Ok, I'm really bad at journals but I thought I would give this a shot. I set a goal out earlier in the year to reach 6k before the end of 2010. It doesn't look like I'm going to make it, but I may reach 7k.

I don't really have a plan yet for this, but I'm hoping to single at least one game out a week, make some annotations in the sgf and upload it here.

I'm also open to any suggestions for the most productive way to organize this journal.

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Life is what you make of it, as long as you live.

I've been telling myself that I would start the process of making written comments in every game I play before playing another. I thought I could use this journal to start that pattern up. Until at least the end of the year I will post a short analysis of every rated game I play in this thread.

As you read through, please point out any major flaws in my reasoning, answer any questions that you can or show me any large moves that I completely missed.

Thank you in advance! Here is Game #1 against a 7k.

This game falls into a quickly growing category of losses for me: Games where I know my opponent is making bad moves, but I still can not win.

[sgf-full]http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=530[/sgf-full]

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Life is what you make of it, as long as you live.

Move 17: You know where he should have played. You should play there. What you played gives your own stones cutting points (which he failed to take full advantage of).



If you're trying to learn, this is terrible. Play the board, not the man (or woman). As it happens, your move (57) was fine, his response bad, and you should NOT have left it hanging there after he touched it.

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That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.
--
My (sadly neglected, but not forgotten) project: http://dailyjoseki.com

Here is game number two. Against a 9k. I am playing white.

I lost this game due to playing to small during the middle game. However, I have a feeling that the game never should have gotten as close as it did.

I believe the crucial points in the game to be moves:

10, 18, 24, 34, 42, 60, and 66 - All comments welcome!

[sgf-full]http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=536[/sgf-full]

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Life is what you make of it, as long as you live.

If it tells you how busy I've been, I haven't played go at all today. I might get a game in tonight though. Which makes this post pointless. But since its my thread, I guess I can post any nonsensical thing that I want.

to.

?

_________________
Life is what you make of it, as long as you live.

Here is game #3. A Handy win against a 7k. I thought that white played slow for some of the most important parts of the game. Although I messed up some tricky situations during mid and late game, I still won by a good margin.

Points of Interest:

Move 21: Too far for Black?
Move 25: Best idea in this situation?
Move 47: Too aggressive?
Move 79: Slow or appropriate?
Move 140: Fun tsumego
Move 198: Is variation 2 possible?



[sgf-full]http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=546[/sgf-full]

_________________
Life is what you make of it, as long as you live.

Move 21: Too far for Black?
it looks fine to me
Move 25: Best idea in this situation?
25 is bad for black if white answer O16. you should pincer M17 instead.
Move 47: Too aggressive?
it appears to be overplay..but sometimes overplay is only move you can make.
Move 79: Slow or appropriate?
it is good that you cover your weakness because you are winning by alot but...i would have played L9 because it looks better.
Move 140: Fun tsumego
148 should be J2 then white can get some bottom points
Move 198: Is variation 2 possible?
anything is possible but i dont think that will kill white group. question should be..is it necessary to play that?? answer is no. you are winning by too much already. you probably can get few more points and that will be more than enough. remember that greed will cause problem if you are not careful.

_________________
"The more we think we know about
The greater the unknown"
Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson

Thank you Oza! Regarding Move 47, What would you play in this position?

_________________
Life is what you make of it, as long as you live.

Not too many questions on this game. I had it under control and then lost focus. Woe is me.

[sgf-full]http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=548[/sgf-full]

_________________
Life is what you make of it, as long as you live.

i would play same move you played. not because it is correct move but because it is only move that follows the flow of the game. then again..what is the def: of correct?

_________________
"The more we think we know about
The greater the unknown"
Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson

I'll give you a tip about moves 37-41 in game #1.

It is related to two proverbs:
Proverb 1: During contact fighting, have as few solidly connected "chains" as possible (with as many liberties as possible).
After the cross cut below, black has as many as four "chains" of one stone each (marked), whereas white only has two. This means that black will have more cutting points, and white can do more damage to black's position. In fact, if white would have cut at 'a' he could have outright captured the central stone and the result would have been even worse for you (homework: confirm that he can capture).

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

How do you avoid this?

Proverb 2: after a crosscut, extend.
Any of the points a-d below are good extensions (in this particular case, I like 'c' best). If you just extend, you don't have to worry about cutting points later on.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . X . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . b . . . . . X X O O . |
$$ | . . . O . X . a X O . . . O O O X X . |
$$ | . . . . O X . . O X c . . O X X O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . d . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

In the game, after you've played the atari, you really should have come back to defend against the cut:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Must play this 3
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . X . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . X X O O . |
$$ | . . . O . X . . X O 1 . . O O O X X . |
$$ | . . . . O X . . O X 3 . . O X X O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

But let's tewari. After he plays 2 now, does 'a' look like a good move? No way, right? The points 'b' look much better! That is what just extending will do for you .

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Tewari
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . X . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . b 2 . . . . X X O O . |
$$ | . . . O . X . . X O a . . O O O X X . |
$$ | . . . . O X . b O X 1 . . O X X O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Briefly, a few miscellaneous comments on this game:
- Move 19 should be at R3 (same reason as above).
- Move 21 should be at R3 (better late than never...)
- Move 23 should be at S3 (now, the hanging connection has become the best shape)
- Move 71: the idea here is good, but you missed a tesuji. L7 captures.
- Move 79: good move! This makes good shape that won't come back to haunt you.

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My name is Gijs, from Utrecht, NL.

When in doubt, play the most aggressive move

Thanks for your comments Gaius! Very helpful.

Below is game 5 in my journal. I did not make a lot of comments inline because I felt I handled the overall play nicely. I made a few sloppy moves towards the end of mid-game.

Key Points.

[sgf-full]http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=549[/sgf-full]

Move 13: I wondered if this should have been around P4
Move 33: At L17 instead?
Move 51: necessary?
Move 61: Better to play under the invasion stone?

Thanks.

_________________
Life is what you make of it, as long as you live.

Only 5 games in and I am tired of this already. I've basically been down to 1 game a day instead of 3 or 4. And I'm feeling less like playing that 1 game. I'm going to play a few games without documenting them.

_________________
Life is what you make of it, as long as you live.

Regarding the most recent game:
9: Not sure this is urgent. However, if it is, I think approaching from below is better, since white has the option of harassing the corner around P4, otherwise. That said, I think I prefer to approach at F17, to cover ground faster.
11: Good! While the last move here may not have been urgent, this is. Pressuring the right-side white stone is well worth it. Your opponent's previous move, by the way, was really tiny. For your opponent, a play on the right side was bigger, then the top, then the left side.
13: While this is an active move, it removes a base from a group that already doesn't have room for a reasonable base. Instead, Q3 takes the corner and pressures the bottom white group. Remember, that kick is normally not recommended unless you have a pincer stone in place... which you do. Preventing white from settling below makes it so that he has a weak group on both sides of your stable corner group. After that, you can consider any splitting attacks, later.
33: Nah, I prefer the move you went with originally. White can't settle ideally, and the corner really is the biggest place for points.
51: Sente enough to be fine, I think?
34: While reasonably likely to settle, this move will do so for very few points (on the second line) and in gote. I prefer the one-space jump for white. It's worth noting that there are still weaknesses like M18.
37: I prefer turning at J18. It stabilizes your group fairly permanently, and in fairly good sente, as well.
61: I really like the idea behind this move. You probably don't need to play under the invasion, because white has to run. If white connects, you can stop and play underneath him. However, white cannot invade deeper until he is connected and alive, so focus on keeping him separate, like you did in the game.
73: This move is good, and gets profit for your attack, but at this juncture, I think the red mist would roll in over my vision, and I'd have to chase more aggressively with the cap at F13. While it makes points/reduction less immediately, it does give a bit more thickness to attack the left with, in addition to pressuring the running middle group much better. As it stands, you're ahead, so perhaps your less aggressive move is better. However, if you kill that group, there seems to be no recovery for white, and the cap seems kind of unpunishable.
75: This move is very big as a reduction. However, to chase the group, I would hane out to E13. If you can get white to force you to take thickness here, his stones will die automatically.
83: Now that white connected, you must defend around E12 to keep your reducing stones.
91: Since J15 will lock you in, this move doesn't seem to buy you much. I'd look for big endgame, like C2, C18, M2, then T2.
128: T10 should kill.

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Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].

Well, I managed to make 7k by the year's end as well as winning the ASR Gamma II class!

I'm fairly happy with how this year ended up and I'm looking forward to finding a way to focus my learning in 2011.

I win a teaching game for coming in 1st so perhaps I will ask my teacher what a good are to focus on would be.

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Life is what you make of it, as long as you live.

I have played several games since posting my last game. (Fun Fighting Game)

I have been attempting to put more thought into my fuseki and I felt this game was an improvement. Game comments inline.

[sgf-full]http://lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=890[/sgf-full]

_________________
Life is what you make of it, as long as you live.

A few ideas:
[sgf-full](;CA[utf-8]RU[Japanese]OT[5x30 byo-yomi]GM[1]FF[4]AP[CGoban:3]SZ[19]ST[2]DT[2011-05-08]
KM[6.5]TM[1500]RE[W+Resign]MULTIGOGM[0]
;B[dd]BL[1496.85];W[pp]WL[1494.76];B[dp]BL[1495.02];W[qd]WL[1490.95];B[cj]BL[1492.98]
;W[fc]WL[1479.72];B[ec]BL[1490.1];W[fd]WL[1476.55];B[cf]BL[1488.08]
(;W[nd]WL[1468.89]C[See var.];B[qk]BL[1485.61];W[qn]WL[1462.45];B[qh]BL[1483.41]
(;W[qf]WL[1436.37]C[Wrong direction. This side is small. See var.];B[jq]BL[1479.97]
(;W[jk]WL[1421.62]C[See var.];B[kc]BL[1473.74];W[id]WL[1407.28];B[ib]BL[1471.48]
;W[mc]WL[1402.86];B[gb]BL[1469.32];W[fb]WL[1399.62]TR[gb][ec]SQ[fd][fc][fb]C[This exchange is terrible for B -- broken shape, and hurts the corner.]
;B[ke]BL[1459.66]
(;W[nh]WL[1368.89]C[Apoah. Keeping the two weak greoups split while putting pressure on both.

Ed. No. Wrong direction. This move is lukewarm and has very little pressure on B. See var.]
;B[if]BL[1457.76]
(;W[cc]WL[1358.91]LB[fc:a][cc:b]C[Apoah. If B wants the 4 stones at the top he wcan have them.

Ed. No. Overplay. Completely wrong thinking. You cannot just give up (a). Either (a) or (b) will suffer, or possibly die. See var.]
(;B[dc]BL[1450.83]C[See var.];W[cb]WL[1357.01];B[eb]BL[1447.52];W[be]WL[1354.69]
(;B[hd]BL[1433.36]C[See var.];W[ce]WL[1338.47];B[de]BL[1431.39]
(;W[cq]WL[1313.72]LB[ce:a][de:b][df:c]C[The meaning of the a-b exchange is to cut at (c). If you cannot or do not want to cut at (c), you better think twice about the a-b exchange, as you are hitting your head against B.]
;B[cp]BL[1427.73];W[dq]WL[1312.48];B[eq]BL[1425.99]
(;W[bp]WL[1308.99]C[See var.];B[bo]BL[1422.15];W[bq]WL[1282.86]
(;B[dr]BL[1389.94]C[See var.];W[er]WL[1273.82];B[fr]BL[1387.21];W[ep]WL[1272.19]
;B[fq]BL[1385.56];W[co]WL[1271.1];B[do]BL[1383.58];W[cn]WL[1270.15];B[dn]BL[1323.93]
(;W[bn]WL[1244.4]C[See var.];B[cm]BL[1321.96]
(;W[dm]WL[1228.7]C[See var.]
(;B[en]BL[1289.49]C[See var.];W[fo]WL[1208.83]C[Bad. Running this weak/dead stone only helps B.]
(;B[em]BL[1281.51]C[See var.];W[dl]WL[1205.34];B[cl]BL[1279.92];W[dk]WL[1203.01]
;B[ck]BL[1233.28];W[jo]WL[1175.17];B[ek]BL[1228.62];W[mq]WL[1152.33];B[qq]BL[1210.31]
;W[qp]WL[1145.57];B[pq]BL[1208.95];W[oq]WL[1144.28];B[rq]BL[1188.23];W[rp]WL[1142.37]
;B[or]BL[1180.96];W[nr]WL[1141.37];B[ps]BL[1176.8];W[rr]WL[1127.26];B[sq]BL[1156.1]
;W[qr]WL[1125.82];B[pr]BL[1152.11];W[gh]WL[1032.86];B[op]BL[1150.1];W[nq]WL[1028.01]
;B[oo]BL[1148.68];W[pk]WL[1013.74];B[lp]BL[1144.08];W[lq]WL[986.378];B[mp]BL[1127.33]
;W[kp]WL[891.809];B[kq]BL[1103.19];W[np]WL[890.708];B[no]BL[1102.27];W[mo]WL[889.583]
;B[lo]BL[1101.46];W[mn]WL[888.61];B[ln]BL[1088.7];W[mm]WL[881.655];B[om]BL[1081.28]
;W[on]WL[845.713];B[nn]BL[1003.87];W[nm]WL[834.158];B[pn]BL[1001.5];W[po]WL[833.094]
;B[on]BL[1000.38];W[ol]WL[831.733];B[lr]BL[989.067];W[pm]WL[822.058];B[sr]BL[984.398]
;W[rs]WL[815.048];B[jn]BL[968.082];W[io]WL[811.9];B[ko]BL[960.644];W[in]WL[805.475]
;B[jp]BL[958.973];W[jm]WL[794.828];B[gn]BL[949.946];W[go]WL[792.999];B[dj]BL[944.727]
;W[dg]WL[770.767];B[df]BL[941.373];W[ff]WL[769.497];B[eg]BL[939.803];W[fg]WL[766.641]
;B[eh]BL[938.428];W[ih]WL[756.133];B[fe]BL[935.381];W[ge]WL[753.995];B[ee]BL[933.854]
;W[gd]WL[752.876];B[hc]BL[929.819];W[kh]WL[742.747];B[hf]BL[926.346];W[gf]WL[740.898]
;B[gj]BL[900.292];W[qj]WL[713.863];B[rj]BL[898.351];W[rk]WL[704.696];B[ri]BL[893.501]
;W[rg]WL[697.849];B[ql]BL[890.699];W[rl]WL[691.579];B[pj]BL[888.917];W[qm]WL[688.41]
;B[qi]BL[884.294];W[oj]WL[680.06];B[oi]BL[882.169];W[oh]WL[678.967];B[ni]BL[880.406]
;W[mi]WL[674.767];B[nj]BL[877.917];W[ok]WL[669.877];B[mj]BL[876.321];W[li]WL[668.411]
;B[lj]BL[873.032];W[lm]WL[657.118];B[km]BL[868.935];W[kj]WL[648.245];B[kl]BL[860.91]
;W[kn]WL[646.854];B[jl]BL[859.194];W[kp]WL[643.337];B[il]BL[853.32];W[lk]WL[637.18]
;B[kk]BL[850.468];W[mk]WL[629.736];B[jj]BL[848.479];W[ki]WL[615.854];B[ph]BL[846.186]
;W[of]WL[607.906];B[pb]BL[841.06];W[qb]WL[602.743];B[nb]BL[837.848];W[mb]WL[600.765]
;B[pc]BL[831.793];W[qc]WL[598.936];B[pd]BL[829.827];W[pe]WL[598.143];B[od]BL[822.693]
;W[hq]WL[573.979];B[ne]BL[819.535];W[me]WL[570.364];B[nc]BL[817.237];W[md]WL[568.465]
;B[nf]BL[816.088];W[mf]WL[563.65];B[ng]BL[805.059];W[oe]WL[555.218];B[mg]BL[797.68]
;W[lg]WL[551.22];B[mh]BL[794.685];W[og]WL[549.093])
(;B[bm];W[ao];B[fn]LB[dl:a][go:b]C[(a) and (b) are miai for B.]))
(;B[bm];W[ao];B[fo]))
(;W[bm]))
(;W[cm]C[Vital point. You want to continue to push out, you want more.]))
(;B[ep]LB[er:a][fr:b][dr:c]C[Apoah. so far I have not achieved a bad result in my games for it.

Ed. Later, (a),(b),(c) are all sente moves for B. Compare this result to the joseki at move 38. You never got a bad result only because you were lucky your opponents let you off easy.]))
(;W[er];B[fq];W[fr];B[gq];W[bp];B[bo];W[bq];B[cn]C[Joseki.]))
(;W[bf]))
(;B[ce]C[B will close you in sente...];W[cd];B[ff]C[...then this group is in big trouble.]))
(;B[eb]))
(;W[ff]LB[fd:a][kc:b]C[The two weak groups (a) and (b) are in a fight, you cannot tenuki. Take care of your weak group first.]))
(;W[jd];B[kd];W[jg]LB[id:a][jk:b][lg:c][ph:d]C[Think about helping your weak group (a) with this direction of attack, working with your tengen stone (b). Then if B runs out (c) direction, you have the leaning (d) waiting for him.]))
(;W[cq]))
(;W[kc]))
(;W[jc]))[/sgf-full]