Today I took the time to play a game against myself. I used to do this more often to give me a chance to evaluate where my reading and direction of play was fuzzy - if I can't read or find a good move for either side then I know I'm bad in that area. I stopped the practice, however, when I realized that this was effectively living in an echo chamber - how would I uncover new moves or ways to play when playing against myself?

Today, though, I thought it would be a good idea to do this and post it here so that others could tell me where I need to improve. After all, if it is a game against myself then all the mistakes are mine. That's like twice the review material and it becomes obvious what important moves I can't see because neither side will play them. I made mistakes to be sure, and my counting was atrociously bad. However, the final score was fairly close and I think the game does a fairly good job of showing where my strengths and weaknesses lie.

So, criticize white. Criticize black. Both are me so I'll appreciate advice for both!



I played the game on my physical board and recorded it on GoGui so I thought it would be fun to also post the final position on my board.

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"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

Perhaps double hane on is more efficient for B (more aji, etc.). After in the game,
W's shape is much stronger than if B had double haned on .
Perhaps bigger around Q5 ? B is building a big thing on the right side of the board.
Perhaps at E3 first ?
For , did you consider/read the push-and-cut at E3 ?
For , no fighting spirit ? Did you consider O15 or O16 (more reading) ?

Hey. I reviewed first 80 moves or so. Nearly all of my comments are just shape things. The main conflict was of course the lower right. Your initial approach at r5 is usually a big mistake and then I showed some better shape for both sides. In the actual game, white was really dead!

guessing from the picture it seems black is much better than white!

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I think I am so I think I am.

Why is tengen not occupied at the end?

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We don't know who we are; we don't know where we are.
Each of us woke up one moment and here we were in the darkness.
We're nameless things with no memory; no knowledge of what went before,
No understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be.

EdLee and emerus, thank you both. I've looked through both of your comments and already I can tell that I'll need to take time to study each of the moves you noted more thoroughly. This kind of material is what I need because you guys pointed out better options for the kind of moves that I make all the time. Thank you both.


Because when playing against yourself sometimes you don't realize that black can make an extra point by playing at tengen until someone else walks into the room and says "Why is tengen not occupied?"

To be fair it doesn't affect the result. Also, as they say: The first player to play tengen loses. Why would either player want it?


Yeah, I may have won as white, but I felt like black was a stronger player.

_________________
"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

Some comments on the opening : )

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go

Thank you for the comments SoDesuNe.

However, I will point out that pros don't really agree with your assessment of the Low Chinese. Not only is it still played frequently, but this direct 3-3 invasion has been very common for the last 6 months or so. go4go.net is down for maintenance right now, but here is a pro game with the Low Chinese and an immediate white 3-3 invasion in a dwyrin game review that shows it. Now, I did play the incorrect joseki for black because this way leaves a single stone to single stone 4-space extension instead of a black wall with a nice 4 space extension, but I tend to prefer this joseki so I can't fault you on having your own opinions that differ from the pros.

_________________
"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

Ah, okay, I'm not familiar with new moves in the Low-Chinese Fuseki and I can't really see the point in invading 3*3 immediately, too. White did lose that game, didn't he? =P

In general: My comments should be just food for thoughts. I don't normally try to prove something right or wrong.

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My "guide" to become stronger in Go