Here's a game that I played today, where I had White. I feel like I played a lot of bad moves, and by the time I got to Move 96, I felt like I had forced myself into trying to play a bad invasion. Even though I found a bit of an interesting way to live, in the end, there must have been better plays for me to make, earlier in the game.



Thanks for the help, ladies and gentlemen!

The main problem I see with this game is that you played a few lax moves. In a difficult fight, when you see a good move, take a little more time to look for an even better move.

W move 40 gives up the corner fight, granting B an unearned good result up to move 45. You must not give up your two stones so easily. How about pushing at P4 before B gets to atari? B has to block from below, W connects, and B is left with lots of cutting points to defend. Or maybe switch to Q9 before settling the bottom, offering a trade. It would be hard for B to save the three stones on the right side, without letting W have the ladder at O6.

The next few moves, trying to rescue two nearly worthless stones, only made things worse. (W was lucky B played move 53 on the outside, forcing W to live in the corner; if instead B waited for a chance to play S5, the W corner shape would be dead.) But then B went astray in the fight, giving W a large center moyo in return for a small side.

The ponnuki at move 70 feels good and is often correct, but here capturing with P15 would be just as good on the outside and much more severe on the inside, setting up a cut at Q16. It looks like B would actually have to let W connect to the Q17 stone.

Move 82 is a small endgame play. This atari was sente for B much earlier, but B waited too long, and by now it is irrelevant. Why save cutting stones when the groups on both sides are already completely secure?

The invasion at move 96 looks reasonable to me. W has to try something here, and this looks like a good place to start.