Oversights and vague reading

[singular]

It's not just me, is it? Today I played a game and from the middle until the end I 'saw' an opponent's large group as dead when it wasn't. This was a clear case of two liberties on a group of mine he needed to capture in order for his to live. I 'saw' my dead group as part of my putative killing group. I'm surprised my opponent didn't catch on to my strange behavior. It's privately embarrassing nonetheless. . . . I cottoned on to it in the endgame and my heart and brain sank.

I was reading that other thread about not playing due to anxiety. Someone made a good point that the anxiety is often not due to potential losses but rather fear of mental vagaries such as this. While I enjoy just taking the plunge and playing regardless, these kinds of confusions happen to me all the time. I mean, every single game, there's always some ridiculous oversight. I always harbor an embarrassment.

My question is, does this lessen with overall improvement, or am I doomed to have a gaping hole in my pattern recognition no matter how much better I get in other ways? I'm wondering if there are general trends.

Does anyone have any good oversight stories to help me feel better?

On a related note, I misread constantly, too. It's gotten to the point where I view each game as a war on vague ideas. I'm so much worse at reading in-game than when watching the games of others or doing problems. Uh, is this normal?

I'm 9k by the way.

[Joaz Banbeck]

I've seen a 6 dan misread a 100+ point fight. ( viewtopic.php?p=27541#p27541 )

[Ortho]

It's not just me, is it? Today I played a game and from the middle until the end I 'saw' an opponent's large group as dead when it wasn't. This was a clear case of two liberties on a group of mine he needed to capture in order for his to live. I 'saw' my dead group as part of my putative killing group. I'm surprised my opponent didn't catch on to my strange behavior. It's privately embarrassing nonetheless. . . . I cottoned on to it in the endgame and my heart and brain sank.

I was reading that other thread about not playing due to anxiety. Someone made a good point that the anxiety is often not due to potential losses but rather fear of mental vagaries such as this. While I enjoy just taking the plunge and playing regardless, these kinds of confusions happen to me all the time. I mean, every single game, there's always some ridiculous oversight. I always harbor an embarrassment.

My question is, does this lessen with overall improvement, or am I doomed to have a gaping hole in my pattern recognition no matter how much better I get in other ways? I'm wondering if there are general trends.

Does anyone have any good oversight stories to help me feel better?

On a related note, I misread constantly, too. It's gotten to the point where I view each game as a war on vague ideas. I'm so much worse at reading in-game than when watching the games of others or doing problems. Uh, is this normal?

I'm 9k by the way.

This happens to me too, pretty routinely, and I also assume it's not normal and get really unhappy about it.

[ilFuria]

It's not just me, is it? Today I played a game and from the middle until the end I 'saw' an opponent's large group as dead when it wasn't. This was a clear case of two liberties on a group of mine he needed to capture in order for his to live. I 'saw' my dead group as part of my putative killing group. I'm surprised my opponent didn't catch on to my strange behavior. It's privately embarrassing nonetheless. . . . I cottoned on to it in the endgame and my heart and brain sank.

I was reading that other thread about not playing due to anxiety. Someone made a good point that the anxiety is often not due to potential losses but rather fear of mental vagaries such as this. While I enjoy just taking the plunge and playing regardless, these kinds of confusions happen to me all the time. I mean, every single game, there's always some ridiculous oversight. I always harbor an embarrassment.

My question is, does this lessen with overall improvement, or am I doomed to have a gaping hole in my pattern recognition no matter how much better I get in other ways? I'm wondering if there are general trends.

Does anyone have any good oversight stories to help me feel better?

On a related note, I misread constantly, too. It's gotten to the point where I view each game as a war on vague ideas. I'm so much worse at reading in-game than when watching the games of others or doing problems. Uh, is this normal?

I'm 9k by the way.

I think this is absolutely normal and part of the growing process.
I misread so many captures/easy good moves/... in my career!
E.g.: resigned a couple of times while ahead of more than 50 pts, made tenuki instead of killing 20+ stones...

[RobertJasiek]

Such oversights are beginners' mistakes, but occassionally also strong(er) players make them.

[tchan001]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt1FvPxmmfE

[sefo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt1FvPxmmfE

hahaha
That's beautiful. Pros are humans as well!

(note the smile just after putting down the stone! And they have more at stake in a pro game than we have in some random online game)

[HermanHiddema]

This has a few gems as well: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=439

[Bonobo]

Happens to me all the time—much to the joy of my opponents in the local Go group and in the local school’s Go workshop which I instruct … all of them playing black (with a handicap of 4–5 on 13x13). I used to tell them never to take White’s moves as the “Hand of God”, I needn’t tell them anymore

[xed_over]

and of course, one of our newly minted US pros lost his first round game in the US Open due to a 50+ point misread

[singular]

Thanks for the tales of woe! This thread just popped up, too, with some nice ones: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=439

Unfortunately it looks like I'm stuck with my own brain. It seems any reassurance I may get from the oversights of others is really a thin curtain over the likelihood I'll never curtail my own.

[tchan001]

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 5:57 pm

This has a few gems as well: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=439

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 10:36 am

Thanks for the tales of woe! This thread just popped up, too, with some nice ones: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=439

Unfortunately it looks like I'm stuck with my own brain. It seems any reassurance I may get from the oversights of others is really a thin curtain over the likelihood I'll never curtail my own.

What's the name of this thread? Oversights and vague reading

[daal]

My question is, does this lessen with overall improvement, or am I doomed to have a gaping hole in my pattern recognition no matter how much better I get in other ways?

I'm pretty sure that it does get better. I mean, it doesn't happen to me half as much as it did when I was 9k, and I'm sure that I was much worse than you or anybody else ever was. If you feel shocked that you're able to miss such an obvious fault in your plan, then that's a good sign. After a while, you'll make sure that your surrounding groups are more alive than his surrounded one, and soon you'll be making brand new blunders and banging your head about them instead.

No pain, no gain.

[singular]

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 5:57 pm

This has a few gems as well: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=439

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 10:36 am

Thanks for the tales of woe! This thread just popped up, too, with some nice ones: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=439

Unfortunately it looks like I'm stuck with my own brain. It seems any reassurance I may get from the oversights of others is really a thin curtain over the likelihood I'll never curtail my own.

What's the name of this thread? Oversights and vague reading

I clicked on it but must have skimmed and then didn't recognize it again. Go, more than a game. We're breaking the fourth wall here . . .