Life In 19x19

Here is a game that I played and lost badly. Any insight would be appreciated. I don't know that I have a good handle on how to invade or how to deal with invasions.

Moreso than your handling of invasions, what really stuck out to me was how many of your moves were very small, almost worthless compared to other moves on the board. All of these moves were too small: 22, 64, 66, 76 would be bigger at q3, 82, 84, 86, 90, 94, 96, 112, 126, 128 (you can still invade his 3-3 point in the top left!), 132 (even if he ataris there he can't hurt you), 134, 150 simply MUST be at S8, and then that invasion would die. After that, though, you really lost everything. If you can think about exactly what a move does, and not play tiny/worthless moves like most of these, you will do a lot better .

Concerning invasions, 13 is a perfectly valid invasion, so you cannot expect to kill that one. 67 is a hard one to kill as well. Maybe your idea of containing it is best. Onto the next invasion, if move 100 were at H3, I see no possible way for that one to live. The difference between the fourth line and third line can be quite astounding. 200 should have probably invaded his 3-3 point, as that is guaranteed to live, whereas anywhere else it is almost impossible for you to make life. However, you should have invaded that area a long time ago - I'm sure you yourself can see many moves that are much smaller than invading black's area there.

So, for your next games, don't get caught up in one area of the board! If there are only one or two or five point moves left in one area, place a stone in another! Learning to tenuki is a rather critical part of getting better.

Dusk Eagle wrote:... 67 is a hard one to kill as well...

Your best chance was 86 at R5 or S4, keeping him out of the corner. Note how he attacked your invasion in the upper left later in the game.
There are two separate ideas that could guide you here, and either is sufficient; together they are strongly compelling: 1) When attacking, be it an invasion or a group in an open board, drive him toward your wall, and 2) Corners are the easiest places to get eyes, so if you want to kill an invasion, keep it out of the corner.

@DuskEagle: nice avatar!

When I was 15k, I tempted playing some games with the following constraint : tenuki every move ! Although I lost lots of games this way (but won more), I understood some things about sente and gote.

Dusk Eagle wrote:how many of your moves were very small

Something I need to work very hard at. My biggest problem is that I really didn't understand where my big moves were, where I needed to defend, and where I could attack. So instead I just diddled around.

Joaz Banbeck wrote:[ 1) When attacking, be it an invasion or a group in an open board, drive him toward your wall, and 2) Corners are the easiest places to get eyes, so if you want to kill an invasion, keep it out of the corner.

Good advice. Easy to remember and apply.

Thank you both.

Joaz Banbeck wrote:

Dusk Eagle wrote:... 67 is a hard one to kill as well...

Your best chance was 86 at R5 or S4, keeping him out of the corner. Note how he attacked your invasion in the upper left later in the game.

I agree, keeping him out of the corner would be a very good place to start. I was just worried that after blocking the corner, the result gets too unpredictable, hence, "it's a hard one to kill." But, if you were going for the kill, that would be the way to do so.

Joaz Banbeck wrote: @DuskEagle: nice avatar!

Thanks