You're right skydyr, but I think that yoyoma is trying to point out that me as black and moving first I could have killed that group with more tsumego knowledge. But it's just what I think, I may be wrong

I suspect that's why he brought it up as well

How to post your games: Have a look at KGS archive: http://www.gokgs.com/archives.jsp
You can enter your user name and see all your KGS games: http://www.gokgs.com/gameArchives.jsp?user=Nyine
The first column is a link to the game. Right click on the link > Copy this link

Then you paste it in your forum message and you use the sgf codes, like this:


The result is this:


If you want to try tsumego have a look at graded go problems 2&3. It will help your game.

Also a general advice: in most cases you play where white played first. It is a flaw of many players, me included, called "following your opponent around". Try to do this less. Before a move consider if there is not another point on the board bigger or just as big that you can take instead of responding locally. I will leave other commentaries to stronger players.

Forget the above, I shouldn't post when I haven't slept enough, I gave advice to your opponent instead

Yes, that's skydr's point. He didn't want to hammer it in because he's gracious, so I'll be the pedant.

If a group is alive then it's a waste of stones for you to try to kill it - whatever you play, it will live (if W replies correctly). If W plays an extra move here to "save" the group, that's like a pass.

If a group is dead then it's still a waste of stones for you to kill it! Whatever W plays, it will still die if B replies correctly. If B plays an extra move here to "kill" the group, that's like a pass.

If a group is unsettled, then the next player to make a move can kill the group, or make it live. Playing there is very important.

@Amelia: Don't give advice to my opponents! It's hard enough as it is! The sgf viewer looks really easy to use Amelia, thanks a lot for the tip!

@jts and yoyoma: Ok, understood. Then the group is neither dead or alive, it's unsettled! About being pedant there's no need to worry, I think you're not at all. Instructive, I'd say, and really, I appreciate it. All of you guys are being very helpful and I cannot thank you enough for it.

I think perhaps people are missing something?

Nyine identifies as a beginner who has been playing just a couple weeks. Look at that game? Sure, lost, but did that game look anything like the typical game of somebody who has been playing just a couple weeks?

Nyine would be a very atypical beginner and so might need to be giving advice different than we usually give somebody who has only been playing a couple weeks.

What I suggest is that we forget about that couple weeks bit. For example, looking at that game, what are the most glaring things that Nyine didn't recognize.

Thank you for your words Mike, I'm certainly doing my best to get strong fast. About that game I would say that the most evident problem is that I don't connect groups as good as I should, but I'm aware that dozens of my movements were horrible.

EdLee proved me today in KGS how much I have to improve my game. In almost 150 moves I made so many "slow", "overplayed" and other moves that I thought that I was not doing anything right at all! Confidence on my strength goes up and down every day. Some days I feel like if I could take on 10 kyu players without a problem and others I don't feel myself strong enough to play against a 20 kyu.

What I meant is... I'm starting to realize how many factors are involved when I'm playing. If I read a book about fuseki I try to apply the concepts that I read and I fail, but maybe the next day the same concepts on that book make me feel stronger and I feel more solid while playing. I think that confidence is the main subject I have to address to improve myself, and I'm very very sure that I need to start studying books and absorbing information much faster if I want to keep my improvement rate.

I don't know. My first goal was to become 15 kyu and I'm almost there. Then it will be 10 kyu, but after that? I see 1 dan, 2 kyu or even 8 kyu and though I say to myself "I can do this too", reaching those goals look more like a dream than a reality for what I heard from most people.

Sorry for so much ranting but I wanted to share my thoughts with you. All this can be resumed in this question: "What can I expect of myself?"

I believe everything up to amateur 5-dan (let's say EGF-rank, around 6-dan on KGS) is possible for everyone. Given time and money. How fast is a different question but - in the end - also revolves around time and money.

_________________
My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Bingo. There are literally hundreds and thousands of tidbits (fundamentals),
and we work on improving them one by one.

My hat is off to anybody who learns go as an adult and makes it to 5 kyu.

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Thanks, Bill!

What's your cutoff for 'adult' here?

I'm OK with 30. 35, if you like.

I don't know, Mike. I think the "just keep playing (and maybe do tsumego)" mantra is more valid for people who are still improving quickly, and most valid for people who are improving most quickly. Receiving amateur advice on technique is only the second worst thing that can happen to a beginner (after not improving at all).

Hello there!

I'd start another topic, but I have this one already so I'd like to ask a question that is around my head today. I had a streak of lost games and my confidence went down really fast. I've been thinking that everytime I go to my local club and come back home, my game somehow does not improve, but the opposite.

Is it possible that losing the first game of the day conditions you to play with less enthusiasm? And how could I explain that I actually play worse after going to my club, when it should be the opposite?

At my local club yesterday I played 3 matches, won all of them, but the president of the club didn't see impressed at all and addresses me like if it was the first day yet... I'm not sure if that is a factor on my self-destructive spiral today.

Emotions play a big role in Go and it's important to know how to deal with them. If your Go-club is no fun then don't go, you won't grow stronger by just attending anyway (we have some fellows at our Go-club who just play this one time per week and they did not improve for years).

Then I wouldn't build my confidence on how many games you won. Neither on your rank. One wise StarCraft II guy (Day[9]) once said: Rank measures progress but not skill. This is oh so true. You can measure your skill by repeatedly solving Tsumego, Tesuji or other problems and track your correct answers and time needed.

Last but not least: If you know you can't play your best, don't play at all. This is also a very valuable skill to learn (patience) : )

_________________
My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Remember this. As a beginner, you learn something every time you play. During a game you form subgoals to help you reach your overall goal of winning the game. Sometimes you succeed in reaching these subgoals, sometimes you don't. Either way can be a learning experience.

As a rule of thumb, it is good to win around half of your games. Since you will be learning a lot during your first year, you might try changing the handicap with every win or loss. That can be a lot of fun.

BTW, screw the president of your club.

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

20.

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Is it possible that you have just moved on to playing stronger players, as your own strength improves?

Remember, every game you lose is a free Go lesson.

_________________
Regards,

Peter

We are superstitious creatures, and we are very good at inventing or misinterpreting patterns. (Although I'm assuming you mean you play worse the next day - do you mean you play three hours of go, and then come home and play more on the internet? That would be exhausting!)
Maybe. Or, you get angry and play with too much enthusiasm. Or, you were tired or distracted before you played your first game of the day. But if you have fun, who cares? Hm, this was what I had in mind a few days ago when I joked that getting advice from amateurs was a last-ditch sort of thing. Or, consider your perspective after a teaching game the other day: I seriously doubt that EdLee told you either that your moves were horrible, or that you weren't doing anything right. But we go players all love this game so much that we get absorbed in the review and forget what sort of impression we're making on the reviewee. I always try to bring a light touch when I review, but I rarely succeed... the cumulative temptation to look at all the interesting possibilities on every move is too great.

Anyway, don't take it personally when your reviewer is harsh, or when you lose! If you win games, your reward is to change the handicap until you start losing again. The ultimate payoff isn't winning every game, it's spelunking further down the dark beautiful caverns of Go.