Hi,

I lost this game, I was pretty lost by move 60-80, a few things I noticed:

11, also 19 & 21 The top-left-hand-side approach made my stones unhappy, I seemed to walk in to their star point on the top side while they were able to solidify territory. I don't really know how to handle pincers (as maybe you can tell by 19 & 21) - maybe I should read some more of Opening Theory Made Easy? I've only read a bit of it and my memory is like a sieve.

23 Wrong direction?

28 - 48 This seemed to hurt. My walking was against his secure territory while he gained influence. I didn't really know what to do here - would appreciate some ideas.

49 Playing against his wall. Ugh. Maybe H14 would have been better.

Gah! The more I look at the game, the more I think I played pretty badly. He seemed to be twiddling his thumbs while I steadfastly walked my stones in to disadvantageous positions.

So, nitpick away, people!

What is the one non-problem book you would recommend for me at the moment? (Preferably by Kiseido - I have quite a few of their books).

Hi

I'd recommend looking at how you play the large endgame better.There are some mistakes before then. For example, 49 is heavy and a jump to N15 would be my choice at that stage.

However, to reiterate my endgame point, consider the position at move 94. There are a number of big endgame moves for you here:
J2;
B8;
C18;
M18;
s14;and
s8.

Now look at the position at move 137. White has taken the big point at:
B8;
c18;
M18;
s14 and
S8.

Some of these were double sente. You have lost at least 25 points by following you opponent and not taking sente elsewhere.

Read the endgame chapterin "Lessons in the fundamentals of Go by Kageyama." Then look at this game again. Then re-read the chapter, and you will see a clear way to improve.

By the way, as you noted, in the sequence 37 to 48, it feels like you played on dame while your opponent played on useful points. To avoid this, you could contemplate moving into the moyo at this point or just playing N15.

I'm just a 5k, but here goes:


23: Like you said, wrong direction. I'm guessing you were focused on your groups weaknesses, but white's group was also weak, and after she's connected her position is great. It's easy to see why if you consider the inconsistency of your play. Instead of jumping in to the corner you played F15, which allowed you to limit black's influence in the center and stop him connecting, but allowed white to claim territory on the top. However, you almost immediately abandoned that stone, allowing black to connect and seal you in. You effectively passed with and gave white a free move on the top, so there's no way this could be an even result.

31:I'm not sure about the previous move, but I don't think this needed a reply. I'm guessing that thinking of the bottom right as your area led to some overly defensive play. Just let white play dame and take the last side point (g3)

35: This move is way too slow. Attack something!

37-48: You were trying to stop white connecting? Usually that's a good idea, but here I think you're better off playing something like F9 to limit the effectiveness of any wall he might make.

49: I think it's just too late for an invasion; try and reduce instead.

This is a result of pushing from behind with . It was a gote move, didn't affect the life of death of anything; just pure points and it's not that big compared to what happened.

and the sequence that followed is not right. You are just making a weak stone heavier. The stone is basically dead already. The door to white's moyo is on the upper right, and you should reduce in that direction. If you want to use the F15 stone, you might try to enter the central moyo in the K13 area. Then maybe you can connect back to the upper right, while the door is open, or maybe threaten to connect to your dead stone and bring it back to life.

Notice also that is not needed to protect the cut. You should take sente. Make a big jump out such as to K13. White has to try to cut you off from the right side or split you from the K12 group. But the K12 group is still just 3 stones, not important.

You also I think needed to use your wall to try an invasion at F4 (or F5 if you feel scared), but eventually you lost your chance for this. The F4 area cannot be called white's territory, and when you get a wall facing such a big area, you have to try to invade or reduce. I think if you play through some sequences with at F4 you will probably learn a lot.

Honestly everyone that's really helpful, it will take me some time to read through the answers properly - I am reading that chapter on the endgame and it has totally changed my knowledge - I know how to play the endgame now! Also the posts about reducing the lower framework with the power of the wall and also about reducing the central white territory were really insightful. Thanks!