My Study Journal: Shodan in 800 days?!

[Jujube]

Thanks for the great review, skydyr.

There is so much stuff for me to work on.

- Basic joseki choice (the cut in the upper left)
- Basic endgame (don't play A7 just pull back)
- Basic attitude (paying attention to the situation, e.g. the loss of a point at N15)
- The ko at F1
- 3-3 point invasions (when the opponent has other stones around)
- Cutting and connecting
- Fixing weaknesses and solidifying weak groups / urgent points

What should I concentrate on in the next 2 weeks in your opinion? If there were one aspect of the game where you may have thought to yourself "this part of the game seems worse than the rest"?

I might know the answer: play more games, get more reviews, don't repeat the same mistakes.

I get mentally tired towards the end of the game. Any stamina tips other than sleep and coffee?

[skydyr]

Thanks for the great review, skydyr.

There is so much stuff for me to work on.

- Basic joseki choice (the cut in the upper left)
- Basic endgame (don't play A7 just pull back)
- Basic attitude (paying attention to the situation, e.g. the loss of a point at N15)
- The ko at F1
- 3-3 point invasions (when the opponent has other stones around)
- Cutting and connecting
- Fixing weaknesses and solidifying weak groups / urgent points

What should I concentrate on in the next 2 weeks in your opinion? If there were one aspect of the game where you may have thought to yourself "this part of the game seems worse than the rest"?

I might know the answer: play more games, get more reviews, don't repeat the same mistakes.

I get mentally tired towards the end of the game. Any stamina tips other than sleep and coffee?

As far as the upper left goes, don't worry about joseki too much. There are thousands and it's inevitable that you will be pulled into a variation you don't know.

There are other things that I pointed out, but I think in terms of a thing to study, you'd get the most out of studying shape at the moment. Making sure your shape doesn't get broken, i.e. split by a single connected group of the opponent's. Endgame is helpful too, but I'd leave it as a secondary focus.

To some degree both the upper left and the kos are related to attitude: I'm not going to let you just take this without getting something in compensation. If you think of the board as real estate, for example, some of it is better than others. When your opponent starts claiming the fertile valley, you don't rush to claim the rocky hills above him to farm, you take the good farmland by that other river. You don't rush to build a townhouse between two skyscrapers when you can build your own skyscrapers on the other side of town.

One thing I struggled to understand for a while was when stronger players would talk about keeping the game balanced. A lot of this is because I didn't fully understand the aji in different positions, but there's a more fundamental aspect to it: A single move can only claim so much, or fix so much aji, before it tries to do too much and fails. If your opponent has spent, say, 8 stones on that big formation on one side of the board, you got a move for each move he had. Unless you've been underplaying, your own formations should be of equal value. The fact that he can invade your 3-3 to reduce you doesn't matter, because you can do the same to him, or similarly limit his development with a different move. All you have to do is make sure that you don't concentrate too much on defending such that your opponent gets his invasion or whatever, and then is able to go back and fix his corresponding weakness.

I think I'm starting to ramble a little bit, but compared to everything else, attitude comes first. You can know all the joseki and tesujis in the world, but if you don't have the right attitude, they won't get you far. It might be worth thinking, every move, 'can I tenuki for something bigger?' The answer isn't always yes, but it is more often than you think.

The last thing you asked about, losing stamina, is something I've seen too. Part of it, I think, is just playing more, and keeping in shape (physical fitness). The other thing is that you don't need the 100% move each time. If you can manage to just play normal looking moves every time, you'll get surprisingly far. This is, of course, more difficult than it sounds

[Jujube]

An update is required!

Well, er, not much to update really. I'm getting really good advice off some stronger players, and I'm reading an excellent book called Lectures on Go Techniques. Also going through 1001 L&D problems.

I've won my last 9 out of 10 games on KGS. I just won a game by such a large margin that the opponent questioned whether my rank was correct.

I'm 10 kyu going on 9 kyu. I'm trying not to play too many games, so this way I will not get tired and I will be able to devote attention to the game fully.

Oh, and I really recommend a book (pamphlet) called Come Up to Shodan by Rin Kaiho. A lot of great advice in 3 game reviews.

I'll post again when I have a game for you great and kind people to review.

[Jujube]

After that horrible loss I had in the Game Analysis forum, I bounced back with a 30 point win. I thought I'd post it because I spent some time studying the game afterwards. I always review my games, but sometimes I feel like I'm not strong enough to trust my own evaluations. Anyway, it was a fun game, and hopefully my comments aren't too far wrong.

Here comes the game.

I'm almost at 9 kyu!

http://lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=6487

[Loons]

I can understand not wanting to let white start a double approach, I think was a good place to play E16 (in what way is white's sente).

For the game , did you consider R7?

$$Wcm11
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . X . O . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm11
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . X . O . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Because the corner is still open, one wants white to be somehow splitting themselves by taking the corner.

Once we get to the game 17

$$Wcm17
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . X . O . . . . . O . 2 1 . . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm17
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . X . O . . . . . O . 2 1 . . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I find a play other than this to be submissive, I think normally one's intuition should be to play this way (even if it is not always most correct. So my intuition about which direction to block was different bottom left too. Albeit, top left makes the board on fire.

[Abyssinica]

Is O14 better shape than the cap?

[Loons]

Yeah it's a shape there at least. Which cap? O15 seems like it would be bad shape. I think the jump is quite robust light shape. (Database search suggests tenuki or pincer or something instead normally, so my move is quite conservative).

[Jujube]

I didn't consider R7. But, it makes sense. Push from the weaker side towards the stronger side.

I saw that playing R11 would force White to make a two-space extension. After that, the diagonal attachment is a forcing move that makes White over-concentrated. That sequence seemed too good not to play, so it blinded me. Which also explains why I played it immediately instead of playing at E16!

Your suggestion makes sense from an intuition / proverb way, but I would be worried my position is too high. It seemed to me that White was looking at R17 and S14. But then again, White ended up invading anyway.

I felt like the invasion was a kind of nonsense move. So, even though Q17 was the right direction, I thought White could live there, and felt White was taking away my corner (even though it wasn't exactly my corner).

[Bill Spight]

$$Wcm11 What's the rush?
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . X . O . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O 2 . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm11 What's the rush?
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . X . O . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O 2 . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

[Jujube]

I made it to 9 kyu today with this nice game.

I feel stronger. Thanks again to everyone's advice and thanks to my local go club. The easier part of the journey is over in 3 months, let's see if I can hold on to this SDK rank, and let's prepare for the journey through SDK.

http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/download/file.php?id=6502

[EdLee]

Hi Jujube,

Atari E18 instead. B gets the corner with C17 atari.

D18, instead. B keeps the corner.

Did you also consider B2 ?

Good. Broken shape for W.

Atari B6 first -- this atari is good and free for you.

Not bad... but did you consider J16 direction ? Profit top & upper right by attacking W's dumpling.
Proverb "Push opponent's weak group toward your stength."
Your direction -- the profit is less clear -- do you see ?

[Jujube]

Not bad... but did you consider J16 direction ? Profit top & upper right by attacking W's dumpling.
Proverb "Push opponent's weak group toward your stength."
Your direction -- the profit is less clear -- do you see ?

Hmmmmmm! Yes, I see it clearly now! I did consider the move during the actual game, unfortunately I discounted it... I think I (in error) subconsciously bias myself against pushing from the weaker side because I consider that the opponent could just invade (e.g. at 17-17). (I push from my stronger group because it gets even stronger! there's no way the opponent can take away the territory!).

So... this topic (direction) is quite important to work on now I think. I made a very similar mistake last week at the go club that made the game difficult for me.

Thanks for the tips!

[EdLee]

I push from my stronger group because it gets even stronger!

Right; inefficient, not good.

Sorry, I got interrupted; so it abruptly seemed to have stopped at .
Next thing I knew, 7 hours had passed.

[EdLee]

Hi Jj,

Did you read the cut ?

[Jujube]

Did you read the cut ?

Uhh no...

I descend and capture some stones. Well, this is a case of "see something good, then try to search for something better". In the actual game, White has to protect their shortage of liberties which allowed me to connect my weakness at move 67. This seemed a good sequence for me, so I stopped searching.

A good tip for everyone, indeed.