lines than in a number of pro games. You can check the tool or Viktor's blog for yourself, but and aren't so hot here.

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[go]$$W Moves 8 to 17
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . 2 . . . 3 . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . 9 0 . 1 5 X 6 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 8 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Although in the next diagram was a simple variation I know, I did not like this result for white in the whole board:

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[go]$$W Black develops to comfortably on both sides
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . 2 . . . 3 9 . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . 8 . . . . 1 5 X 6 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , 0 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

But the real carnage comes later. After I played , black cut at . I did not defend this earlier but felt that I could handle it. After black cuts at it gets a bit intense, but I'm not feeling that bad as white yet.

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[go]$$W Moves 30 to 39
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . X X . X X X . X O O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . 1 O O O O X 8 O O X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O 2 . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 7 O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 5 9 6 X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

It continues like this, but there's a question of whether would be better at instead. I played the table shape of because I thought that group needed a bit more strengthening.

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[go]$$W Moves 40 to 49
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . X X . X X X . X O O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . O O O O O X X O O X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . 1 . O X O O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . 0 2 X O O X X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 8 7 . 3 6 . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . 9 . . . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

It's hard to know how black will continue, but locally, it seems black may try to get out with .

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[go]$$W possible?
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . X X . X X X . X O O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . O O O O O X X O O X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O . O X O O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X X O O X X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . O . 6 5 . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . 8 1 2 7 O X . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . 4 3 . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Here,looking back, I feel and were too much.

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[go]$$W Moves 60 to 62
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . X X . X X X . X O O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . O O O O O X X O O X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X O O O X O O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . O X X X O O X X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X O . O X . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . O , X O . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . 3 1 2 . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

So was there a way to avoid this fight? Should I have avoided it? At least it was good exercise. Maybe I could have answered with instead of 'a' as in the game.

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[go]$$W Calmer way
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B a . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . 1 X X X . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . O O O X . O O X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Calvin Clark wrote:Maybe I could have answered with instead of 'a' as in the game.

$$W Calmer way
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B a . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . 1 X X X . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . O O O X . O O X # . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O b . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------

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[go]$$W Calmer way
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B a . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . 1 X X X . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . O O O X . O O X # . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O b . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

It may not look that way, but given the presence of is bigger than "a". "a" does not secure the corner and does not even make an eye.

Black "b" is still a problem, OC.

I looked up a few games with this pattern. It looks like in the game is rare and is more common to play as follows or push up at 'a'.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W More common
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . 2 . . . 3 . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . 9 0 . 1 5 X 6 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a 4 . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W More common
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . 2 . . . 3 . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . 9 0 . 1 5 X 6 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a 4 . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

is practically the only move seen (instead of the game move at 'a'.) After this, for white to defend at or 'b' fairly soon is common as is the pincer of . Sometimes the cut is left undefended as I did and the opponent does cut, but those fights can get complex. So I invited this out of fear of playing a slow move.

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[go]$$W
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . 6 . 4 2 X . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . 8 5 3 O X . O O X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . b . 7 . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 . X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , 9 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

In this game, I missed some chances to make it more active. These are my thoughts. No one else has looked at it yet.

Theme for this game: "That which does not kill me, makes me stronger." -Nietzsche.

( Please ignore the extraneous triangle at move 32. It is a typo )