These days I'm running a small go club at the library (among other projects) and haven't got the time or energy to play tough matches on KGS. Most of my Go time is spent coaching people who are new enough to need a 4-17 stone handicap against me. We just have one player who is above my level slightly (I caught up and beat him for several games, but am back to losing all the time. Don't know if I regressed or he improved.) My KGS rank crept up to 12k as I stopped playing as much, but I'm pretty sure I was still actually 14k when I left.

But I still find time for quick games against the computer. I go on huge losing streaks for days at a time, then look at someone else's game analysis or a pro game and say, "Oh, yeah, that's how it's played" and make the computer resign for the next few games before reverting to type.

So, anyone feel like having a look at my last game? And maybe giving a few tips/remarks? Frankly, the computer made some real bonehead moves this game, part of why I won. If white had been a human, I'd have called #86 a wild, hopeless gamble. My life-and-death/capturing race skills are still weak, but they didn't come into this game much.

Does it still look like 14k, do you think?

It's really hard to say... GnuGo looks like it's playing at around ~20k, and when one player is playing like that it just looks like a 20k game, not like a game between (say) a 14k and a 20k.

Really, I don't think you should care. You're at a point in your life where you're too busy to play go on the internet, and you're having fun introducing beginners to the game (quite successfully, too, if they're beating you already). Just have fun! The kyu ranks don't mean much anyway... just different grades of ignorance.

Your rank/skill level can change very quickly where you are ranked. It's possible that he became a few stones stronger and that you could catch up with a small amount of study.

But it's best to not worry about it too much.

I really can't tell the difference between a 12kyu and a 14kyu these days and with a bit of study, you can be a 10kyu or 8kyu in not too long.

Things that come to mind,

1) you're spending too many moves building walls that still have weaknesses, in the upper left corner, you gave up sente a few times to try to improve the situation and still had major issues with the shape (E15 and B17 both give up sente up there, while still leaving the major weakness at H16. The result is that that wall should be pretty useless in any real kind of fight. F15 was just too thin)

2) P14 does not attack the white stone well, white has plenty of room to live, and it leaves a lot of room for him to still take the right side. When he tenukis though, O18 seems like a really odd followup. It's trying to gut his base.. but because of the H16 weakness, black should not really hope to pull anything off here. By move 41, you end up with great shape here, but it's because white just pushed at your thinness in exactly the wrong ways.

3) O4 is a very slow, small move, you're letting him make big moyo creating moves, while trying to save a single stone that is very near a corner enclosure.


Ultimately, white killed itself, but I think the big things you need to work on are:

a) Stay efficient, you're playing very over-concentrated and not making good use of sente
b) A wall means very little if it has a weakness, it's very difficult to fight with it.

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Tactics yes, Tact no...

It might help if you ask yourself what w is trying to do with his 68. He wants to help his endangered group around M17. Your 69 and 71 helped him towards his goal. If he had answered H12 and H13 it would have weakened your guard post at K14; probably enough for his goal. Better still he might play 70 at K16 aiming at cutting at H16, connecting at J15 or living at L17. Enough to give you headache. So at 69 you should fortify your guard at K14, to protect your biggest asset in this game = the weakness of the M17 group. Maybe L14, K15 or K16. I prefer the latter <edit>, risky <\edit> option.
edit2: b69 at J13 is even more interesting; it combines defense and attack.

Thanks, everyone!

You're quite right, Cyclops, I didn't realize what white was up to in time.Thought it was an overplayed attempt to cut and divide my groups, and didn't see where it was headed for a few moves.

Shapenaji, I will try to bear that advice in mind in future games.