Well, if a player plays a below average opening for a certain level, and an average middle game for that level, and an average endgame for that level, he plays below that level.

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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.

Beyond taking a long time to think, boring moves can be an effective strategy in and of themselves, though maybe not an especially positive strategy.

I'm starting to come to the realization that my problem is simply that I don't play my best when I'm ahead. Instead of trying to secure the win, something in my head tells me: "You're dominating. Go ahead and have some fun!" Except "fun" means relaxing and playing around. This is a sure recipe for disaster. I think I learned something: in go, being ahead is a danger signal.

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Patience, grasshopper.

The moves you see as being careless might be just attempts to set up the conditions for a fight. The are a number of players who put all of their time into the decisive battle. They are not worried about subtle differences in direction or the values of moves.

Oh yeah that is a killer, "Lets see what happens when ... !" For me it doesn't even necessarily happen when I am ahead. The question I try to ask myself to overcome that is "Do I know what can happen when.... ?" Having said that you know, if it was fun it was fun, it won't hurt your ranking that much.

I only play over the bored, so I never get board. Ahem.

That does mean I average only about 3 games a week, which is evidently not enough to improve.

Even if the opponent is playing on while obviously way behind (which does not happen as often as I would like),
I still feel tense rather than bored. And if the opponent spends a lot of time thinking about moves early in the game,
I can always look around at other games in progress, or simply concentrate on getting my breathing and pulse
rates down to levels that my cardiologist would approve of.

"Terrified", "anxious" and "relieved"; yes. "Bored"; never. What is this "fun" that people speak of?