6k on KGS, that is.

I have been inactive on the forums for quite a while, so I'm really sorry to come back asking for favours! But maybe some of you will get some fun out of reviewing this =).

I am a little rusty from almost one year of play so please forgive the blatant mistakes.

This was a very, very close game. I had a lot of fun playing it and felt that we both were at equal strenght. I lost for 2.5 points, and I think I could've done better and taken the game (instead of getting downgraded to 7k, hehe). Anyway, feel free to bash at me and recommend where to improve!

I was playing black. Here is my personal insight on the game:

Things I am proud of:

-Reasonable opening.
-Light play (I changed plans a hundred times for my groups and it didn't end as badly as usual =P
-The sequence from 151, which turned out to be a very important moyo reduction, which evolved into a separate invasion.

Things I'm not proud of:

-The hallucination at 135. What was I thinking?
-Bad decisions during fights (I screwed up the bottom right corner very bad, thank to some of his mistakes though I managed to control the damage.)
-Consistently terrible Yose (I think this is the part of the game I need to improve most. Being an aggresive player and an early resigner, I don't get to see the Yose so often).
-Letting him get such a huge moyo to begin with (thankfully my reduction helped with that).

Now's time for your insight. Thanks!

When attacking a surrounded group, sometimes the best result that you can get is to get a strong wall on the outside.

In the lower right, you could have patched your weak spots and let him live without ko. The wall that you would have gotten would have been worth way more than the few points that he made.
In particular, 39 should have been at Q5, probably followed with Q7 and M7, both which would have been sente. You would have gotten decent corner territory amd future attacks on his right side group and maybe his lower left corner group.

Again, 85 could have been at M7. He cannot live unconditionally on the right side even with a move.

_________________
Help make L19 more organized. Make an index: https://lifein19x19.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5207

As Joaz said, 39 looks terrible. Let's look at the bottom right corner sequence in some detail:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . O . O . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . X X X O . . . |
$$ . . . . . . X X O O O X X . . |
$$ . . . . . X . O 1 2 X . . . . |
$$ . . . . . X O . O 3 . X . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ------------------------------[/go]

The squeeze is very satisfying to play, but it is not always the right move. Remember that the sacrifice stone counts as a point for your opponent. Also, removes a liberty from . This will be important in the subsequent fight. Compare with:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . O . O . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . X X X O . . . |
$$ . . . . . . X X O O O X X . . |
$$ . . . . . X . O 2 . X . . . . |
$$ . . . . . X O . O 1 . X . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . 3 O . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ------------------------------[/go]

Here, Black can play the descent to 3.

Back to the game,

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . O . O . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . X X X O . . . |
$$ . . . . . . X X O O O X X . . |
$$ . . . . . X . O O O X . . . . |
$$ . . . . . X O . O X 2 X . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . 1 O . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ------------------------------[/go]

Now the descent does not work for Black due to White's atari at .

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . O . O . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . X X X O . . . |
$$ . . . . . . X X O O O X X . . |
$$ . . . . . X . O O O X 4 a . . |
$$ . . . . . X O . O X 2 X . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . 1 O 3 . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . |
$$ ------------------------------[/go]

The atari at 5 does not really work. White could just play at 'a', and recapture if Black takes:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Pretty bad for Black.
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . O . O . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . X X X O . . . |
$$ . . . . . . X X O O O X X . . |
$$ . . . . . X . O O O . O O . . |
$$ . . . . . X O . O X O X . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . X . X . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ ------------------------------[/go]

A bit later in the game, we have

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . O . O . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . X X X O . . . |
$$ . . . . . . X X O O O X X . . |
$$ . . . . . X . O O O O O X . . |
$$ . . . . . X O . O X O X a . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . O X O X . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . |
$$ ------------------------------[/go]

This is actually a fairly well-known tesuji problem. In the game, White cut at 'a' a few moves later, and you managed to capture the stone. What move does White have to capture some black stones?

Thank you guys for the amazing help!

@Joaz: Yeah, 39 was a disgrace, and when I reviewed the game myself I thought it was the worst move of my game. I think the reason why I played it is that I've been bothered lately by being able to prevent invasions. I think instead of going for the kill every time I should relax and think of the benefits I get from walling the outside, like you said.

Then about 85... Wouldn't playing Tenuki there mean his group would have a Ko for life? I didn't want W-T9 B-T6 because I didn't seem to have any meaningful ko threats at the time, while I had some weaknesses and cuts to exploit.

@crux thanks for the variations! My squeeze was a bit of a hallucination, I didn't think, like you pointed out, of the liberty my stone was losing. The snapback didn't even cross my mind, and now I see how good it would've been, thanks for that.

I am well aware that if it wasn't because of my opponent's mistakes, the bottom right corner would've ended much worse than it did.

I would like some comment on the latest stages of middle game and more importantly the yose, if some of you have time to spare. Thanks again!

Comments on yose:

149) Very small, eight points or less, should be game loser.
150) Incomparably larger, should be game winner.

151 & 152) There is no substitute for counting the game at this point. If W keeps the entire upper left, he has a huge lead in territory. So B has to try something here to save the G16 stones and prevent the W moyo from becoming territory. Move 151 does not cut it; if W responds simply at K13, the game is over. The actual W move risks the win for no good reason.

166) W should defend around H16. B cannot capture the G13 cutting stone, so W keeps the entire upper side and wins easily.

By move 185, B is back in the game. The largest unsettled area now is the upper right corner, but both sides played smaller moves first.

186) Moderately large, but corner is bigger
187) Moderately large, but corner is bigger
188) Does not work and loses sente
189) Why not capture at P11?
193) This is an unnecessary risk. Suppose W tries Q14 atari?
200) Loses points. R17 is worth reading out instead.
214) Loses 10+ points due to insufficient reading.
231) B10 is actually bigger, since it earns A12 sente later.
235) Was this really necessary? Read deeper.
239) Was this really necessary? A11/A12 is double sente.
243) Defending at C10 looks bad, but is safe and potentially larger.
246-247) One point gote moves. What about A3/A4?
257) Finally. Much larger than the last few moves.
263) Loses 3 points due to insufficient reading.