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Jsiegert · Post by **Jsiegert** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 6:49 pm

I'm starting this journal to help mark my progress through the game. My goal is to enjoy the game and the get stronger. Strength is of course, operationalized by the rank system.

Long term goal: Shodan in 2 years.

Short term goal: 18k in 2 months (end of March) Goal Achieved: February 2, 2012
Short term goal: 16k in 2 months (end of March/Beginning of April) Goal Achieved: February 22, 2012
Short term goal: 14k in 2 months (second week of May)

Presently studying:
Kageyama's Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go
Graded Go Problems for Beginners Vol. 2
Learn to Play Go Vol. 1-2

I read frequently here that "Opening Theory Made Easy" is very beneficial to beginners. Any comments on this text would be appreciated.

I typically play at least two games a day. At least an hour each day is spent on studying with an emphasis on tsumego.

I will post at least one game a day. Feel free to comment on any or none of them. Any wisdoms imparted are appreciated.

jts · Post by **jts** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 7:43 pm

Hey jsiegert, good luck on your journal! I don't know what sort of comments on OTME you were looking for, but I like it a lot and I have some notes I took on it in my own (sadly neglected) study journal. They're probably a bit cryptic if you've never read OTME, but you can probably get some of the sense out of them.

Tami · Post by **Tami** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 7:58 pm

Welcome to Go! You`ll find many friends here who will be glad to watch over your progress and cheer you on.

Jsiegert · Post by **Jsiegert** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 8:25 pm

I thought I played certain parts of this game well. However losing my middle group (and consequently failing to capture his middle group) as well as not killing his bottom left group hurt morale. Review will help me sort that out. Intuition says my invasion into the middle should have been a passive aggressive effort to save my stones on the right as opposed to direct opposition. The campaign did seem to keep his focus split though. A catch 22 perhaps.

after superficial review I don't really see how i could have captured the middle without a serious scuffle. However bottom left i could have killed by playing 202 at the vital point instead of connecting superfluously

Jsiegert · Post by **Jsiegert** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 6:58 pm

Today's game.

Completely failed to stop the invasion on bottom right. Hopefully review will elucidate me to my fault in play. Other than that I thought thatI had won. Will have to actually estimate score from now on.

edit: should have invaded the left when I had the chance.

regarding the invasion: Should have connected on the other side.

Numsgil · Post by **Numsgil** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:26 pm

This made me wince. It's an empty triangle.

This is the exact same idea, but 1000% better (only slight exaggeration).

Jsiegert · Post by **Jsiegert** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 6:31 am

Thank you. It's easy to extrapolate how that simple move could have drastically changed the end score. Thank you for pointing it out. I will make an effort to recognize situations in which I might play that "empty triangle"

Jsiegert · Post by **Jsiegert** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:27 pm

Today's game:

Still need to review. However, from memory: not playing the vital point (again) in his bottom group will haunt me. Likewise not realizing the urgency of protecting my middle group. Losing a semeai on the right. certainly more to come.

edit: should have played K2 instead of G2.

Jsiegert · Post by **Jsiegert** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 7:54 pm

Today's game was not ranked. Not of my own choice. This was the only person to join my game after waiting for almost 20 minutes.

should have secured my invading group sooner. wasn't certain of the shape i was going to end up with. I am glad that i got to practice invading. very elucidating.

Jsiegert · Post by **Jsiegert** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:04 pm

Today's game was easily that most enjoyable game I have played.

My opponent was gracious to stay and review the game with me. We both had a good chuckle about the fight at the bottom, concluding that if i had played B1 instead of B2 i would have killed that group and gained significant territory. Likewise we analyzed how to succede with the 3,3 invasion top right.

Also, didn't know you could join someone's game and then negate or reduce the handicap. Again speaking to the graciousness of my opponent, he gave me two stones.

EDIT: It appears that I have reached my short term goal of reaching 18kyu, however a margin of error would be prudent. 2 days seems about right. If I can maintain (or lower) my strength by the end of two days then I will set my sights on 16kyu.

yoyoma · Post by **yoyoma** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:17 pm

Jsiegert wrote:Today's game was not ranked. Not of my own choice. This was the only person to join my game after waiting for almost 20 minutes.

Have you tried automatch? I think you could get a game quicker that way. Also you can have automatch and a custom game offer open at the same time. You could also try accepting other people's offers all at the same time. 20 minutes is a long time to wait!

Jsiegert · Post by **Jsiegert** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:36 pm

yoyoma wrote: Have you tried automatch? I think you could get a game quicker that way. Also you can have automatch and a custom game offer open at the same time. You could also try accepting other people's offers all at the same time. 20 minutes is a long time to wait!

Wasn't aware that I could have auto and custom going at the same time. Good to know.

Jsiegert · Post by **Jsiegert** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 5:52 pm

Today's game:

This game was hard fought. The semeai battle at the bottom center was very interesting. I felt I had a disadvantage going in, but I had to try, unfortunately it didn't turn out well. I will be reviewing possible successful variations. Will need to closely scrutinize this game. By far my most difficult game so far. Very enjoyable.

karaklis · Post by **karaklis** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 12:05 am

Jsiegert wrote: This game was hard fought. The semeai battle at the bottom center was very interesting. I felt I had a disadvantage going in, but I had to try, unfortunately it didn't turn out well.

100 at o1 or o2 would have settled the case for you. The white group had only two liberties left.

A few other ideas:

10: q14 seems to work better with your stones at the right side.

12: defend the corner with r15 and deny white a base. If w extends to q14, attack at o16

38: An idea would be to peep at s12. This threatens to cut off the s14 group and denies w an eye there.

56: Small. White doesn't need to respend there. Get a bigger point, e.g. at f17 or invade at k3.

80: If you want to pull out the two k6-stones, attack the bottom first, e.g. n4. If w responds to that, you can connect at L6, otherwise continue your attack at the bottom.

162: A better option here would be the monkey jump at n19

194: Just connect at e4. You can capture the white stones, because you have an extra liberty at d3.

Jsiegert · Post by **Jsiegert** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 11:20 am

Thank you very much for reviewing!

100 at o1 or o2 would have settled the case for you. The white group had only two liberties left.

In retrospect I can't believe I missed this. I could have made huge gains with such a simple move. More semeai practice is needed. Thank you for pointing it out.

38: An idea would be to peep at s12. This threatens to cut off the s14 group and denies w an eye there.

thereby denying him a couple more points. I remember thinking about this, but decided against it thinking the move would only be beneficial if I intended to try and kill the group. Didn't feel I could. Should have realized denying gains is equally important.

80: If you want to pull out the two k6-stones, attack the bottom first, e.g. n4. If w responds to that, you can connect at L6, otherwise continue your attack at the bottom.

N4 is not something that I would have thought of. I really like what it would have done to the bottom right though. I will remember to look for situations like that in the future.

162: A better option here would be the monkey jump at n19

I might have been able to steal another point in there if I had. hmm.

194: Just connect at e4. You can capture the white stones, because you have an extra liberty at d3.

How did I not see that? between this and my failure at bottom center a deficiency in attention is made palpable.

Again, thank you very much for reviewing my game. It helps and I appreciate it.

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