I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about how I was going backwards kyu-wise (used to feel like a confident 7kyu but dropped back to a strong 9/weak 8) but felt like my understanding of go was increasing by quite a bit. With this most recent win I got back up to 7kyu, but I'm hoping to get some good advice on improving my play.

This game was a little different than I usually play. I tend to favor territory on the sides over creating moyos in the middle, but this game I had to rely on large spaces to give me points.

I look forward to any comments anyone is willing to share.

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I came to go through Kawabata and was introduced to a whole new world.

was in the wrong direction, your opponent would have been in a fairly tough position had you blocked the other way after giving you so much with the approach to both 3-4s.

Both B and W have many basics problems.

A few remarks on the start and finish.



Black lost 4 points in the last 16 moves. Lucky you!

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

I like Bill's comments about pincers, they are so easy to overlook.

Kaimat,
W4, play in the open corner first, then shimaris and kakaris.
W22 and W24, an enclosure of the lower left corner with a knight's move, kogeima, would be good to build outside influence.
W24 helps black build a territory 10 lines wide while black's is 3 lines wide.
Black has sente too much because white passively answers him too often.
Try a counter attack elsewhere on the board. Visualize a good follow-up move and estimate the value or cost.
Moves with a big follow-up move will be answered so you can insert this pair of moves, the counter attack and the defense move within the earlier sequence of moves.
W124 captures a stone to live, in gote. Read out carefully. Was this capture urgent?
Pushing down to reduce the upper right would be worth some points. Read and count!
W156, atari, uses up a ko threat. Don't play a move just because the opponent will answer. Look for bigger moves. Save some ko threats in case of a ko fight so you might win it.
W158, small, gote.
W198? Look harder for sente and reverse sente moves that do gain points or threaten to gain points.
Some humble advice.