Hello everyone! I finally got an interesting game I would like you to review.

For the record, this is my level without go books or teacher. Let's see how far I can improve from there



Of course, the game is far from being perfect, but I think I made a pretty good job (for an online game).

Note: I realized after the game that B19 is an overplay. Black was dead already.

12: Blocked the wrong direction. Since white gets gote from this joseki, he must have a stone on the side already (or it must be specially important to have a wall facing that direction) to play this joseki. It should also be a high stone, since a low stone is susceptible to reduction.

20: Since Black made the bad exchange B4-B5, I believe that blocking F4 directly is better, since the cut is less of a problem. This is possibly just my preference, but it's an idea.

22: Can be one line further. It looks a bit overconcentrated.

24: Do not play such moves if you want to be shodan. There's a time and a place for armpit hits (Search on sensei's library if you don't know what this is) but this isn't it. Play R6 directly or invade the corner or something if you want to go in this area (Which you should.).

26: At least play S10 hane before this. It's free.

28: White's shape is truly awful. Q10 is the shape point, but black already has it. I think getting the S10 hane and playing Q6 instead of this is about as good as you can get from this

32: Allowing black to get a ponnuki is too painful. Don't.

44: Unnecessary. Maybe you can cut R11 and do something with that. Read it out.

46: Unnecessary. At least play O9, though.

52: Inconsistent. What is the point of N11?

62: A thank-you move. Try to separate the two black stones.

82. Unreasonable. There's no cut here, and you are wasting the aji of e18.

104: Might as well pass.

106: Why let two stones go so easily?

114-130: Why play any of these moves?

132, 134: There is extremely bad cut aji on top. Fix that yesterday.

Thanks for your review. As I mentioned, I'm new to the game (3 months) and I'm struggling to get to shodan. Soon, I'll start reading go books and I'll get a teacher. Therefore, my level should improve even faster.

Your review will help me get through this more easily, thank you very much for your time.

3 months and you're 7k? Impressive .

I've made a few comments about the opening; I hope they're useful (and hopefully they're easy enough to understand).

_________________
We don't know who we are; we don't know where we are.
Each of us woke up one moment and here we were in the darkness.
We're nameless things with no memory; no knowledge of what went before,
No understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be.

you should probably not connect. After O11, O9, I think you can play R11 with good results. If Black doesn't play O9, you can come back to connect, and you're better off having forced at O11.

In general, whenever your opponent peeps, you should spend time thinking whether you can play a forcing move first, or protect the cut without solidly connecting. Most of the time, you should connect, but you shouldn't do it automatically--if you do it automatically, you'll give your opponent a free reign to peep whenever he wants to.

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Occupy Babel!

black can not hanne from this shape.
white should cut as below..then black can not defend both a and b.
shodan 101 but missed by many shodans.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 1 O O O . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . a X X 2 X . O . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 5 4 3 b . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

_________________
"The more we think we know about
The greater the unknown"
Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson

Move 276, it was NOT seki before you made the eye. He could not make seki.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c Problem
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | X X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | O O O X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | W X O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

This is the "seki" you were thinking of right? Black to play and kill (ko is not acceptable)

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Tactics yes, Tact no...

@shapenaji Nice. Easy enough to solve, but I would never have thought of it. To me, the position looks like Black can do something, but I don't think I'd see the right move without being told it can be killed..

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Occupy Babel!

Sorry, I am the only one of this community who can't solve this too simple problem. I get:

BTW: nice comments, really clarifying!

@cyclops - try reading out some other moves for

And ps - if B did make that ko, he shouldn't win it by making the nakade shape...

Ok, that is at least obvious


Last try!
a3 is killed immediately, leaving seki.
Anything else, including pass, is followed by a3 leaving seki. I am going to throw my go stones out of the window now!

Hmm, you're probably visualizing the right position after white plays a3 and thinking it's seki. What happens if black keeps making moves?

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Occupy Babel!

Ok, got it. Nice, hmmmm, going to grab my go stones from outside.

At move 69, play S9. Sure, he can capture you. When he does, play S9 again. Notice that when he is done capturing all of your stones there, he has no eye. Eventually, he has to fill S9 himself.
This is known as a 'throw-in'. It can be a very useful eye-killing technique. See http://senseis.xmp.net/?ThrowIn

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Oh, I noticed C1 was killing the group after the game during the review. I was talking with my opponent when I noticed

I llllove this kind of one move "blind spot" problems. So obvious, but not obvious...

Please more !!!

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If you say no, Elwood and I will come here for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of the week.

You prefer this over 67 at T7?

@entropi: Love them also. Especially after solving!
@Leyleth: Very good to have spotted this! Really on your way to shodan!

I could have suggested a better move 67, and minor improvements on a handful of other moves. But I don't want to bury the OP. I wanted to offer him the most basic, fundamental advice that I could.
With that goal in mind, I chose to mention the throw-in. I consider it 'more fundamental' than the encroachment at T7, because it shows up in both variations - move 67 at T7 or at T9.

This throw-in wrecks the eye after 67 at T9:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . X . |
$$ . X X X O 2 |
$$ . O O O 3 1 |
$$ . . . X O . |
$$ . . . X O . |
$$ . . X X X . |
$$ . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . |[/go]

This kills the eye too:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . X . |
$$ . X X X O 3 |
$$ . O O O 2 1 |
$$ . . . X O . |
$$ . . . X O . |
$$ . . X X X . |
$$ . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . |[/go]

If he plays 67 at T7, he may still need to do a throw-in. Move 3 is elsewhere, but after 4, throw-in at 'a' is needed.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . X . |
$$ . X X X O 4 |
$$ . O O O a . |
$$ . . . X O 2 |
$$ . . . X O 1 |
$$ . . X X X . |
$$ . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . |[/go]

I figure that it is best to give him a technique that appears in multiple lines rather than a technique that shows up in one. Indeed, 'a good move showing up in lots of variations' may be the very definition of 'fundamental'.

To the OP: As Cyclops says, at move 67, T7 is best. But once you have missed it and played T9, you still have a chance to destroy his eye with S9.
Note that they are different techniques. One pushes in from the outside to restict eyespace, the other destroys the eye from the inside.
The general pattern will be to employ the outside squeeze first, the throw-in second. ( FWIW, the throw-in is often combined with vital point placements. There are exceptions. It can get tricky. )

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You guys are missing that white can't make an eye on the right edge of the board after , period. Thus, any move by black on the right edge of the board is about as good as passing.

_________________
We don't know who we are; we don't know where we are.
Each of us woke up one moment and here we were in the darkness.
We're nameless things with no memory; no knowledge of what went before,
No understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be.

I would prefer 67 at K7