This diagram reminds me of when I was 2 or 3 dan. At that time I relied upon shape to judge a lot of early play. That served me pretty well; first, because early positions are not easy to count accurately, and second, because I was pretty good at getting better shape than my opponents. Then I was reading a book by Sakata, in which he showed a variation that I would have chosen in a game, because both sides got good shape. I judged that as an even exchange. But Sakata, while acknowledging the good shape, said that he had felt that the result was not good enough, and had sought complications. The message was quite plain that I needed to develop my judgement beyond questions of shape.

Here, White has good shape, obviously, and Black is solid. At pak0's level he could be satisfied. Oh! And I am impressed that he apparently plans to take sente after .



All I can say is Bravo, pak0! You are way ahead of where I was at that level.

Now, if you had just thought of that on your previous move.

And Merry Christmas!

I'm sure I'm not the only person this happens to, but I find that insights like this can be very common... immediately after the move that commits you to a less than desirable position. The other thing that happens is that you see that the line leads to some issue like this, but don't see a viable alternative.

Please tell us there's a point when you get past this issue.

OK. Yes, there is a point where you can get past this issue (except on rare occasions, OC ). Avoiding errors that are immediately obvious, once played, is part of playing up to yourself. As bridge great, Terence Reese said,



After digesting that I can truly say that I played up to myself nearly all the time at bridge, and most of the time at go. A DDK can play to himself or herself. OTOH, if you are a carefree player, oopsies are fine. (I used to bite my mouth and cheeks in my sleep at bridge tournaments. There are tradeoffs. But that one was not really necessary.)

In this case pak0 did not see the overconcentration when he played the extension. He saw it as a severe attack. The fact that later he became aware of the overconcentation is wonderful. I think that he is playing above himself.

Debating between this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . X O . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O X X . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . X O X . O . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . W . O X X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . X . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

and this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . X O . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O X X . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . W X O X . O . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . X . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Might be good to make some sort of plan for what to do next, before deciding on this move.

Hah!
So apropos.

To be honest, I'm not really sure what's best. I tried to think of a plan. I played this move, because if he captures, I can atari, and it's same shape as I wanted before:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . X O . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O X X . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . W X C X . O . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . 2 1 . O X X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . X . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

So he might be tempted to move out:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . X O . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O X X . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . W X O X . O . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . 1 2 . O X X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . X . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

but then I'll connect and try to start a fight. If it were even game, I wouldn't dream of it, but maybe I can get some sort of advantage with local fighting if he tries.

Mh, this is at least a little surprising. I think taking here is the only move, but I'm still gonna do some quick reads before I commit.

Seems fine, so lets go for it

Expected, gotta decide between M8 and M9

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

Or here.

This looks like bad shape, but it seems to leave behind less bad-aji than the hane

Finally paK0 reveals that he really is a kyu player and not a dan player in disguise.
Atari on top side is huge now.

My guess is that Kirby is not going to play that atari now.

Several big places now, but I'll try to make use of my thickness in the center.

I can take the initiative on the left side of the board. if I can get some profit there, at some point, I have to come back to the right side and make some points there, so black doesn't get the entire right side.

That's for later, though.

I was expecting K15, but either way I will extend. I'm not really commited to saving that stone or anything, but if he wants to have it he will have to work for it.

Best case: I can sacrifice those stones and gain some thickness, preferably towards the left side. I'm not sure if that is possible, but I'll keep it in the back of my head.

Well, my prediction was wrong.

But bravo, pak0! Good thinking. Such a player is hard to beat.

So far, I think this game is brilliant.

Kirby recognizes the early disadvantage and respects pak0 enough not to play insane or foolhardy moves in the opening. Kirby is banking on his superior playing ability, not an opponent's stupidity. There is a willingness to poke and prod around the board, asking for a little of something everywhere, but not everything in any one place.

Likewise, pak0 acknowledges that Kirby is stronger, but does not become overly timid. It can be hard to trust in ones reading when facing a stronger opponent. Still, pak0 is not surrendering fights and saying "well, my opponent is 9 stones stronger, so I must just be misreading." Nor does pak0 simply follow Kirby around the board and hope for the best.

These players have good plans and good attitudes. It is not that both have played flawlessly; it is that both have played correctly for their skill level. That is all that can be asked for in an amateur game.

I do hope they continue this match. At the rate this is going, it could be a fantastic example of amateur handicap go.