Life In 19x19

Hey, haven't posted a game here in a while so I figured I might as well. This was a game I played at my school's club a few days ago against a chinese student. I'm white.

Jedo wrote:Is this atari bad?

Yes. is wrong order; correct is first atari at C5 (= ) -- which is sente --
then atari at F5, and W ends in sente. (That is, switch the order of and .)
In the game you ended in gote, huge difference.

Interesting game! Let's write up some ideas of mine...

On the lower left joseki: EdLee's comments are accurate.

- 30 and onwards: did you consider making shape with E17? If you play that, most likely black will not reply submissively and make a ponnuki in the corner. But then you get still get decent shape as compensation. Alternatively, just drawing back with C16 might be good as well here. But I think you should do something to make shape here, and I agree that J17 doesn't seem to be the way.

- 43 and 51: very bad moves, black lets you off the hook. I would've ataried at F16 instead of 43.

- 52: isn't this too slow? How about D11 instead? That's a vital point for destroying black's shape.
- 54: maybe at D11 first??
- 62: maybe this is too dull? How about B2 followed by C11? Somehow something must have gone wrong in this sequence because black gets a very good result...

- 88: bad shape because of the gap it leaves behind. O10 looks like better shape to me, much less bad aji.

The worst mistakes (IMO) of this game are:
- 127: black must defend her stone, otherwise white connects everything!
- 128 and onwards: you must take the ponnuki at once!
Connecting everything is really big in this kind of shape! Imagine what happens if black defends the stone at 139. Everything is connected, that's what matters. Go is a game of cutting and connecting. For example, if you take the ponnuki at move 128, suddenly points like K10 start to look dangerous for black. This is because after taking the ponnuki white is strong and connected

30: As I recall, without the C17/C18 exchange, joseki is the pincer at C11. Indeed, either pincer works well with your strength in the lower left, but C11 has the additional advantage that in some lines you can slip under with C13.

There is also tewari analysis which gives you a suggestion of C11. As you probably know, in the mixed three space extension, there are three recommended invasion points, 'a', 'b', and 'c' in this diagram:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . a d c O . . .
$$ . . . O . b . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . . . . . .
$$----------------------[/go]

...but the high middle invasion at 'd' is usually considered ineffective, because the defender can play like this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . 8 1 4 O . . .
$$ . . . O 5 2 3 . . . .
$$ . . . . 7 6 . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . . . . . .
$$----------------------[/go]

...or different sequences which lead to similar patterns with the same result: the defender stays connected and the harder the invader tries, the more stones he loses.

If you transfer that logic to move 30 in your game, it looks like this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ | ------------
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . X . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . O . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . . f X . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . . O . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .[/go]

The sequence is different, but the potential is the same: you are threatening to play at 'f'. ( Black's 3-4 stone does complicate matters for both sides, so the reading may get tricky, but the idea still holds )

Actually, Jedo's move at 30 seems more common.