Lost both of these on time. Curious what the followups on these might have been - I thought there were some interesting situations here and wasn't sure what would have happened.

Any reviews/corrections/notes on mistakes I keep making welcome!

Comments for game 1:

- should be at F3; by playing at F3 you threaten to enter the corner and/or double approach by playing C6 afterwards. The opponent will usually follow by playing at C6. After that Black plays D2, White at C3, Black at J3, and White at C10. as played in the actual game seems OK, but you have to play at D3 right away and that did not happen; playing at D3 threatens to take the corner and if White pincers with a play at, say, H3 or K3, you just move right in and take the corner. at F3 would've prevented at D2.

- appears to be a case of merely responding to your opponent's moves. This is something I myself am still trying to unlearn. Tenuki and a play at D10 would have been better. Given how strong White became after , it would've been better to avoid fighting until a bit later in the game.

Up to the Black chains on the 8-line and the F-line are under serious pressure. A play at G9 would've made it useful and something on which to build a subsequent reduction of White's moyo. You do eventually save those chains through a fight that spreads from the top center of the board, but it would've been better to avoid getting into any fights with White and strengthening your positions first. As the 2nd Golden Rule of Go says, "Watch yourself when attacking the enemy" (or, get strong before attacking).

Throughout the game, Black and White get into fights and, as you may have already found out, both sides get strengthened through fighting. This is why most Korean pros favour a combative playing style; territory generated through fighting is secure and largely free of aji. As well, White seems to have a better command of tesuji than Black.

Comments for game 2:

should be at J3, as the Black formation to the left of the 3-White-stone chain was not yet strong enough to sustain an attack. White might play soon at N5 or N6, but then you can attack that White group from the top and sandwich it against your strong group on the bottom. Five moves later play at Q12 to consolidate your moyo.

should be at K8. Sacrifice 3 Black stones by letting White play at L7, then connect with a play at J8 for a strong L-shape with the foot facing towards the center. Hon'inbo Shuei was fond of this shape and it appears often in his games. After White captures 5 Black stones with , Black has a few weak groups that really need shoring up. It's gonna be an uphill struggle for Black.

I know the above commentary is sparse and <drum roll> you're doing the right thing by offering your games for review, but I am sure that getting into fights prematurely is what caused you to lose both games. You played an OK opening in both games, but the opening is meant to build large-scale (global) positions in preparation for the middle game and instead of doing this you got into big fights. To remedy this, I suggest two things. One, do plenty of life & death and tesuji exercises. Not difficult ones, but easy ones in large quantity. This will help reinforce memorization of L&D and tesuji patterns to help you make quick and accurate assessments of a position during play. Of course exercises in other categories - fuseki, joseki, middle game, and endgame - should on no account ever be neglected, but L&D and tesuji are the bread & butter of many a Go player, whether ama or pro. Two, pull out a collection of game by Honinbo Dosaku or Honinbo Shusaku and start replaying them. (Dosaku to know how to start fights at the right time and Shusaku to know how to build and use thickness.) Games by the old Chinese masters Huang Longshi, Fan Xiping, and Shi Xiangxia have spectacular fights and you may want to look at these first if fighting is what you are looking to perfect. Then again, choose any pro, ancient or modern, as your model to emulate and learn from. This will expose you to new ways of playing and will help you get out of any ruts you encounter. If possible, have access to a collection with commentary to help you know the reasoning behind the moves, but - be warned - it is easier to understand the commentary after you've bashed your head against the wall a few times. Hopefully, after a bit of the aforementioned you will be able to choose your battles with greater care.

On L19 there is a thread with free pro game collections: viewtopic.php?f=17&t=10643

is no problem at these levels. is not bad at all. is no problem at these levels.No.

In Knotwilg's game a week or so ago, I wrote:



No offense Ed, but your comments in this thread are the sort of reason why I wouldn't begin to comment on the games people post here.

in the first game is bad. B-A-D. tekesta is right that tenuki is better, though his suggested tenuki at d10 is not so good. The left side is not such an interesting area. Pressing/attacking white's group on the right side, something related to top right corner (which pressing the side group is indirectly) or expanding the top side and helping f17 would be more important areas. q8 would be my instinct.

To get to your level I have a long way to go Now that you mention it, the White group on the right side is small and not well-developed. I was thinking of playing D10 to begin reducing White's territory on the left and get some outward influence, but then White can use the 2-stone formation on the right to hurt Black strategically. Attacking the smaller group on the right would help Black consolidate the moyo on the upper right. Maybe after this happens reducing White's territory on the left side would be more effective strategically.

tekesta, the problem with d10 is it doesn't really do anything other than become dame, it has no real effect on white, no follow-up or later aim. d13 or c8 locally make more sense in that they hurt white if ignored, but still globally the left side is not interesting. Part of that is because white has no particulary good move there: if white plays d10 for example there are still invasion or reduction points, or if white d9 then d13 can still reduce. Or black can just let white spend another move and build a bigger thing himself. The below shows the sort of flow I aim for as black:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm17
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , X . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 3 O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 5 4 6 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1 2 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 . O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a . |
$$ | . . . O . X . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

White 26 is solid, maybe he could take sente with a move like a, and then invade 3-3 at the top right.

Black's choice of L rather than K 16 is a bit odd, so if white does play the solid p7 I'm not sure whether to close the corner with p/q17 or something like h16 or f15. Just to show how the left side is off-topic, imagine black closes the corner and white now goes there. Black could then grow his moyo and looks well ahead. White would have done better to play something on the top side like h17 or j16 that both attacks f17 and prevents black's big moyo. In fact that invasion is so powerful probably I would not close the corner but help f17 and allow white to 3-3. (As white I might also think about fancy moves like s14 for 26 to resist black's plan.)

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm27
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , X . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . X . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]