What mistakes did I make in this game?

Quote my post to see how to embed games: (and for the curiosity of others like myself about the game )



The only advice I can give you is that you need to be more pro-active and aggressive in the opening and not leave white get a base so easily for their stones. This is the constant advice I've gotten and I see the same problems in your game.

I agree with Boidhre - you are playing very passively (trying to look at every move as "how should I reply to my opponent's last move", rather than "what is the biggest move on the board?") You might experiment with a game or two where you don't reply to any local moves for the first ten or twenty moves. You need to see what happens when you play elsewhere ("tenuki"), and learn not to be afraid.

1-26: These are all okay moves for a beginner, I think. Just try to think about goals other than defending the stones you've already played.

28: Play the diagonal move at o13, bending around the head of your opponent's stone ("hane"). Keeping your stones connected is very important in go. P13 (the "clamp" move) is only good when you are very strong on both sides (so you don't care about being cut), or when W cannot cut regardless.

30: Again, try to stay connected. If you're going to clamp at all, you should play on playing O14 after W extends like this.

32-60: Your moves aren't totally senseless, but your only strategic idea seems to be "This is my territory, I want all of it, so I have to keep defending and defending to keep him from taking any of it." Instead you should be thinking about strong and weak groups, separating his stones on a large scale, and so on.

62: Saving these two stones doesn't accomplish much. Normally you want to save small clumps of stones when they're vital to attack or defense, or the make up one wall of a large territory. Anyway, if you do want to save them, play L12 or L13 (the one-space jump) instead of this slow, inefficient move.

66: Just connecting is slightly better. You lose the initiative either way (i.e., the sequence is "gote" for B) but then later, you can play L1 while keeping the initiative - free points! --- As a general rule, it's frequently okay to just fix your weaknesses and then use your strength to attack. Also as a general rule, don't play on the first line until it's absolutely necessary.

98: Okay, in this case, saving your three stones was bigger than capturing his one stone. But I applaud your aggression nonetheless!

100: Are you sure you can't pull out those stones?

118: What happens if you let W play R16 first? Read out all the sequences.

166: Is this necessary? Where would W play here to attack you?

190: Is this necessary?

196: Is this necessary?

with the minus komi the game looks quite close. Did you count?