A more orthodox game (and a question about my current rank)

tekesta · #1

Just now on IGS I played against a 13k opponent. I played a bitty bit more carefully this time. Despite the fact that I won by resignation, I was a bit nervous throughout the game. One thing for which I kept an eye out was a White clamp @ o18.

I was anticipating White 98 @ k2 in response to Black 97, but White played @ h9 instead. So I played Black 99 @ j3, then Black 101 @ l2 after White 100 @ k4.

White resigns @ move 162.

Below is the game record. Stronger players, feel free to point out any mistakes you find - and tell me what my current rank might be. These days whenever I win against someone of my rank on IGS, the margin of victory often ends up being around 15-20 pts.

Bill Spight · #2

You are attacking. Do not let White get a good play, the hane at N-16. Play there yourself. Then, assuming that White jumps out, pincer the White stones on the right side.

The saying is, Urgent points before big points.

moyoaji · #3

All you need to do in this game is count to 2.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$Wc How many weak groups does white have? $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . W X . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . X . . X . W . W X . . . X . . | $$ | . . X , . . . . . , . C . . . X . W . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . C . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C . W . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

White has 2 weak groups, and they are even near each other on the board. If you attack both of them and then find a move that attacks both at once you will likely win from that alone. This is called a splitting attack. Any move you make on this board should be in the upper right quadrant.

Another important principle in the opening is that there are 5 steps:
1. Corners
2. Enclosures/Approaches to corners
3. Large Side Extensions
4. Small Side Extensions
5. Vertical Moves (toward the center)

Still, in this board, any move should be in the upper right. That is the urgent area - as Bill said: "Urgent moves before big moves." However, if you are going to play a big move, there are two 3-4 stones that can be approached.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code: [go]$$Bc is Step 3 before Step 2 $$ --------------------------------------- $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . X . . X . O . O X . . . X . . | $$ | . . X , . . . . . , . . . . . X . O . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . 1 , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C . . | $$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . | $$ | . . . . C . . . . . . . . . . O . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | $$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

There are plenty of exceptions to this general list of rules - for example, :b3:

to make a framework was not a bad move just because it didn't follow this. However, if you stick to these rules after the initial opening moves you will rarely go wrong.

As you approached the mid-game you also played move :b23:

on the side in the lower right. It again should have been in the upper right, but it also wasn't an approach to white's corner. It seemed like you were trying to do two things at once, which is a good idea, but a move that does two things weakly is rarely better than a move that does one thing very well. Move :b27:

is the same.

Thankfully, at move :w34:

your opponent gives you a second weak group and he even lets you split them solidly by peeping at :w44:

.

The hane at :w50:

was very painful for black. That move should have been yours. The double hane just made it all the better for white.

Probably my favorite move of your was :b75:

. It seems to both build the potential of a black center while preparing strongly to attack the weak group white made at :w34:

. Sadly you never got to make your attack. A hane at J8, or perhaps extending to J9, would have been a stronger reply to the white attachment. You might possibly even come back and attack directly with H12 or some such move. It will be very hard for the white group to live once it is totally surrounded.

:w98:

seems to be where white's greed got the better of him. However, he was then able to save his group, so all was not lost. He seemed to have failed to notice that your center group was immortal at this point since it could capture the white stones, otherwise he would not have tried to attack it.

EdLee · #4

tekesta wrote:

Just now on IGS I played against a 13k opponent.

...tell me what my current rank might be.

Your appropriate rank by definition is where you get 50/50 win-loss ratio over a significant number of games.
The margin of victory is irrelevant. If you play at 13k for, say, 50 games
and you win about 25 (needless to say, also losing about 25),
then 13k is about right for you.

Similarly, if you want to find out how far you are from pro -- how many stones from pro --
play enough games with pros, until the handicap lets you win-lose 50/50
over a significant number of games; then, that's the appropriate handicap
for you with pros.

It doesn't matter what people, including yourself, say your rank is --
you need to actually hold that rank (50/50 win-loss over a significant number of games).

Go is quite empirical this way.

SoDesuNe · #5

tekesta wrote:

[...] and tell me what my current rank might be. These days whenever I win against someone of my rank on IGS, the margin of victory often ends up being around 15-20 pts.

You are a double-digit-Kyu, winning by more than 10 points is nothing unusual, I would rather think the opposite is true. Winning by any margin of points is by the way never a sign of being considerably stronger than your opponent - in the realms of us weak amateurs. I won against a 2-dan by over 20 points and I'm not even 2-dan, let alone anything stronger.
I remember one tournament where I played against a player who is two stones weaker than me. I counted several times and was always ahead by at least Komi, so I just played a (hopefully) sure-win-strategy. The game ended with a 2.5 points win for me and immediately the talk started that we were actually equal in strength because this was such a narrow win. In the end I just said, I miscounted because telling him that after the opening I had never any doubts of losing this game was way too arrogant and pointless even.

If you won, you were in this game alone better than your opponent. If you win against the same opponent more times than he wins against you, then yes, you are stronger than this one person.

A more orthodox game (and a question about my current rank)

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