Thx, mate. I read this right now. Very, very usefull article.
Thank you, once again.

I also noted in that game that at move 56 and 64 you responded to black breaking through your elephant's eye by pressing against him and forcing him out. I used to make this mistake a lot until I saw a video that explained the correct move.

If you want to contain your opponent in this situation, the keima is the move to do it.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W Keima at or a
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . . 1 . . .
$$ . O . . a . .
$$ . . X . . . .
$$ . X . O . . .
$$ . . . . . . .[/go]

This move is effectively a net. It is impossible for black to directly force his way out. There are moves black can do depending on the surrounding stones, so you should keima on the weaker side. For example, if the stone on the opposite side of the keima has no support this can work for getting an eye. However, black does not get out. White is still on the outside and black is still trapped on the inside.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$ 5 at 6 turns this into a fight
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . . O . 8 .
$$ . O . 4 3 . .
$$ . . X 1 2 6 .
$$ . X . O 5 . .
$$ . . . . 7 . .[/go]

Now, if you want to prevent black from getting an eye and force him to run to the center, this tesuji is the move. Without this vital point black cannot make eyes locally and must run to the center.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$ Run, Black! Run for your life!
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . O . . . .
$$ . . . X . . .
$$ . . X . O . .
$$ . W . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . .[/go]

_________________
"You have to walk before you can run. Black 1 was a walking move.
I blushed inwardly to recall the ignorant thoughts that had gone through
my mind before, when I had not realized the true worth of Black 1."
-Kageyama Toshiro on proper moves

Thank you, moyoaji. Another piece in the puzzle.

GOOOOOONGGG!!!!!

Vladimir is [7k]

For jts' statistics:

10k -> 9k, 22 games, 10 days
9k -> 8k, 97 games, 27 days
8k -> 7k, 113 games, 28 days

Bragging aside, I have to say that I'm not happy with my go. I think it's because of the famous truth: the more I know, the more I see how much I don't know. I should study more and not just play, play, play...

Nevermind, another stepping stone stepped.

Cheers

don't fall into the same trap as I did. I had the same feeling as you when I was around 5kyu. I should study more and not just play play play. So I ended up studying 90% and playing 10%. In the end, I know how to explain things really well, but I play like a newbie

I'm really far behind in experience for my level of play now. This is preventing me from permanently breaking through to dan levels.

Well, I think I'm in no such danger because I don't study at all:)
Thank you for the advice.

Look on the bright side. If you had played more and studied less, you might have developed a lot of bad habits and not be able to explain anything. Combining play and study is always good. One way to do that is to study your own games.

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

For the first time in my life, today I won an even game vs 6k.
It's only because I killed his living corner at the beginning of yose, and that gives me a sour taste of win, but I'm also happy I managed to play evenly with 6k.
Only couple of months ago, it was not possible.

Sorry to bring in rain cloud: even game requires komi of 6,5 points. Your opponent got handicap of going second for no compensation. Well done anyway.

You're right. This is the first win vs 6k with proper handicap.

Well if he won by more than 6,5 points he still won an "even" game :p

I once played a game where I had an 80 point reverse komi against me. In an effort to win, I decided to make the game all about a giant fight in the center. In the end, my opponent managed to live and I was only ahead by about 50 points before the reverse komi. Another player in the club said: "Wow, I guess he only needed a 50 point komi against you." To which I said quite honestly, "If I wasn't facing an 80 point handicap I would never have fought like that in the middle. I would have let him live and built up outside influence." I figured playing like that I could win by 60-70 points assuming my opponent didn't let all of my influence become points and I could probably get to 80+ if I played out yose correctly, but I knew I would win for sure if his group died, so I started a giant fight. For this reason you can never say that a different komi would lead to the same result.

It is true that no komi in an amateur game often means nothing; the one taking white doesn't play differently and the result would have been the same either way, but you can't say that. I once beat a guy by 30+ in a no komi game at a tournament and it only counted as a win with a one-stone handicap - which is the only fair way to do it. Arguably my opponent wouldn't have played as aggressively if he wasn't facing a handicap.

_________________
"You have to walk before you can run. Black 1 was a walking move.
I blushed inwardly to recall the ignorant thoughts that had gone through
my mind before, when I had not realized the true worth of Black 1."
-Kageyama Toshiro on proper moves

...and here comes the sunshine: There's enough variance at that level that he has a nontrivial chance of beating a 4 kyu, too.

That said, I agree with the broader point that he should be happy about his progress, which seems to be real, rather than about beating someone of a particular rank. Good luck, chap.

I don't know, finally beating that stronger player in the club at a certain handicap is quite nice. There are no nicer words to hear than "You're getting fewer stones next time" from a regular opponent.

Thanx, mate.

In other news, in July I decided to play games only if I know I'll have enough time to finish them undisturbed.
It seems that it's a good approach. I played 4 games in July, 2 vs 7k, 2 vs 6k, and I won all 4.

It seems that I still don't understand difference between playing to win and playing to improve. For me, it's the same. I can't know if I improved if I keep having the same percentage of wins vs opponents of same strength. So, I'll just keep playing serious games and keep trying to win. So far, so good.

Another thing I noticed about ranking system of KGS. The more games you play, the more wins you need to improve.
In example: if I played only 5 games to reach 7k on KGS, I could easily go to 6k or 5k in just a couple of wins. But, if I played 250 games to reach 7k, I'm gonna need so much more wins to go to 6k.
Ponderation of improvement in rank by wins with total number of games is consequence of the system that determines your rank very fast when you register at KGS, so at the beginning you can change your rank faster. With every game, changes in rank are smaller and smaller.

I think it would be better to apply this ponderation only for the first 10 games on server or so (in purpose of determining KGS starting rank) and, after that, to determine unique ponder for every win (with all combination of opponents' strength) so your rank change in a linear fashion (if your improvement really is linear). With ponderation with total number of games played, you have to play more and more games so your rank could keep up with your real improvement.

Or, maybe, my observations are wrong and all previously said is my mistake and rank progression is not pondered by total number of games played.

You're right, KGS ratings will move slower the more games you have in the last 6 months. Make a new account if it's moving too slowly for your progress.

Stupid, isn't it? We got punished for playing 100+ games a month.

No, the system becomes more certain of your rank. It's good and bad, it means you don't get the sudden jumps up after a handful of games but equally you don't have the sudden drops from a small number of games either. I really wouldn't worry about it, if your strength truly is 6k then you won't stay a 7k and so on.

Yes, but I have a time limit. Got to prove to myself that becoming shodan till May 1st 2014. is possible