Of course, all due respect to my opponent, who played much better than I. However, there are better things I could've done.

So where did I go wrong in this game, strategically? It was a cross game, so I thought it'd be more territorial. But somehow I already fell behind some 30-40 moves in. What choices were wrong?

The moves that caught my eye:
is quite small and not sente. I'd much prefer taking care of the q4 stone (especially since q10 is already played), so maybe r6 or o3?

I find the idea interesting but I'm not sure the c12 area is really important now. I would have kept playing in the lower left to prevent black from making this area grow for him (maybe c3, f3 or e6?)

After move 67, the white stones at g-j-k16 and d8-9-c10-11-12 don't seem to do much, especially because of black f16. Still looks like a game though

Your early play was not bad. It's just that your opponent kept up with you. Most of your opponents at that level do not. Later, White fell behind in the center with a couple of lax plays. White also missed a tesuji on the right side.

Plays to note: and White 102.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

@Shenoute

Interesting, thanks. 22 is in fact not so big, but to me it served two purposes: it avoided getting surrounded easily for my upper right group and it might put some pressure on the black group later on.

@Bill
As always, very much obliged for your comments and variations. I can see now where the game slipped away from white. I guess the variation you showed in the lower right is a joseki? I'll have to learn that one
A couple of moves you suggested were also considered during the game. I see that as a positive that I also saw this move, but a negative that I opted for the inferior move instead.

Agreed, but I don't think being surrounded is too much of a problem here because to achieve this result black would probably be gote (in other words, you take sente once with 22 and another time after black has surrounded you). At this stage of the game, I'd gladly take two moves in a row somewhere and let black surround me at the top.

Putting some pressure on the black group in the upper left kind of has the same sente problem in my mind (but to black's benefit this time). Sure it will enable you to put some pressure in the future but to do that you'll need to add another move (c18 for instance) which may not even be sente. So black gets sente once (move 23) and maybe twice since c18 doesn't seem too much of a threat in the opening.

Just my 2 cents of course

The hane you played is an old joseki, but after solidifying the wall it is a bit over concentrated. Modern pros often play the pincer at that point.



Considering those plays is the main thing. It takes time to develop judgement. But you can't choose the right play if you never consider it.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Move 22 has already taken plenty of duly deserved criticism, so I won't pile on. However, I see white 22 as a continuation on a theme - a theme that I find to be dubious.

I think that it starts at move 12.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

At this point, the top side is more black's area than white's. A go player with fighting spirit of course does not want to grant anything to his opponent too easily, so we tend to overplay such situations and slam a stone down in the middle of the opponent's area of influence.
A more enlightened course may be to let the opponent take what is probably already his, and go after bigger parts of the board that are unclaimed.

With a simple tobi, white starts claiming the right side of the board. The shaded areas are still open for future invasions, and the circled points are possible continuations.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . X . . X . ? ? . . . . ? . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , ? ? . 2 . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . C . 1 . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I'm not going to claim that the tobi is indeed the better move, but I mention it to illustrate a different and more expansive view of the board. You don't have to fight over everything. Sometimes it is better not to.

I recommend Joaz's version of the 'Serenity Prayer': “God grant me the serenity to ignore the fights I cannot win, the courage to start the fights I can win, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
That is true fighting spirit.

==============================================

At move 17, black makes a bland move.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

Joseki is to play at the cicled point, a far more confining move. Even if you don't know the joseki, you can see that black is staying further away from the white stone at R14 than required.
The R14 stone still has some interesting aji, which might later be brought to life with an attachment at one of the triangled points. Such a play could be big if it allows white to live in what is starting to look like black territory.

To ensure that the aji remains, the last thing white wants to do is to encourage black to play near the R14 stone.

So I was dismayed to see this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . X . . X . C C . O . O O 3 . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . C . . X X 1 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . C X . 4 2 . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . W . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Now the aji is almost extinguished.

Note that white does not need to strengthen his corner. There are miai plays to east (S16) and west ( the circled points ).

_________________
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