Life In 19x19

A game I played today against a 7 kyu.

Hi there! I'm only slightly stronger than you, so take this with a grain of salt.

28: Doesn't seem to do enough. If you're concerned about the cut, E5 protects both.

36: Attaching seems odd here. It adds a little to your top left, but it gives his stone a lot more help. I would prefer a one-space jump from either side, or a cap. Really, anything but contact. To be honest, I might have taken O6 instead, it looks pretty darn huge, and he can't settle in one move.

40: This move does little besides forcing him into the west, autoreducing you.

58: Wrong area, this is small even if you get something for it. O6, L15, Q10 maybe even go crazy and try R9 or something.

78: This move is small, and induces S2, which is bigger for both players. Better to force him to connect under while taking points.

96: Saving one stone might not be worth the risk to the group as a whole. I'd consider jumping instead.

162: Small

Just my thoughts.

Chew Terr wrote:Hi there! I'm only slightly stronger than you, so take this with a grain of salt.

28: Doesn't seem to do enough. If you're concerned about the cut, E5 protects both.

36: Attaching seems odd here. It adds a little to your top left, but it gives his stone a lot more help. I would prefer a one-space jump from either side, or a cap. Really, anything but contact. To be honest, I might have taken O6 instead, it looks pretty darn huge, and he can't settle in one move.

40: This move does little besides forcing him into the west, autoreducing you.

58: Wrong area, this is small even if you get something for it. O6, L15, Q10 maybe even go crazy and try R9 or something.

78: This move is small, and induces S2, which is bigger for both players. Better to force him to connect under while taking points.

96: Saving one stone might not be worth the risk to the group as a whole. I'd consider jumping instead.

162: Small

Just my thoughts.

Thank you for the comments they were really helpful. A few of your comments were thoughts that I had during this game but decided not to play for whatever reason.

28: Too harsh. This is a move to stop black moving along that side, and it would be okay if that was an interesting side. Unfortunately, it isn't particularly interesting, so playing E4 and leaving black the problem of life is more interesting. E5 would be bad, as it still allows black the large move at E2.

32: Why? He can just ignore this and be fine, giving you only a small semi-sente endgame. It's time to tenuki!

34: If you're going to play this, it's a sign that you should have played E4 earlier and taken this side more solidly. This is big, though.

36: Don't touch weak stones! Maybe the cap at E10 looks interesting, to make use of your strong positions on both sides.

42: Nooo! This prevents a small sente endgame move, but doesn't attack. D9 looks good now, a good time to play kikashi and strengthen your stone to keep attacking.

52: Now you're buliding territory from thickness. Not playing those small moves earlier would let you seal black in on a larger scale.

55: Now black is thick and strong and white doesn't have much more than before, so you know you've done something wrong.

60: If it doesn't work, don't play it, as the proverb goes

84: Why did you play this? It does nothing, when you need to think about running.

White doesn't handle things that well in the ensuing fight, but the problem of black's thickness should have been solved earlier, so I won't comment further.