otenki wrote: Well the problem was when I did reply to their moves all the time.
In the beginning they said I was replying everything very well but then it turned into (for me) very complicated fights all over the board...
The problem probably wasn't that you replied, but how you replied. The two things I learned about high handicap games this year are these:
All the handicap stones are Influence-oriented, not territorial. That's the thing with 4-4 stones in the corners and even more so with the 10-4 stones and Tengen. They don't help you win fights over corners outside of letting you make otherwise unreasonable cuts because you win early ladders. They are supposed to make it easier to press White down, grab large territories on the sides, and make it very hard for White to live in the center.
The problem is White knows these things and will try to pick fights that damage your handicap stones. He might try to force you underneath where you have less help from your handicap stones and build a wall for himself that negates almost almost all the support for nearby corners, the center, and sides. He could also trick you into taking small corners while living on the side with a clear path into the center for his living group.
One thing White will almost always do is try to get as many of his stones onto the board as soon as possible. While position is critical to the value of stones, raw numbers are still very powerful. In a 9-stone game Move 1 ends with 9 Black stones and 1 White stone. Move 3 ends with only a 5-1 ratio. Move 5 ends with a 3-1 ratio. See that global numerical superiority dwindling? Unless White lets his whole group get sealed under in a fight those stones are going to keep haunting you, gutting your handicap.
The ratio is even worse locally. When White approaches a corner Black has 1 corner stone and maybe 1 side star-point stone - plus a helpful ladder-breaker at Tengen or the opposite corner. That's really not a huge advantage in local fighting if you don't enough game experience yet to make the stones work together.
otenki wrote: I replied to most of their moves, I think I should have tenuki'd way more.
It's not really that you need to tenuki away all the time (I mistakenly tried this very early in 6-to-9-stone games), it is that you don't have to always reply with thick play locally. You can play lightly and make advantageous trades instead of you smashing headlong into contact fighting. He approaches your 4-4 stone? Don't bother kicking it or attaching to it. Both of those make his lone stone stronger and will result in him projecting strength towards the side and the center. Consider if you can take away the double-approach from the other side to create a strong framework in response. Alternately, pincer him using the side star-point behind his approach to support your pincer. Just remember not to start pointlessly chasing him into the center. It's way too early for that.
Play lightly, laying down a good framework in the early game. Try to keep your groups connected and White's groups separated. Encirclement can develop naturally from there, and it'll force White to pick multiple fights with you before he has a solid base. Once most of the big moves in Fuseki are settled (let's say for simplicity's sake that there are no more open 2-space extensions to be made along the 3rd or 4th lines) it's the perfect time to start fighting in earnest and making thick, powerful shape connected to your living bases.
- Marty Lund
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