Very beginning Go player - request for feedback (and intro)

[tammycravit]

Since this is my first post, I guess I should start by introducing myself. I am a very beginning go player - that is, I tried to learn Go mainly by intuition and trial and error a few years ago and quickly became very frustrated. Now, I am starting again, studying more seriously and systematically, but I am still very much a beginner. When I'm not working, my other hobbies besides Go include reading and writing mystery stories, and camping.

Tonight I was playing a game (with SmartGo Kifu on my iPad) and, although I won the game very quickly, I feel like this was more a matter of luck than skill on my part, because I did not feel like I was playing well. I've annotated my game with my thoughts/comments, but would appreciate greatly any feedback others could offer. I still feel intimidated about playing online against people until I feel more solid in my knowledge, and I don't yet know anybody locally who could teach me.

Thanks in advance!
- Tammy

http://tsweb.taylored-software.com/~tlcravit/tlc_smartgo_20110627.sgf

[EdLee]

Tammy, welcome! Something funny happened around move 35, 36... (or is there a problem with the SGF? )

[Bill Spight]

Something funny happened at move 3.

[Joaz Banbeck]

Sure, you 'earned' that victory. You played moves that were good enough to kill his white's big group. You may not understand why your moves were good enough, but you played them, not anyone else.
Not even the strongest of players in this forum fully understand the ultimate effects of the moves that they play. I am frequently surprised by the side effects of some of my moves - both for good and bad.

As both previous posters have observed, the file is somehow corrupted, and we are seeing blatantly illegal or impossble moves. It is very difficult to offer any constructive advice in such a situation.
Please try posting another one.

[tammycravit]

Thank you all for taking a look! I'm not sure what happened to the sgf file - maybe I damaged it somehow while trying to add my comments? It looks as though the file on my iPad has the same problem, but I'll see if it's possible to fix and repost it.

[lightvector]

Attached some comments.

http://lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1054