Hi all,

Here is a game I played as part of the ASR league. As it was an even game against a player 5 stones stronger, I didn't really expect to win, but wanted to make a good account of myself.

I think I played ok in parts, but made a mess of one corner and some silly strategic decisions. I also made a mind-meltingly awful reading error that ended the game.

I've added my thoughts to the SGF, so you can see what I was trying to do. Any advice is very welcome, and I really appreciate anyone taking the time to have a look at my game.

Welcome to the league. Here are a couple of suggestions:
13: I like every move you've made so far. Congratulations, you're ahead!

16:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$ Position at move 16
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . X . . . X . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , O . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . 3 . . . . 9 . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . 2 1 5 7 . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . O 4 6 . 8 0 . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Something like this is one usual way to handle the position. Think of it like this: push white low, force him to jump out, then cover him from the middle.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$ Position at move 16
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . X . . . X . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . O . a a . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Alternatively, you could consider a counter-pincer. In either of these positions, if your pincered stones become burdensome, you can take the 3-3 corner. The rest of your stones are strong, and fairly well-placed. The first option calmly takes influence, the second obviously starts a fight. I prefer the former, because I'm not sure that the counter-pincer stone is helpful enough with the bottom right corner. If you had a bigger shape facing this direction, that might be worth considering. As it stands, I like the first option. The stone you play here is okay, but a little wishy-washy. It doesn't really put much pressure or defend very strongly.
19: Depends. If you think you might want to sacrifice those three later, don't do this (it prevents you from invading to the 3-3 later). If you think you must make these three stones survive at all costs, then the slide is good, and right.
21: Yes, M3 would have been better.
27: I prefer responding to the attachment directly, by hane-ing to Q7. The biggest problem with your plan is, it settles white on the bottom. If you instead strengthen yourself on the right, you might eventually get to invade at m3 or m4. The only thing you need to be careful about here is, don't get your F3 group in trouble. Even if you never get to invade, you may force white to defend in gote.
31: Doesn't buy you much. Doesn't ensure that black won't get to connect under. I prefer the hane at N5, because access to the middle is so critical. Alternatively, O5 or Q7 are fine.
41: This plan is not unreasonable, though I wouldn't call it an invasion. Regardless of which way white blocks, it's a reduction because it'll have to connect out. I would say at this point, the two places I would prefer are R12 and Q7.
51: G4 would not be very urgent. I still prefer the last two moves I mentioned, but the move you went with is at least solid points and a threat. It's just more passive than the outright invasion.
53: White unwisely ignored your pressure. If you invade at R12 now, white has no eyes.
55: Fourth line is pretty awesome.
57: This would be fine if it was necessary, but the follow-up is not that scary, so you can probably tenuki safely.
63: This move is actually fine, though H6 doesn't give black the peep. It prevents the cut at H6, which is reasonably big.
73: Yes, this stone doesn't actually do much. It's a reduction, but not a big one. C2 is big because it's slight eyespace in sente, or you could jump out with your weak group.
115: This move kills a stone that's already dead.
117: No, the invasion wasn't bad. Your opponent traded territory for thickness. If you can prevent him from getting a ton of points in the middle with that thickness, then this was a big success.
121: This gives white an atari. F13 is better shape. Jumping out from your weak group is still more important, though. Or A2, to be sure it's settled.
129: This move is huge. Playing it now punishes your opponent for not playing it earlier. A2 and K9 are also large.
147: Bad shape, and it doesn't do anything. Those stones are safe.
148: Yep.
153: While it's not much, you can safely play H8 here. In addition to capturing this one stone, it threatens to atari your way into his framework, with K8. Basically, I would play H8, then if your opponent played anywhere BUT K8 or K7, I would play K8. =D
179: H18 is safe, and fixes your problems, I think.

All in all, you played a very good game. Your opening was good, and you made a lot of good decisions. Look through the moves that I say don't help or are small, and try to exclude a few from your next game. If you can manage that, your play will be much more efficient, and you'll beat the next 7k who plays like this. =D

_________________
Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].

Excellent, thanks for the analysis Chew. I've read over it and it all makes a lot of sense. Will read again when I review the game again this evening.