Would someone please analyze this game I played? I Played white and lost by one point (no komi). As many/as much review(s) as possible will be appreciated. Also, constructive criticism as well as encouragement for any good moves I might have made are both welcomed.

_________________
Thinking like a go player during a game of chess is like bringing a knife to a gun-fight. Thinking like a chess player during a game of go feels like getting knifed while you're holding a gun...

For easier viewing.

A few comments on the opening.



Major point: Avoid incremental increases of territory. Think on a large scale.

Edit: Added variations at .

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Nothing personal, but I would strongly recommend to all people that if you want a game thoroughly critiqued then you should submit it to GTL. You will get better feedback than you could do here.

_________________
Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

Just a general comment: You should seriously pay attention if there isn't something sente you can do before taking gote. If you had succeeded just once or twice more in this game, you would have gained the difference needed to win it.

Always be extremely hesitant to play a one-point gote, since it's as close as you can get to being completely useless while still achieving something. This means they should be the LAST moves you make. If you add just one eye before the last few moves, the only valid reason is to make a group live. Every other time, look around and see if you're really out of alternatives.

Near the end you've got several opportunities to take one point and threaten to take another, while you play one-point gote instead. A one-point sente should always rank higher among your options.

I think that used to be true, but I'm not so sure anymore.
I think you at least get quicker responses here.

So I'm still a bit shaky on determining the point value of moves. would you mind naming a few slow moves of mine?

_________________
Thinking like a go player during a game of chess is like bringing a knife to a gun-fight. Thinking like a chess player during a game of go feels like getting knifed while you're holding a gun...

Did you look at Bill's comments ? In many clubs, you're lucky to even have a 1-kyu review your games.

If time is so important then you have the wrong emphasis. Improvement at go so not happen that quickly.

_________________
Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

Went over the last 100 moves, trying to pick nits:

180 -- only P14 is secured, nothing is threatened
210 -- only R7 is secured, no immediate follow-up
214 -- only K6 is saved, no threat or folluw-up
216 -- only E5 is secured, no follow-up
226 -- only N10 is secured, no follow-up
236 -- only N10 is secured (from the other side this time!) no follow-up. You spent two gote moves to keep that one point!
239 -- you could have poked at black here, and then ADDITIONALLY play one of the one-point gote moves.

This is an incomplete set of options for move 180:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . X . . . S C . . . . . . O X X . . . |
$$ | O O X X X X O O . . O . . O O X X . . |
$$ | . . O O O X X O O O X O O . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . O C . . X X X X X O . O O X . . |
$$ | . . . O X X . . . . . X O . O X X . . |
$$ | . . O . O . X . . X . . O . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . X . . X O . . O S X . . |
$$ | . . X O O . . C . . S . O O X X . . . |
$$ | . . X O X . O . X . X . O . S . . . . |
$$ | . X O X X . . C . , S C . . X , . . . |
$$ | . O O O X . O . X . X . O S . X X X . |
$$ | . O . O X O O X . X O O . . X S O X S |
$$ | O . O . O X X . . X . . . O O O . O X |
$$ | . O . O O X . X . . . . . . . . O . O |
$$ | O X O O . S C . X . . T . . O . . O . |
$$ | X X X O O O . C . , . . . X . O O O O |
$$ | X . . X . . O O X . X . . . X O X X C |
$$ | . X X . X X O X X . . . . . X X O X . |
$$ | . . . . . C O X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

The circles are sente (I think) and the squares are all gote.
For the sake of this diagram, "sente" is "can take one more point after this move is ignored", and "the response does not need to be responded to"

I would have played at the triangle first, though. It's by far the biggest thing left on the board. What if black played there at 181?

That's true for our club, our strongest player is 3k

_________________
Converting the book Shape UP! by Charles Matthews/Seong-June Kim
to the gobook format. last updated april 2015 - Index of shapes, p.211 / 216

Hi oca, you appreciate good commentary, especially from high dans, and it shows.

Hi Bill! I do appreciate you taking the time to have a look at my game; its an honor to be criticized by such an accomplished player. Thanks!

_________________
Thinking like a go player during a game of chess is like bringing a knife to a gun-fight. Thinking like a chess player during a game of go feels like getting knifed while you're holding a gun...

Thanks for the diagram! It is quite helpful in better understanding how to retain sente.

_________________
Thinking like a go player during a game of chess is like bringing a knife to a gun-fight. Thinking like a chess player during a game of go feels like getting knifed while you're holding a gun...

Bill (and other players) have mentioned quite a few times the weakness of the kosumi when next to a two-stone wall. For example, the kick at leaving a weakness at R06, and the block of leaving a weakness for Black at N03.

I have a lot of trouble exploiting these, though! For example, if I (as white) were to follow up with at N03, can Black simply not eat the attack by playing at N04? Or am I being too literal-minded?

_________________
Confucius in the Analects says "even playing go is better than eating chips in front of tv all day." -- kivi

You seem to be forgetting that at move 34 there are more stones on the board than at move 30. The point of the weakness at n3 on move 30 is you have miai of coming out to the centre at n4 and connecting under at p2. By move 34 black has played the q2 and p2 connection to remove one of those miai so n3 doesn't work any more. But that's no reason to be upset, black took gote to play a fairly small move to defend against the n3 problem so you can just play something bigger yourself. In fact black can play the q2 r2 exchange and then tenuki rather than taking gote to connect, and now if you play n3 he can block at n4 and p2 doesn't connect any more as black o2 is atari, but you can capture q2 in sente to get a very strong corner so can still be happy.

I should have illustrated the weakness. The weakness at R-06 persisted for a long time. I have added some variations to my original SGF file at . Take a look.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Just the ponders of a weak player.



(I haven't read Mr Spights comment's yet, but I went to the endgame.)
Try to always think about the power of your moves.

_________________
On Go proverbs:
"A fine Gotation is a diamond in the hand of a dan of wit and a pebble in the hand of a kyu" —Joseph Raux misquoted.

So for moves such as 21, 27 and 33, you say its slow to defend that stone. What then is the purpose of the previous move?

_________________
Thinking like a go player during a game of chess is like bringing a knife to a gun-fight. Thinking like a chess player during a game of go feels like getting knifed while you're holding a gun...

Exactly!