Poor health restricted the amount of Go I could play last winter, so it was good to finally attend a tournament in sunny Birmingham at the end of March, and pleasing to win 2 out of 3 games.

The games themselves were less satisfactory. Only 18 players attended, and some of the players around my strength were local and therefore not considered by the program that runs the draw. So every game was rather one-sided. I entered at 4 kyu. My first opponent entered at 1 kyu, and I resigned early. (That game is posted for comment below.) The second opponent entered at 6 kyu, so he resigned early. The third opponent has the same grade as me and is my most frequent tournament opponent, but all recent games have been won by me. There is another tournament tomorrow, which may produce more even match-ups as it is 100 miles away and there won't be many players from my area.

Here is the game that I lost.



Edited on 30 April 2014 to correct the win-loss record against A.N. Other11, which was 5-3 and is now 6-3. Also corrected a typo in the sgf comments.

Congrats on playing in a tourney.

I'm not sure at C13 is a must. Your move was big, too.
For , how about just pull back at Q11 ?

At 93 connect at O13 and capture the right-side group in a loose ladder: B-Q12, W-Q14, B-R13, W-S13, B-R14, W-S14, B-R15, W-R16, B-S15, W-S16, B-T15, W-T16. Your cutting stones have just enough liberties for this.

_________________
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

I am having trouble understanding this comment. With the coordinates that I see, O13 has been occupied since move 36, so Black cannot play there on move 93. (My coordinates start at A1 in the bottom left, where White has an isolated stone on hoshi. Letters run from A to T, omitting I.)

Ed: Thanks for your suggestion. I will make a diagram to reinforce the point.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c Reinforce your own stones, then attack!
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O O X . O . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . X 3 . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . c . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . b . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . O . , . O . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

White can play at a to force Black b, but White's invasion has gained very little. White could also play at c instead of .

Sorry, I only just realized that I must have been using Go Eye to view the game on my iPad. I have never noticed that Go Eye has the numbers running from top to bottom instead of bottom to top! Here is what I meant. Note that the marked stones have 3 liberties while White has only two. White can not play atari at "a" because Black can counter atari from the other side and catch White in a snapback.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm93 Loose ladder 1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O O X . O . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . , . . . X . X X . . |
$$ | . X O O . . . . . . . . . O . O X . . |
$$ | . X X O . . . . . . . . . . O O O . . |
$$ | . X O . O . . . . . . . . O X X . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O X X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O B a X O X . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . O B B . O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O X O O O O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X X X O 2 X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O X . 1 X O 4 5 . |
$$ | . . O . . . . X X . O X O . O 3 6 7 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O X . O X X O . X 8 0 . |
$$ | . . . O . . . O X X O O X . . , 9 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O X O O . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm3 Loose ladder 2
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O O X . O . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . , . . . X . X X . . |
$$ | . X O O . . . . . . . . . O . O X . . |
$$ | . X X O . . . . . . . . . . O O O . . |
$$ | . X O . O . . . . . . . . O X X . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O X X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O X . X O X . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . O X X . O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O X O O O O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X X X O O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O X . X X O O X . |
$$ | . . O . . . . X X . O X O . O X O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O X . O X X O . X O O 2 |
$$ | . . . O . . . O X X O O X . . , X 1 3 |
$$ | . . . . . . O X O O . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

_________________
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

At 52, I thought that white should play C12. When he fails to do so, it is a big move for you at 53.

On move 61, your shape looks good if you play P7; his looks terrible.

_________________
Help make L19 more organized. Make an index: https://lifein19x19.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5207