I'm not sure whether I should be pleased or disgusted with this game. There were many times where I felt like I could have played a whole lot better. But, I suppose I shouldn't be too let down considering this was someone far above me in skill level. Any thoughts?

_________________
Slava Ukraini!

4: O16 is easier, this leaves a bit of a weakness for a cunning opponent, at places like R17. Not a game losing mistake, though


14: Pretty boring, taking bad shape in return for giving white the corner. R3 seems fine, taking territory - if white pushes out, the P7 group is well placed to mount a splitting attack on both white groups.

16: Very bad, this move gains you nothing but loses you a liberty, but you might have wanted to play S5 later. Just omit this.

22: Very bad, I think. This protects 2 points of territory in gote, the R8 area is pretty worthless. Now white has sente to play the massive P2 move, or can think about pushing and cutting at Q6 later because of black's bad move at R5 losing a liberty. You should probably play at Q3 instead, fixing your shape whilst reducing white's area.

24: O3 seems like a better shape if you want to push white down.

26: Very very bad, taking bad shape in return for 1 point and making white's territory solid. Just omit this, and keep your shape okay whilst preserving a ko threat. You can always play here later, as it is gote for white to do it, so he won't.

28: Bad, pushing from behind. IF you want to play here, play N3 and get pushed by white instead.

30: Leaves the corner weak. F4 or F3 is easier, or C5 to attack.

42: E3 seems better, now it leaves white very weak.

74: A curious shape. You aren't forced into an empty triangle, so jump further to L14 or similar.

78: Very very bad. Simply a rubbish shape. R16 protects the S17 stone whilst threatening white's eyeshape, so you can fix in sente instead.

82: Simply protecting the corner seems easier. All your moves strive for the centre, but a cunning opponent will use this to take the corner from you. If the centre is small (and even if it's big, it's usually risky), you will lose points. Bear this in mind.

86: Given your next move, very bad. Just think, all you need to do is kill white on one side. In that case, C17 is good, followed by C16 I think. Now white has to fix the E18 group, and black will have time to make C14 very dead.

94: This falls for white's ploy to disconnect you. D12 seems better, if you just want to connect. Not sure what's best...E11 may make miak of D12 and F12, but it's risky.

101: Falling for white's move lets him do this, which obviously is quite annoying.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
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$$ | . . . X . . . . . X . . . . . X . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . X . . . . . X . . . |
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$$ | . . . X . . . . . X . . . . . X . . . |
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$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I'd like to appeal to your sense of balance. You've got two groups involved in the action. Which one is stronger? It may be a hard question to answer, but as a rule of thumb you can simply compare the number of stones they have. The corner group has three stones and the side group has two. So the corner is stronger. You've got to keep things in balance, so you need to add another stone to the side group. The precise placement of the move is not essential, but you can do something line this.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . X . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . X . . . 1 . X . . . |
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$$ | . . . X . . . . . X . . . . . X . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Now both groups have three stones each, so they are in balance (more or less).

You did this instead.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . X . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . X . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . X . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Strengthening the group that was already strong and abandoning the weaker group that needs help.


The overall impression that I get from the game is that you are like a child who is afraid to stray from the parent by more than two paces. The only time you took initiative was at move 108. I thought you finally decided to attack White's stones in middle right, but you didn't. You went for a little lump of stones on the other side.

A few ideas: