I don't have that problem at all. I had a game yesterday where I spent 20-30 seconds per move in fuseki trying to figure out what I should play, and after I played , my opponent resigned!

He complained that if I was going to spend 20 seconds on a move that early, what was I going to do in the middle game, to which I rather irritatedly responded that he accepted a challenge with my time controls (20 min + 5 one-minute byo-yomi periods). If those are the terms, I'm going to use the time if I feel I need it. (Most of the time, I wind up playing a move every 12-15 seconds, except when I'm trying to count score.)

For me, any anxiety is over the fact that I plan to put a fair block of time into a game, only to find that everything is going pear-shaped early on again, especially if my opponent is playing at blitz speed. Every now and then, I'll get a game against somebody a stone stronger than I am who uses as much time as I do, and I find those tend to be the most engrossing games, even if I tend to lose many of those games by a small margin.

On what basis, though?

_________________
Confucius in the Analects says "even playing go is better than eating chips in front of tv all day." -- kivi

Doesn't he know that you are supposed to take most of your time in the fuseki. Pros have been know to almost go into byo yomi in the early middle game.

_________________
Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

Such rudeness!



Well, at least you had the courtesy not to point out that he was a {fill in the blank} who does not appreciate either the value of opening moves or the depth of your thought.

Next time tell him that you know someone who finishes a game in around one hour but who often takes one minute per move in the fuseki.

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Yes, good question. Good to question this. I think it has to do with perfcuktionism, with the delusion that one has to be “better” or something. For me at least this fits in “nicely” with depression.

_________________
“The only difference between me and a madman is that I’m not mad.” — Salvador Dali ★ Play a slooooow correspondence game with me on OGS?

To be fair, I wish my time spent thinking produced better moves.

Don't we all.

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Sometimes, I think a well-thought out bad move is more gratifying than a good move played without thought. You have experienced the game through thinking deeply, even if the game result is a loss.

The worst, though, are bad moves played with little to no thought. When you play such moves, you've gotta ask yourself, "Why am I even doing this?"

_________________
be immersed

But pro understand the strategic depth of the fuseki. Kyu level amateurs don't. I have no reason to spend even a second on because I usually have an idea on what I will play on the first corner as black before I play the game. can be different, obviously, because you have to adapt to whatever strategy you think black is used. can deserve some thinking time, but there's not much options : you approach a corner, or play whatever special strategy you want to use for the game. Though if was an approach, it may deserve more time to be spent on.

On the other hand, resigning because the opponent take too much time on his move is stupid : you should be happy that he give you so much additional free time to use!

For the record, here's the game in question:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c 11 at a
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 7 9 . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . 8 0 a . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 , . 6 . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I spent 24 seconds on trying to figure out if it would be bad if I let White play there and get a good moyo with and , or whether it would be worse if White approached me from the top and followed up around K16, getting a good moyo on the top.

surprised me, so I spent another 15 seconds thinking about whether to extend or hane.

After , I began to wonder whether I was going to be letting White get too much territory if I just kept extending, or whether I approached and let White hane. I didn't particularly like , but felt it was the best option. I spent a whopping 20 seconds on the move.

Well, certainly deserved thinking time as there are several valid options, though I don't like your option (if he play one point below what he played in the game and you make a 2 space extension, he can still make a shimari). one point higher may be playable, though for a play on the side, I would favour an approach (high so you don't give him a good pincer).

Playing on the bottom side would be good, too, and as he played one of the weakest 3-4 enclosure there is, you can expect some prospect on the side/the bottom left corner.

I'm not sure you should have been so afraid about him making a moyo, given that black would have an advantage in a moyo contest.

Some thinking time on whether to hane/extend is reasonable.

What's not to like about . That you hesitate about a hane at the end of two stone in such a position is a far greater problem than taking too much/not enough time on your moves I would say. Though obviously if White was strong enough in the area that the the cut was severe you should extend instead.

Spending 20 seconds on each move here doesn't seem unreasonable. I think everyone may be getting too used to us amateurs blitz playing until the first fight breaks out. As long as my opponent doesn't play something unusual I think I spend about 2 seconds per move as B in fuseki, though I always play Orthodox.

PeterN

I can relate to some of the things discussed in this and other posts about having very different feelings about games in real life vs games online.

I have played go since I was a kid, but never got very far (maybe around 10k or so), primarily I think because I have been very off and on.

Some of my best times playing go were when I played at a club that literally consisted of 2 old guys who played each other every week. They were very welcoming to anyone else who showed up too. I played many games particularly with one of them and they were always slow and without a clock. I learned a lot about the game and got much better at that time because I actually was thinking about what was going on on the board and making plans and trying things and then getting feedback on what worked and what didn't.

I also find that with chess, I much prefer slow games. Luckily there are several volunteer run leagues for slow chess online. These games often start with a base time of 45 minutes and add 45 seconds to your clock whenever you make a move. I also very often play 90 30. Think about this for a minute because most chess games have significantly fewer moves than go games.

I find that one thing is that if I play a game and really have time to think about what I am doing and why, I don't feel the loss in the same way. Though it is never fun to lose it doesn't hurt my enjoyment of the game in general.

On the other hand, when I find myself racing through a go game just slapping stones willy nilly and find that I have started some big fight I didn't have the time to understand or read out, and that I crash and burn, I often feel upset in a way that makes me not want to play anymore.

All this is to say, if anyone is interested in playing slow games, where it is understood from the beginning that a lot of time would be taken say starting with a base time of 60 or 90 minutes and then some form of increment or overtime then send me a message.