Life In 19x19

So, the last round of the tournament I went to this weekend was against a 6 dan. I held 5 stones, and was feeling confident. I had been getting better and thought that I would stand a good chance.

In short, I didn't play very well but managed to avoid dying up until the endgame before being completely outplayed.
I had a lead (maybe 15-20 points?), and as the game was wrapped up, I saw him take every single big point on the board.
I realized at this point that I am absolutely horrible at endgame.

I thought I would post this on here for two reasons.
1) He commented a little on the game after it was done - this might prove instructional for someone.
2) I need some helping figuring out why the heck I stink so badly at the endgame and what I could have done differently.

On a side note, for those of you who studied the endgame to become better, how did you do it? I'm curious to hear about that too.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to your comments, everyone.

It seems to me that the question in this game is not Black's endgame play. It rather looks like Black resigned before the endgame really started. Black seems to have a great deal of confidence - perhaps a little more than was appropriate for facing a 6-dan? Black was too happy to scatter stones around that begged White to cut. Black has to learn to play more consistently and think more carefully about the potential available to the opponent.

Nevertheless, at the end of the game record, I would have played at least a little more. There was a question yet to be answered on the left side of the board. If Black plays 1 below, giving up the four stones but living in sente, and then plays the hane at 3, is Black clearly losing? This has been sitting around for a long time in the game (better to have played it earlier since it can end up strengthening Black and indirectly protecting the bottom left corner. Black can see whether it is possible to disrupt White's territory and/or pick up some stones. That may make the wedge at "a" good in the (real) endgame. Also there are still some big plays like "b" and "c" that will most likely be sente for Black. I admit that Black's lead has slipped away, but it might be possible to still make White work a little harder for the win!

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc What if Black simply continues the game?
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X c O . . . . . O . . . . . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O . O . . . . O O O X . |
$$ | . . . X . X X X O , X X O O . X X X . |
$$ | . X X . . . . . a . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . O O . O . . . O . X . X X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 . . . . . X . . X . . . X . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . O X O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . . . . |
$$ | . . . O O X . . . X X O . O X X . . . |
$$ | . O . O X X . . . X . X O O . O X . . |
$$ | . O X X . . . . O X O O X O . O X . . |
$$ | X X . . X O O . O O X X X X . O X . . |
$$ | . O 1 X . X O . X X O . . . . . O X . |
$$ | X X O O 2 X O . . . . X X X O . O X . |
$$ | . O X X X O . O X X . . . O . X O O . |
$$ | . . O O X O . O . O X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X O . . . . O b . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]