Climbing the dan mountain.

[lapos]

Hi everyone !

Since I'm beginning to post a lot of my games I thought it was better to create a topic in this section to not spam the game analysis one. So I began learning go in 2008. One year after I was around 6k. I then stopped playing during 5 years (except maybe one game or two per year). And since December I am playing seriously again.

My goal (like a lot of people) is to become 1st dan. But more than that, I would like to play games I can enjoy. I don't like games where I don't know what to play because my reading skill is too weak or because my strategic view of the board is too limited.

So how am I organized to progress ? Since December I did three things :

1) Watching all Haylee's videos.
2) Did a lot of beginners tsumego.
3) Watching a lot of Nick Sibicky lessons.

I put them in I think the order of importance.

Watching Haylee's videos was by far the most interesting/useful thing I did. I learned to peep, to let some aji in simple sequences, to always search for sente sequences (even if it's still difficult for me to do it) and to exploit shape's defects to make a weak group running. If you never have seen her videos you really should !

I did this set of tsumego : https://online-go.com/puzzle/5 I am really bad for tsumego so even if I was 6k this set was challenging for me...and it still is ! I did it another time, and my winning rate was 88% which is not really good assuming that this tsumego are made for 16/12/8k But I am still improving.

Nick Sibicky lessons are great, maybe a bit long for some but still the informations inside are worth to listen to. I learned the way to use influence with him.


So here is one game I did before doing this three things :



And here is one after :



It is easy to see that I have made some progress

But now I have to consolidate everything. Improving my reading skill is essential, I feel really limited in my options just because I cannot read. Being able to spot the big moves is also important, I think I am making some progress but I still need to practice a lot. I am currently a solid 4k, but the path to 1st dan is still really long !

Here is my last game I played against a guest who seemed better than me or at least 4k. He won by 18.5 points but I am unsure about my mistakes. Some are obvious (I commented them) but I am sure I missed some important points.



My study schedule ? Watching all Haylee's videos (maybe watch it again ?), finishing tesuji and life and death books written by James Davies. Playing some professional game for fun and see some interesting move to play in my own games, and of course playing game everyday. I also teach some go to beginners (mostly around 18k) so I think it can reinforce my knowledge of basics. Maybe I should study joseki more ? Because it was in the last game a serious problem for me.

[Bill Spight]

If you made 6 kyu in one year of play, you have excellent chances of making shodan this year.

Good luck!

[tentano]

Interesting game.

Some thoughts from a fellow weakling:



I had to remake it because it doesn't let me download the SGF. I did make one mistake in transcribing it, but I corrected it.

[mitsun]

Some comments on the opening and early middle game:

At you noted that you wanted to use your influence in the upper right. This is indeed the most vital stategic consideration now. You have invested a lot of stones in this area, and you need to make that investment pay off. The straightforward way to do this is to make an extension. The extension should be close enough that if W invades you will have a profitable attack, while if W approaches from outside, you can make a nice territorial framework by defending. Extensions {R10, R9, Q10, Q9} all look good. After any of these moves, I think B would be leading. After W plays R12, making a secure base on the side, your wall has lost all of its influence. This is a big loss.

The only way to get compensation for this loss is to attack the W Q4 stone, which is now outnumbered locally. So you need to pincer around O4 or O3 before W can make a base here. This corner has now become the most vital strategic consideration. Both sides played some strange moves in the upper right, but the big problem for B was losing sente, letting take the vital point.

At you took the corner, but the sequence to gave W far more territory than B. Instead of taking the corner, jumping out defensively to O7 was necessary. This keeps B safe and splits the two W groups, so it is a very nice move. Once B is safe, invading the corner becomes a big territorial move. But if W plays there first, B can just take another big point like E17 or D10 and be quite content.

[Boidhre]

One comment from someone weaker than you. You seem to quite often take gote in order to save small groups of stones that aren't cutting stones or otherwise doing anything useful for you. This usually isn't a good idea.

[lapos]

@ Bill Spight : I hope so ! My biggest problem now is my reading skill I think. When I see all the awesome moves Haylee is doing, confident of the success of them, I really think I am too weak in reading ahead.

@ tentano :

Capture Q17 for simplicity. You've got slightly more than half the corner that way and L17 is looking weak.

I thought like first atari then capture q17, I did not expect white to give up R16 !

How could you blob more blob than blob?

Yeah, huge mistake... I wasn't thinking, just clicking at this moment.

Other moves seem bigger to me. Especially the marked one.

I am not sure, this move made my group stronger and reduce the risk of invasion in the lower side.

119 was small you are right. I was scared of being killed but I should have tried j14 or d12.

What are you walling off, here? What are you surrounding?

I was trying to connect and in the same time building some territory in the center.

For your last variation are you sure it works ? Isn't it a double ko life ?


Thanks for your comments !

@ mitsun : You are right about I was indeed thinking about moves like R9 but I decided to approach the corner instead, I don't know why.

I am not sure about . If black jump and white attacks him, then white will build a lot in the lower side no ? My thoughts was to prevent this attack and letting aji for the future.


Thanks for your comments !

@ Boidhre : I know it, but in this game I played two moves useless moves ( and ). I usually do not do that but it can happens

[tentano]

@ tentano :

Capture Q17 for simplicity. You've got slightly more than half the corner that way and L17 is looking weak.

I thought like first atari then capture q17, I did not expect white to give up R16 !

Keeping it implies accepting a really bad result for white.

014: white S16, 015: black Q18, 016: white S15 for dear life, 017: black R14 drives white along the side.

What are you walling off, here? What are you surrounding?

I was trying to connect and in the same time building some territory in the center.

Yeah, but connecting two living groups while walling off a living group, while making a wall facing white's walls seems needlessly kind to white. It's a multi-purpose move, but some of those purposes seem a little off.

I guess you were still worried it might die, and white punched you in the insecurity.

For your last variation are you sure it works ? Isn't it a double ko life ?

210: white takes A13, 211: black takes C17, 212: white A10 (because B12 would be a snapback), 213: black A14

209: black A13, 210: white A10, 211: black B17

209: black A13, 210: white B17, 211: black B19, 212: white A10, 213: black A18

The last one seems worse because black needs to find the first ko threat and nothing is big enough (though T5 is a nice consolation prize), which is why I went with B17.

In case you mean the situation branched off from 192, if black wins the ko at B17 after 205, all that remains is a blob with two false eyes. You could only keep that alive in a seki or if you have unlimited ko threats through some unremovable situation, which is not on the board in this game. The black stones surrounding white are unambiguously alive on their own, and connected out to a larger group with very simple connections.

If white closes the ko at B17 instead of playing at B19, black B19 just kills it.

Thanks for your comments !

I'm glad you found them useful.

[lapos]

I guess you were still worried it might die, and white punched you in the insecurity.

Yeah...

white A10 (because B12 would be a snapback)

I missed the snapback

Thanks for your help !



I just played a game against a 4k. It was a bloody one ! I think he did some overplay but I was not good enough to punish him. I eventually won but I still think I made a lot of mistakes. I usually dislike this kind of game because it involves a lot of tsumego. But I guess it's good for me to practice !

Here is the game, I will edit it soon to add some comments. I will try to analyse each tsumego and solve them all.



Edit : I added the comments. I realized after reviewing my game that I did in fact a lot of mistakes ! Black should have win.

By the way, do you know how to remove a variation in kgs sgf editor ?

[Shenoute]

Hello,

Some comments on the last game, I hope they're not too mistaken and will prove helpful :

I think it is important to keep the connection between your stones (maybe f16/17). If the joseki is played "normally", b gets to play first on the side, so I don't think playing there first should be w's priority. Once cut around f16, w's wall (the k16 stones) isn't that strong when left on its own (cf. your comment on ).

I feel this hurts your corner group too much.

if played at c19, it seems w's group dies.

to you destroyed b's eye but at the cost of being gote and letting b stick his head out first. I don't know if this is better but I would keep the 44-45-46 exchange for later and jump first (is f11 the right direction ?).

keeps pressure (well...sort of) but doesn't help much for territory. Generally speaking I think it is important to recognise when an attack has run out of steam and it is time to turn to something else.

f3 seems to be the proper shape to me.

what about G6 ? Admittedly, I haven't done much reading but w seems strong enough to sustain the cuts.

The cut at 116 doesn't work since b can take it in a ladder.

By the way, do you know how to remove a variation in kgs sgf editor ?

Isn't there a "Cut" function in the Tool menu ?

[lapos]

I guess I was scared of black playing at D11 and my wall would be pretty much useless.

For you are right ! It changes everything. It means the black group would not have run and so my wall would have really been useless.

I'm still scared of letting my opponent build his eyes. I should sharpen my attacking skills.

Generally speaking I think it is important to recognise when an attack has run out of steam and it is time to turn to something else.

I will try to follow your advice for my next game.

For I usually don't like creating "broken shape" as black will play G7 after.

Isn't there a "Cut" function in the Tool menu ?

Thank you ! It really bothered me


Thanks for your comments !