KGS 18k (me) versus 19k

[Lamb]

Hey guys. This is a game I recently played on KGS that I would really like to have reviewed. I know that I made some mistakes in the upper right hand corner that resulted in my opponent killing off a lot of my stones, but what other mistakes did I make? I actually ended up winning by 7.5 points, but that's really only because my opponent didn't play the endgame to his fullest advantage. I think if he/she did, my opponent would have won instead.

Anyway, here's the game:

http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1924

Thanks in advance!

[lorill]

Someone will probably comment on shape and tactical problems, so i'll take slow moves, with a few questions :

34: what would happen if you don't take ? Can black do anything ? If he extends, are your groups in danger ?
38: does black need to respond ? Can you kill his group if he doesn't, or is he already alive ?
40: protecting this cut point was valuable before, but now that you have H5, and more generally, that you are strong on both sides of the cut, what would happen if you don't protect and black cut ?
90: what did you gain in the sequence from 90 to 93 ?
132: ouch!
137, 139: worse than passing, lost 1 point each. I know this wasn't you, but still, if any beginner reads this, please avoid this kind of moves!
200: two stones are small (between 2 and 3 points here, depending if you retake later or if black connects). G4 is way bigger.
206: what if you connected on the bottom and black cuts ? Are any of your groups in danger ?
208: you need to connect if you want to play there.
214: you got lucky, but still, 208 is wrong. Try to see why.
228: what if black plays P2 instead ? Can you read it ?

There were other things in this game, but I think that if you can avoid moves that don't really do anything, like connecting alive groups, or saving stones that aren't big or useful enough to spend a move, you'll improve quite a lot.

Hope this helps!

[cyclops]

I didn't read Lorill's comments yet. He is much stronger than me so surely his comments are better. I can only hope to add something.
I enjoyed watching your game. For a 18 kyu you played well enough. Sorry that I didn't mention the good moves but be sure I agree mostly with the moves I didn't comment upon. My general advice is to enforce your weaknesses instead of strongnesses, to not answer all his small moves and to play more often in the open areas during the opening. My detailed comments are in the attached file.

http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=1925

[Lamb]

I am very sorry for this really late reply, there's a lot going on right now and I'm sick too so yeah, I'm sorry. Anyway, thanks for all the help you've given me guys, I really appreciate it.

Now to try to answer lorill's questions...

Someone will probably comment on shape and tactical problems, so i'll take slow moves, with a few questions :

34: what would happen if you don't take ? Can black do anything ? If he extends, are your groups in danger ?

Oh, now that I look at that position, I can see that if I played elsewhere and Black extended, he would still be weak since my stones are all around him. So instead of this move should I have taken a big position in the board like K16 since Black's group is definitely alive now?

38: does black need to respond ? Can you kill his group if he doesn't, or is he already alive ?

I don't think Black needs to respond, because if he plays elsewhere and I put the B8 stone in atari, he can play at B7 to make two eyes. However, if he ignores me twice and I capture the B8 stone, then I don't think he'll be able to make two eyes and thus the Black group will die.

40: protecting this cut point was valuable before, but now that you have H5, and more generally, that you are strong on both sides of the cut, what would happen if you don't protect and black cut ?

Hmm, well I don't think I would affected very much if Black made that cut, because I could play at F5, making Black play E4, and then the sequence W E3, B F4, W F2, B F6, W G5, B F7 could be played, after which it looks much better for White.

90: what did you gain in the sequence from 90 to 93 ?

Nothing really lol, I understand that 90 was a terrible move by me.

132: ouch!

Yeah, I think I should have played at P10 instead.

137, 139: worse than passing, lost 1 point each. I know this wasn't you, but still, if any beginner reads this, please avoid this kind of moves!

I'll keep that in mind.

200: two stones are small (between 2 and 3 points here, depending if you retake later or if black connects). G4 is way bigger.

Oh, I see that now.

206: what if you connected on the bottom and black cuts ? Are any of your groups in danger ?

When you say if I connected on the bottom do you mean if I played E3 instead of E5? And by Black cutting do you mean E2 or E5? Sorry, but I'm not sure which moves you're talking about.

208: you need to connect if you want to play there.

Oh, I see that. Black's move at L19 should've been played at O19 right?

214: you got lucky, but still, 208 is wrong. Try to see why.

Yeah I guess I got lucky haha.

228: what if black plays P2 instead ? Can you read it ?

Ah, I see, if Black played P2 after I played S2 then my R1 group would have been killed, no matter what I tried to do.

There were other things in this game, but I think that if you can avoid moves that don't really do anything, like connecting alive groups, or saving stones that aren't big or useful enough to spend a move, you'll improve quite a lot.

Hope this helps!

Thank you very much! It helped a lot!

I didn't read Lorill's comments yet. He is much stronger than me so surely his comments are better. I can only hope to add something.
I enjoyed watching your game. For a 18 kyu you played well enough. Sorry that I didn't mention the good moves but be sure I agree mostly with the moves I didn't comment upon. My general advice is to enforce your weaknesses instead of strongnesses, to not answer all his small moves and to play more often in the open areas during the opening. My detailed comments are in the attached file.

I looked over your review and it was very helpful, thank you!

[cyclops]

I am very sorry for this really late reply, there's a lot going on right now and I'm sick too so yeah, I'm sorry. Anyway, thanks for all the help you've given me guys, I really appreciate it.

Now to try to answer lorill's questions...

No problem, I hope you'll recover soon. In the meantime don't feel obliged to respond.

......
206: what if you connected on the bottom and black cuts ? Are any of your groups in danger ? ...

When you say if I connected on the bottom do you mean if I played E3 instead of E5? And by Black cutting do you mean E2 or E5? Sorry, but I'm not sure which moves you're talking about.

I think Lorill advises you to play 206 at E3 or ( maybe even better ) E2. In that case your bottomgroups are connected and safe. And your leftside group remains safe. So you won't suffer the loss that you suffered in the game. B's cutting was supposed to be at E5 in case you played E3 or E2 instead of E5.

[Lamb]

I think Lorill advises you to play 206 at E3 or ( maybe even better ) E2. In that case your bottomgroups are connected and safe. And your leftside group remains safe. So you won't suffer the loss that you suffered in the game. B's cutting was supposed to be at E5 in case you played E3 or E2 instead of E5.

Oh okay, that makes sense, thank you.