Life In 19x19

Managed to find time to bring this third game today!
It was against an opponent I've played twice before and lost to twice before. So very interesting for me!

It was an amazing game with a close result!



And this is the game I had played against him a few days earlier.

Story of this game

1. A very good opening

Up until 34 you play a great opening, using your superior sense of direction.

2. Black's central gambit

With 35, Black embarks on a superficially weird strategy to give you 4th line territory. However, given the whole board it is not a bad idea for him to put all his eggs in the basket of a big centre.

41: despite your good sense of shape, Black has managed to develop a central moyo

42: your idea of reducing it is not bad, but next "the stones go walking" and you allow Black to cut off your reduction stone, cutting through the elephant's eye at 53, then 59

Up until 68, you make good inroads into his centre but at 82 you somehow forgot what it was all about

100: once more, you forget about the central theme
101: Black doesn't and suddenly he has a vast central territory. In an odd sequence, you manage to reduce most of it, until 133. By then the reduction has become small and there are larger endgame points, as you correctly point out.

3. the endgame

I give you an endgame exercise + solutions at 134.

At 172 there was a missed opportunity.

In the end, it's a half pointer. At our level this is a draw. It was a good game and also a good one to learn from.

Suggested reading:

1. Kageyama - Lesssons in the fundamentals, chapter "Stones go walking"
2. Davies - Life & death, chapter "L-group"
3. Bozulich - Get strong at the endgame

Review:

Wow, knotwilg. I'm really grateful that you put that much time in helping me here! I've just looked through the game comments now, I'll do the endgame exercise you made tomorrow when I'm well rested, as well as look through the variations!

I'm very happy about your complimenting my opening. I was quite proud of it and glad you approve

I have read Lessons in Fundamentals (my favorite Go book) and that particular chapter has made a huge impact on me and I've already improved on that a lot. But like Kageyama says himself: read the book, and come back to it a month later.
It's about time for me to do that. I've improved a few stones since I last read it, so it's time to do it again!

Your other suggestions are good. I'll go take a look at the L-group. I've avoided it for now because, sadly, L&D is one of my least favorite topics in Go (I've tried to like it more but it's tough) and I have been neglecting it too much, maybe. I'll catch up!
I don't have "get strong at the endgame" but I do have Endgame from the Elementary Series, is this also a good book, or do you really prefer "get strong"? I can always order more books!
Reason I ask is because I have "get strong at invading", but I haven't really used it yet because it's only problems and almost no explaining. I'm the kind of student who progresses better when I understand more about it.

Thanks again, I'll get back to you tomorrow, when I've looked over everything again and done the exercise you set me!


EDIT: a minor question but I've read that memorizing your own games can even be more interesting than memorizing pro games. I've always thought it might be dangerous because you put "bad" moves in your head when you do that. However, maybe it's interesting to do in order to review it even deeper. For some reason this seems like a good game for me to start with. Would you say it'd be benificial for me to do some memory training and try to memorize this particular game? Or would you say it's rather a waste of time at this point, or not interesting because of the "low quality" of the game?

Ian Butler wrote:Would you say it'd be benificial for me to do some memory training and try to memorize this particular game? Or would you say it's rather a waste of time at this point, or not interesting because of the "low quality" of the game?

The great Bill Spight says: study the way you like most. But if you ask me, memorizing your own games doesn't seem to be the best way to spend your time.

Don't stick too long with any particular game. Learn something from each game and move on. I probably overspent myself in the above analysis but as I've often pointed out in the past: most reviews are done for the sake of the reviewer

Knotwilg wrote:

Ian Butler wrote:Would you say it'd be benificial for me to do some memory training and try to memorize this particular game? Or would you say it's rather a waste of time at this point, or not interesting because of the "low quality" of the game?

The great Bill Spight says: study the way you like most. But if you ask me, memorizing your own games doesn't seem to be the best way to spend your time.

Don't stick too long with any particular game. Learn something from each game and move on. I probably overspent myself in the above analysis but as I've often pointed out in the past: most reviews are done for the sake of the reviewer

You probably did, but I appreciate it a lot

Okay: Leela's suggestions for white's move at 42 (over 250 000 nodes)

M14
H13
E17 (securing the corner)
R8-9 (extending from the corner)
D12-E12


About the endgame exercise: I failed miserably at that. I've never before calculated endgame points and I really don't know how (yet). It's something I'll have to learn.

Ian Butler wrote:Your other suggestions are good. I'll go take a look at the L-group. I've avoided it for now because, sadly, L&D is one of my least favorite topics in Go (I've tried to like it more but it's tough) and I have been neglecting it too much, maybe. I'll catch up!

Tarzan wrote:Bundolo in the language of the apes means KILL.

Actually, I think it's Swahili, but Tarzan was a bit racist. But an even better authority on go, Sakata, advised his readers in The Killer of Go to Kill Sensei's stones. It should be even easier to kill another DDK's stones. Go for it!

a minor question but I've read that memorizing your own games can even be more interesting than memorizing pro games.

I suppose that it can. Narcissism begins at home.

I've always thought it might be dangerous because you put "bad" moves in your head when you do that.

Right you are.

To put it another way, by repeating sequences of bad play, by both you and your opponents, if they are also weak, you are reinforcing those neural connections in the brain. Better to forget them than to strengthen them.

But reviewing your own games is good, even if you do it yourself. Don't just think about the play, play around with variations and look for better plays.