167-176
Here's my take on it...

In the game I thought so too - but white has sente and if I count it seems very close.

Yes, the analysis of the upper right is fine. I'd add one variation: after the wedge through the keima, you can atari three stones, then atari them again, thereby capturing the other two stones in sente, sacrificing one stone yourself. In this case that would be biggest I believe.

On a bit if a slow decline at the moment - loosing ~2 out of every games, usually by less than 10 points. I did have one big win playing against a three stone handicap but it was the exception. Need to do some reviews and see if there is a consistent theme.

As an aside I've always wondered a bit about those players on igs with 10000+ games - aren't they supposed to be geniuses having logged their 10000 hours of go?

Secretly I always imagine some poor hikikomori sitting in the dark hunched over an led screen cursing out Malcolm Gladwell (...no wait that's me). My other theory was that they were actually failed computer science 101 ai projects let loose on igs and then forgotten until they started to gain sentience. Or dans pummeled down to ddk rank after a long night of drunken blitz matches (no that's me again - minus the dan part). That or frustrated sandbaggers whos only joy in life comes from beating down the innocent before inexplicably resigning in order to suppress their rank and further torture, confuse and humiliate their victims.

But perhaps there is a simpler explaination - maybe the counter is busted. (See attachment - screenshot from recent opponent)

Or a shared club account.

Do you mean hikikomori?

As to the reason for accounts with that many games: I share Uberdude's point of view. They're probably just shared accounts. I've been to some Japanese go salons that had a pc open somewhere in the back. It's handy to have when there's an uneven amount of players.

That's the one - thanks! My limited Japanese is appalling - particularly after it's passed through my Australian accent filter.



That's interesting. How do they work? Do the salons have 1 account per salon or one per rank?

Another close one but a win this time. I've decided to stop editing my opponents names - for one I'm loosing count of what game I'm up to and it's a real pain to go back and edit them on my ipod. For two, I found an old game of mine in greendemon's journal and got a real kick out of it - I figure someone else would too.

I'm still hanging in at 9k+, but just barely - a few more losses than wins and I'll drop a half rank. I've been trying out new things so that explains some of it. Probably more is that I was doing better with a more territorial style - but the random invasions/josekis I've been trying out haven't really been tailored to that approach. Hopefully it's one step back two steps forward.

Game 12

When I browsed through the game it had in general a good feeling, you taking some territory while White playing for influence. You granted him the 4th corner to reduce his central potential instead. Some highlights:

it's not "joseki" but it achieves a nice result, while White's ponnuki overlaps a little with the existing influence (still White can now go for a big moyo)
it's not intuitive to leave that corner behind, but it's a sharp tenuki
I like this reduction a lot.

In these 30 moves you take the lead, as far as I can judge. The bottom line is that you don't play standard moves mindlessly. You do a genuine positional judgment. This is very promising.

is a bit greedy; at the centre left you have the opportunity to both reduce his territorial potential and expand yours. Next, White rightfully ignores your move and goes there. This made the game close.


Question

I know not enough of joseki to judge this move but I'd think you should answer the wedge first. However, the result looks pretty even.

Just a quick point about the top right one space jump. If you intend on approaching the top left I'd recommend the knight's move so you don't owe a move on the right. Or really try to get sente (so just 3-3 after his pincer and he probably blocks top side) after the approach there. Btw double approach is overplay, he could have made life hard for you by answering at 3-3. With jump you can then continue with right side hoshi and if white then plays top left corner you can shimari in the lower right or f5 jump. It's a moyo game and black is doing a decent job of preserving the first move advantage. Rather than top left white may also approach lower right which likely ends in gote for him and then you can approach top left.

Thanks for the review Knotwilg - your comments were too kind (I'm going to have to go and loose a few more games to balance out my ego).


Yes - I was really concerned about the size of his terriory on the right - especially after giving him a big lhs, I didn't really think too much about the shared points between us. I guess my instinct comes from looking at a board and thinking - "well we've both got stones around there so there's not much gain to be made" - in this case though his counter was definitely sente and because we were both racing upwards I had more of a chance to capture points in the region than I otherwise would. While his gains on the rhs became less the further up we went because of the openings I had for later on.



I did a pro game search and they all answer the wedge. I was winging it at the time.

Yes - the knights move was my response of choice while I was my winning streak - basically I would just play as solid as I could and try to grab the next big point when my opponent lost sente - definitely here it would have been the better choice.


It was a bit of a yolo move (and inwardly I knew it at the time) - but I wasn't sure how it would be punished (and frankly the couple of times I've played it move opponents seem a little unsure of what to do - so that has made it fun to play if not the "right" move). Thanks for pointing out the 33 response - I guess that for the double approach to work you need to have enough space to make good your escape.

Game 13

Another close one - but another win!
Actually I'm pretty pleased/lucky that I got the win after 3 massive blunders at the start:
1. A miss-click on move 4
2. Something - I know I wanted to play there in game but boy I wish I could claim a second miss-click - on the rhs. (I think I wanted to limit the wall and have a two space extension in case I was pincered - but ... It just looks ugly)
3. Stemming from the same play so I don't know if I can claim it as a third mistake, but a big ko early on. I think I made the right call and let the ko threat go early but ... Ow

Anyway as a result I started playing it a little bit more like a handicap match, actually got in front (I think?) then pulled my usual trick and let my lead dissipate in the endgame. I did grab a big 2nd line hane though - so I was happy there.

No need to call this weak.

From the point of view of shape, B3 has advantages. Aim at G4 and the double hane.

I think that White needs to play G2 straight away. And this can't be the correct point on the side. There is an open skirt because White is at B5; and so Black can't make quick territory here. C13 is more reasonable. But R3 is urgent, anyway

OK for shape, but White has lost ground here.

Obviously you just capture.

This kind of play is pretty bad.

Just play O14 and allow Black to worry about the cut.

White is trying to win with the one big territory. About 50 points, but that's not overwhelming.

At B105, White has not being playing very well, and the game has become close.

Thanks Charles


I should learn how to use it then - I guess it is aiming at the side, can't be pincered easily. Is it really legitimate to play rather than taking the open corner?


Yes - erm obviously ... . I think more than anything else I need to work on calming down and taking a minute to look at the board.


This seems to be my mo - flap around in the beginning, take a big lead early mid game and have it dribble away to nothing by the end. Is it that I'm playing too soft/slow or missing that one key move - or is it that the weaknesses in my shape are coming back to haunt me?

My last 4 games have been nail biters:
Win 3.5 ponts
Win 1.5 points
Loss 1.5 points
Win 0.5 points

More wins than losses but it feels like tie,tie, tie, tie.

My counting is getting a little better - my final count was within 1-2 stones for the first 3 and I predicted the result for all but the last. My nerves are shot though.

Misclick revisited

Close games are the best!

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

For example, consistency after . This may be playable, but with you need to play R9 and push right along the edge to get the benefit. If the lower group is really too weak, it wasn't a good plan.