Hi all,

As I said in the introduction area of the forum, I am trying to get back to the game after a pause of two years, and have been trying to brush up on my fundamentals, which got a bit rusty after this interval without playing...

Last night I played a very interesting game on KGS, and would really appreciate it if you guys could help me by commenting it. I played White. I don't have any particular area of the game in mind-- I am trying to find out what my weakest spots are, where my fundamentals are most obviously lacking. Did I make any obviously weak tactical or strategic mistake? Is there something basic that I am overlooking? Any principle that good sense suggests I should follow but I am not? ...?

Ah, one other thing: I started playing 4 years ago, reached about 14-15k on KGS, and then was forced to stop playing for a couple of years, as I mentioned. As you can see, now that I am trying to get back my ranking, after a few very weak return games on KGS, is a temporary (?) 22k. Based on the game I am attaching, however, what level would you say the game was played at? Since my opponent (Black) had no rating, it is hard for me to say how many stones I lost after not playing for sometime. Also, at what level would you say that my opponent played?

Thanks a lot in advance!
-Brenno

We've proven here, multiple times, that it's extremely difficult to judge level from a game. However, this game gives me no reason to doubt KGS's guess of 22k. Note that KGS and IGS ratings are not very similar, especially at that level across a gap of two years, so I would not recommend comparing them.

A few comments:

#12: weird (R15 looks appropriate)
#14: you can't build a big area on top, so this seems like the wrong direction.
#28: no, cut! (P13)
#30: no, draw back. (J16)
#32: no, draw back. (J16)
#52: this hurts your weak group.

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Seriously, about fundamentals:

1) On the right side - approximately moves 14 to 28 - you are trying to attack by building walls on both side while he runs out between. This is inherently disadvantageous for you because you are distributing your moves among two groups, whereas he can use all of his moves on one group of his. In other words, his group will run twice as fast as its pursuers. The longer that you continue this, the more likely it is that the intended victim will get strong in the center and then come back to hurt you later.
In such situations, the best play is either to cap it ( move 14 at O13 or 16 at M12 ) so that it cannot run out, or to leave it alone and build strength elsewhere and try to sneak up on it later.

2) Moves 30 and 32 create a symetrical position, but your opponent has the first move. Such situations are usually bad for the player who moves second. Note that Daniel's advice for those moves create a position that is asymetrical.

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At you need to connect your two groups immediately.

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Ahh, yes, this reminds me of another fundamental where you could improve. There were numerous opportunities for you to connect your own groups and cut his:

28: Cut him at P13

33,35,37: Good play by him, separating your stones.

43: Good play by him, connecting his stones.

64: This encourages him to connect. But you could cut at L10.

72: Good. Connects your stones.

78: Another good move by you, disconnecting his stones.

82: It is good that you wanted to play H15 next move, but why wait?

88: As Hyperpape notes, you MUST connect at H12. It is a huge move, worth something like 40-50 points.

94: Nice cut!

104: Connect at S11, threatening to make eyes with S9. Again, this is a huge move.

140: Good!

153: This has been hanging since move 88.

Make the right plays as noted above, and you would win this game by 50+ points.

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Hey all,

Thanks so much for the comments. Going over the game now, I see the many opportunities I missed for cutting and/or connecting. Hyperpape: I realize (only now, after the fact) how big connecting at H12 on move 88 was. Same goes for the connection at S11 on move 104. Joaz: the many examples of where I failed to cut or connect were particularly helpful. And in hindsight (and only then, of course) some of them seem embarrassingly obvious. Thanks for taking the time to point them out.

Daniel: you said move 12 at P15 was "weird" -- and that R15 seemed more appropriate. Does weird in this context mean it is simply not as common/usual as R15, or is it necessarily a weak move? If it is indeed a weak move, do you mind expanding a bit on why it is so?


Again, thank you for all the comments. At least now I know one of the areas to focus on as I go back to my Go studies.

-B

brenno: I can't speak for Daniel, but the kick (r15, followed by W q14 and B o16) prevents him from getting a base in the corner, and he can't extend down the side because the pincer is already in place (r12 is as far as he can go), so black's stones will just float there, vulnerable to attack, while you solidify territory.

To me this makes the kick, or some other move denying access to the corner, seem very good. W q14, threatening to block B's access to the center, looks reasonable too. P15 is neither fish nor fowl. Your two ambitions here should be to seal black off from the center or to prevent him from settling in the corner. Which of those does P15 do?

That said, josekipedia recognizes your move (p15) as potentially joseki when your L17 stone is in place; but I think the pincer overrules that consideration. This shape is much more common when you have a 3-4 stone in place (q17, low approach at r15, white replies at p16), and you may be vaguely remembering that sequence.

Hi Brenno, notice these broken shapes:
At , broken shape for Black:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$----------------------
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . O . . . . . . . . |
$$ , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ . . . . . O . . . . |
$$ . . . O . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ . . Y Y Y . . . . . |
$$ . . @ @ @ . . . . . |
$$ , . . Y . O , O . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . X . O . . . . . |[/go]

And as Daniel and Joaz pointed out, at , if you push through -- again, broken shape for Black:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$----------------------
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . O . . . . . . . . |
$$ , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ . . . . . O . . . . |
$$ . . . O . . . X . . |
$$ . X . . . @ Y . . . |
$$ . . X X Y @ . . . . |
$$ . X O O O . . . . . |
$$ , . . X . O , O . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . X . O . . . . . |[/go]

At , broken shape for White ( was very bad):

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$------------------------
$$. . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$. . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$X X . . Q . . . . . . . . |
$$O O # # # . . . . O . . . |
$$. . O Q . . . . O . . . . |
$$. . . . . . O . . . X . . |
$$. . . . X . . . . X . . . |[/go]

In all three cases, the problem was a wrong or missing move earlier.

At :w218:, you can capture the stone black just played.

You should note that even at the very end of the game, after both players pass, black can make one point by playing at G6 and capturing a stone. In close games like this, you don't want to miss this!

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jts: thanks for explaining the reasoning behind R15, and why my move was not the best choice. After reading your post, I searched some online databases (sl's etc) -- and that alone has made me learn a lot.

Edlee: shape is one of those concepts that, in the abstract, fascinate me, but in concrete play still prove to be much too elusive. Knowing that such and such shapes are good shape (because the book says so) is very different from understanding *why* it is so, the reasons why we call this or that shape good or bad in the first place. Your comments made me start to see a little bit of that. Thanks!

Dusk Eagle: Yeah, in the end I passed quite a few times while B insisted on playing. I thought the game was "basically" over, while he went for the last moves. When it comes down to a matter of a few points, perhaps there is no such a thing as "basically" over...

Well, guys, thanks a lot for all the feedback. They've given me the opportunity to review my game quite a few times, and I am begin to note things that I didn't even suspect were there.

Oh, as an aside: I've spent the last few days going carefully over some Malkovich games-- and this has also been helping immensely. I can see now the huge gap that separates my thought process, as a DDK, from the thought process of much stronger players. This kind of looking into a player's thoughts is much more helpful, at least at my level, than going over collections of annotated games. I am guessing I will be spending quite a few time going over other Malkovich games in the time to come...

Yes. And - makes another broken shape for yourself.

I found Charles Matthews' book Shape Up to be really valuable in understanding shape.

You might try glancing at it--some sections will be too hard, but some may be just what you need to demystify the concept.

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