Life In 19x19

Hello everyone!

I just finished my lunchtime game via my lovely android phone, and although I won, I was dissatisfied with my position by the mid game. I am not horribly satisfied with the sequence in the upper left starting at move 16. Maybe attaching to c14 would be better?

I felt strongly that white's invasion at N11 was an overplay, but I think I failed in punishing it. Pushing it out to the center seems rather vulgar and the wall black develops does not have much use.






Thanks for the help!

18: Make your wall so that the result gives you the best extension. R16.

37: This is a threat against your corner. He can play C2, you block at B2, then he jumps in at B4. You connect at B3, he pushes C5, you must block at D5. Then he slides out with B6 and your group is eviscerated.

46: You have walls. Fight vigorously. Double hane.

Move 16 does feel wrong somehow. The problem, however, I think stems from move 14.
Look at the board at move 14. He has six stones on the board, and five of them are low. All of them are on the other side of the board. Your stones are about half high and half low, and well distributed. You have the superior position if a fight develops.
Therefore, you should make plays that provoke fights ( or that force him to lose points by declining the provocation ). K17 is too casual.
You have a strong right side. Draw power from it. Try J16, or maybe even H17.

29: You have a shiny new wall. Force his weak stone toward it with E17.

In the next few moves, you appear to be trying to use a wall to make territory. This is terribly inefficient. Walls should be used for fighting.

Joaz Banbeck wrote: 37: This is a threat against your corner. He can play C2, you block at B2, then he jumps in at B4. You connect at B3, he pushes C5, you must block at D5. Then he slides out with B6 and your group is eviscerated.

When he jumps in at B4 you don't have to connect at B3, but you can also play B5. He can try to cut your B2 stone by playing B3 (thus connecting to the C2 group), but then you can extend the B2 stone to B1. Now, both the white group at B3-B4, and black group at B1-B2 have 3 liberties, and it's white's turn. But, white needs to spend an additional approaching move because of his weakness at E2 (possible shortage of liberties). White can also try to give atari at C4 and escape, but in this case it does not seem to work because black has the ladder.

Thanks for all the tips Joaz. Very useful insights about mistakes in the way that I perceive the game.