Here I am

I was taught about this game from a friend who is a 3 kyu player on KGS. We played some games on real board and then I played few games on KGS server. He gave me basic advice but I still feel lost most of the time. I just need some general tips on what on earth I should be doing when playing.

All help is very much appreciated.

Corner, sides, then center. Tengen is playable as a first move, but is rather difficult to use effectively, stick to either a 3-3, 3-4, 4-4, 4-5, or 5-3 as a first move. Even then, some of those are more complicated than others.

Your move two is not good. Any influence you get from shoulder hitting here is worth a huge amount less than the territory he'll take.

kpax, try to finish 100 games as quickly as you can;
9x9, 13x13, or 19x19 doesn't matter.

I respect your advice... but a game takes an hour at least.

Guess It'll take some years before getting strong

Edit: I reread your post. Didn't notice 9x9.. actaully I didn't know about it. Makes sense now. Thanks a lot.

I don't think there's much we can say at this stage that's as helpful as playing more games. A few ideas:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W Moves 24 to 28
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O . X O . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . , X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X . . O . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 . O X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

After , and just help white, and white takes the key corner with . If you play directly around 5 (or any of the other 3 corners) the result will be much better for you. A little later white misplays and the white stones are in danger:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$ Position at move 44
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . b a . . X X . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . d X . . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O O O . X O . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . , X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X . . O . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X O . O X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . O . X . X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . O O X . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , c . . X . , O O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

A move like a, b, or c would be good here. Don't push from behind (d).

A few comments.



Focus: Avoid pushing from behind.

Good luck!

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Play a lot of 9x9 and 13x13.

I disagree with this, simply because once I started on 19x19 a few games in, after getting used to 13x13, I just did not find those smaller boards enjoyable, and, in fact, I still don't really care for them.

I would say simply "play a lot."

If you enjoy the smaller boards, by all means use them, but don't feel that you have to. Whatever board size you play on, you will be gaining experience, and hopefully learning.

If you can, try to play stronger players, even if they are only 1 or 2 stones stronger, but also don't neglect playing weaker players (so you can have some fun with crazy, unreasonable, amazingly large wins).