Although I won this game I'd love a review. This was for the Canadian League Internet Go league. I felt very behind in the beginning.

4: if you want to play 3-4, play R4. Q3 lets black get a nice approach with support from the Q16 stone.

6: I think just take the corner with R4.

8: why this one and not F17 or C14? I think if black pincers you're helping the R6 stones, which have a weird shape now.

22: I still prefer white here i think, black seems a bit confused.

24: G3 is the move here. C5 doesn't completely give you the corner, and doesn't help the bottom.

48: I'd rather see J4 or thereabouts.

In spite of these criticisms, I think white won this game rather easily.

After doing a database search, I retract my complaint about . The large knight's play is more common, but the diagonal is played by pros also.

W 114. W 156.

Going in reverse order:

EdLee: I see why w114 was bad, I got really lucky there. I don't see the issue with 156.

Emeraldemon:

#4 is something I've had trouble with. I like to open with a 4-4 followed by a 3-4. The intention is to become familiar with these instead of doing random stuff all the time. However, I'm never sure where to put the 3-4.

#6 I'll spend some time reading out. I was afraid of an aggressive attack. I'll read it out and see if I should be worried, then if it happens again I'll be more confident.

thanks for the feedback. It was a big white victory but I still like to get reviews because at my level there are always still plenty of mistakes.

Consider just the most common 3-4 joseki:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 7 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , 4 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Does it feel to you like is getting help from the black star point and working well with that stone? This sort of thing is why that 3-4 is considered not so good for white. Of course white doesn't have to play this joseki, but a good player will be able to make use of the 4-4 regardless.


On the other hand, for black a 3-4 facing white is good, because black has sente to take advantage of it:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 fine for black
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , . . . . . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Again this is only one way it could go, but black is able to actively use the 3-4 starting with , so it's a different position.

Like I said before, if you want to have 4-4 and 3-4 as white, this is the better way:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 better direction
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , . . . . . , 4 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Compare what happens with the same joseki:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 better direction
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . 7 . . . 5 1 , O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

At your level, I would not worry much about fine points in the opening. Your fuseki is already good enough that the game will certainly be decided by later mistakes

That said, I do think is a slight mistake, which got an undeserved good result after B responded passively. Go strategy is all about maximizing the efficiency of previously played stones. In this game, B has played an unusual move at P8. If B gets to use this stone to attack or to make territory on the right, it will become a good (efficient) move, while if W makes an easy base on the right side, it will become a poor (inefficient) move. So should certainly be a pincer, probably at R12.

should T3 to keep the entire corner. Please read this out and verify that B cannot do anything here.

is very thin and does not protect the cutting point Q11. Moreover, it looks like an attacking move against the B position below, but that group is already too strong to be affected. So what is the strategic purpose of this move?

The sequence through won the game for W. B played mostly on dame and expanded his territory by only a few points, while allowing W to play useful moves which solidified more than 20 points of real territory.

To save Ed a post -- There is a better play for W156, keep looking (=

I see it -- but I won't spoil the fun (yet)

Going to the other side with S10?

huge