I'm hoping to get an opinion on how I played in this match against my friend MjMjMjMj on the KGS go servers. MjMjMjMj played black in this game and I played white with a 0.5 komi. I ended up winning the match, but there were several moves that were questionable and I think if my friend were a stronger player, he would have immediately capitalized on those mistakes.



Some things I think I did well in this match:

*I had a good fight in the upper left and lower right corner.
*I played Tenuki at mostly appropriate moments (not counting the upper right corner tenuki, which was horrible)
*I built a heavy wall of influence in the lower left.
*my direction of play was mostly good.
*I managed to create mutual life in the lower left corner.

Some things I think I did badly:

*I was unable to save any of my stones in the upper right hand corner
*I made the very dangerous gamble to give up the upper right corner in exchange for aji in the lower right corner.
*I managed to make a wall facing my group in the upper left corner, but the way I did it was weak and could have easily been played against
*My opening move on the upper right 3,4 point probably should have cost me the game. It was basically giving my opponent the opportunity to ask for a 3rd corner.

Anyway, let me know what you guys think. I appreciate the feedback.

_________________
I find more and more that my battles on the board reflect my battles off of it.

Here's one small thing: White 1 is almost a net and gives you a nice squeeze if black tries to escape with 2 (other moves fail). All of white's stones are doing something, but black's 8-stone dumpling is doing almost nothing. From that standpoint, this should give white quite an advantage so black will probably play away rather than play 2.

Diagram:

True. I'd be somewhat afraid of the cutting points next to 3 and 9. Also. I doubt my friend would have responded with 2. I think that it is much more likely that he would extend and then if I responded either play a one space jump or tenuki to build up the left side of the board. I do like that you're variation vastly decreases blacks potential for a wall though.

Here's how I imagine gameplay would go if White played at 1

Diagram:[hide]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 O . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . X O X X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . 5 . X X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Which leaves me with 3 very weak groups split by blacks wall.

_________________
I find more and more that my battles on the board reflect my battles off of it.

You forgot a very important stone that was on the board. Your diagram doesn't work if the missing stone is restored.

Thanks for the variations. I'm glad that you did variations for both players. I forgot to distinguish it in my original post (edited now) but I played as white for this game.

_________________
I find more and more that my battles on the board reflect my battles off of it.

Which stone did I miss?

_________________
I find more and more that my battles on the board reflect my battles off of it.

Yes, I knew you played White. In the variations you can see how B could've replied better to foil some of your moves.

lemmata,Aren't you missing the important stone in your diagram?

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . O . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O X X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . , . W X X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Was just hoping to clarify for others . The variations are interesting. It would have been a much different game if black had played some of those moves.

_________________
I find more and more that my battles on the board reflect my battles off of it.

Haha, Yes, you're right. Sorry, I don't have the game memorized yet and I thought I had played that move later.

_________________
I find more and more that my battles on the board reflect my battles off of it.

N4 has a white stone in your game record. You don't see it in my diagram because it is filled by black 8 after black captures it. That N4 stone takes away one of black's precious liberties.

Also, when black's liberty situation is this bad, white should not be afraid of the cuts at 3,9. It is good to be severe at times when you're in a position of strength.

EDIT: I see that Ed found the missing move, although he seems to think that I missed it, too.

Two things:
(1) missing important W stone at (a);
(2) and very bad shape in your variation -- broken shape for W:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 O . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O X X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . X X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Oh, yes:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W at
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 7 O . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 X O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2 X O X X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , 9 4 W X X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 O O O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Agreed. I think thats why I was confused. If the stone had not been there at (a) I would never have played a move like 1

_________________
I find more and more that my battles on the board reflect my battles off of it.