http://senseis.xmp.net/?DieterVerhofsta ... OfMistakes
Yes, I'm luring you back to Sensei's Library.
Well, I'll just copy the second part of that essay here. You are welcome to respond at either place.Kinds of mistakes
Last week, I found myself increasingly annoyed when watching some games of my fellow club members (mostly I ravel at the club atmosphere) while waiting for an opponent. I tried to stop these negative emotions and started wondering what it was precisely that frustrated me so much. After all, I'm a weak 2 dan myself and I'm sure stronger players will frown at many of my moves. So I thought about the kinds of mistakes one can make
The reading mistake
Putting oneself in atari, misreading a capturing race, not seeing a connection ... Although these classify in the blunder spectrum, which can make the game very frustrating, they are caused by lack of concentration or a plain brain failure. You have either not seen something which suddenly becomes apparent, or lured yourself into seeing something different.
Painful as they are, I believe these mistakes are forgivable.
The lack of knowledge
A mistake of direction, playing close to thickness, not sacrificing unimportant stones, invading prematurely ... all these things are caused by a lack of insight into the game. It is not until someone has thoroughly explained the concept you're lacking, or you read a book, or seen it happen, that you can start consciously working on this. This is what improvement is all about. So, this kind of mistake is highly forgivable, if not necessary.
The emotional move
If only you could always remain calm and analyze the situation ... unfortunately, or maybe even necessarily, we also have feelings about the game and want to punish, come back, finish off, display prowess and all other instances of seven deadly sins in Go. Not making such mistakes is another lifelong path of mental improvement.
So, which mistakes really do annoy me?
The mindless sequence
The moves that really annoy me are those that seem to come out of no thinking or feeling at all.
- Playing small endgame moves and really taking your time for it, while a big group has been captured and you're more than 40 points behind and you know it.
Playing out a ladder while you *know* it doesn't work. "Yeah, I knew it wouldn't work"
Responding to a bad move by another bad move, because you think that, since the opponent made an odd choice, an odd answer is called for.
I see these things time and time again and they make me mad! Why would a player take minutes to play yet another move that fixes the shape of an already lost game? Please, try to turn around the game and go for a crazy invasion while you still can. Or push with every move, provoking conservative answers that may slowly grind you back into the game. Why playing out something you know doesn't work? And above all, why not play the simple, normal response to yet another bad move? What's wrong with basic technique?
Go is all about thinking and feeling. Thinking wrong or having bad feelings is ok. You'll learn from it. Not thinking about the game and having no feelings at all about it is not ok. You might just as well not have played.