Life In 19x19

Hi everyone. This is a recent game I played on KGS that I technically won on time even though as far as I can tell my opponent could've just passed and won (I've added the scoring stage to the SGF for review purposes). I've gone through and commented on some of the mistakes I can see but am hoping to find out what else I'm doing wrong--I think I got too engrossed in the fight at the top, but am not sure exactly what to do differently. Any advice?



Thanks!
Logan

You played pretty well, but blundered.

Tesuji, tsumego, and reading.

Thanks very much for the review, that was quite helpful.

Hopefully this is just a pointless repetition of what Bill said. (Edit: Nope )

Thanks! I seem to have an aversion to capturing stones in fights for some reason...need to work on seeing those (e.g. the ladder that Bill pointed out). To the tsumego!

loganmhb wrote:Thanks! I seem to have an aversion to capturing stones in fights for some reason...need to work on seeing those (e.g. the ladder that Bill pointed out). To the tsumego!

It's not really a tsumego thing. It's more, there's a cutting stone there that splits either a strong group and a weak group or two weak groups. Such a stone, or group of stones is a very big target for you normally and if you can see a way to kill it or them it's normally worth doing. The converse is also true, don't leave your cutting stones be open to being captured when possible, save them when you can*. How to kill or save the stone(s) is where tsumego come in, i.e. learning different tesuji and similar and doing problems which help you spot them faster, but developing the awareness of cutting stones and their importance comes first.


*insert a bunch of caveats about when it's worth doing here

You have received some complicated advice from others. My suggestion is to keep it simple, if there is a way to preserve an advantage by doing so. After the cut at move 30, W has a huge advantage in the local fight. Let's see if we can find some simple ways to profit from the attack without getting into an overly complicated fight.

in the game is fine, but leads to a difficult fight. Consider instead simply pressing at K16. If B pushes through and cuts, you can kill, as in the game. If B extends to K17, answer simply at J16, keeping B confined with no weakness. If B pushes again at J17, either hane at H17 if your reading says you can kill (note that the F17 stone becomes very useful now), or answer safely again at H16. Maybe B can get a small life in gote, but the result is still good for W.

is clearly aiming at the L14 wedge. The game move is an aggressive response and is objectively good, but simply playing K14 to immobilize the three B stones would be much simpler. I think this gives W more than enough territory to win.

is walking a tightrope with the L14 wedge. I would play N13 to capture the important B stone and eliminate all bad aji. This would put W firmly in control of the game, with little chance for a B comeback.

looks great to me -- an honest move which resolves the situation clearly in W favor. There should be no way for the surrounded B stones to live after this. B can get some compensation with a hane at M10, but even so W has a big lead.

If W neglects this play, what happens if B plays hane at K18 and N18 (gaining a liberty), then comes back to wedge at L14? Ouch.

was the losing move in this fight. This move loses a critical liberty and is not necessary, as B cannot get an eye around here. Simply hane at H18, connecting safely to the group to the left. Live and let die.

@Boidhre - point taken. In several instances I think I played the way I did because I did not see a way to capture/save cutting stones (hence, tsumego) but I also wasn't paying enough attention to their function, I think.

@mitsun - Thank you!