Awwwww damn. I acutally played the sequence you posted in a game a few weeks back, it was a correspondence game on OGS, but seems like I only remembered one of the moves.

@Shaddy + tentano:
Thanks both, I often have trouble evaluating when I can tenuki a situation like that, the solution right now seems to just play as much as possible

@amatterof: Thanks, I haven't really had time to give your post a detailed look, but what I saw looked super promising, gotta reserve some time for that over the weekend


So short update, since I didn't really have too much time for go. Played a slow game yesterday, but more on that later. 3 blitz games today, which went fine. I went 1-2, but had winning positions in all of them and blundered. A little frustrating, but overall my play felt a little more solid.

I'm keeping up with the tsumego, though anki seems to have a way of piling them on. I had almost 100 problems today, but I got it done in a little over an hour, which surprised me, maybe my reading is actually getting a little better?

Anyways, plan for the next time:
- Write my final test of the year tomorrow and then enjoy some freedom
- Keep up with the problems
- Get back into the Malkovich game with Kirby, I had to sideline that for the past few days, but come Friday I will have more time for that, and that's good, because it's super fun
- Play more blitz games, but slow down a little. Right now I play too fast, I got 10 seconds for every move, so no need to play 2 seconds after my turn started.

And finally back to the slow game I lost: I would post it here, but I think I'll ask for a general answer first:
You have 10 seconds to tell someone what they should do during a running fight, what do you tell them?

Thanks in advance =)

First: do not just run without purpose. If all your group is doing is running, it probably isn't worth saving. Make sure that you are finding some way to profit.

Second: if you have a reason to run, you need somewhere to run. Are you running to one of your own groups? Are you running to get more space for eyes? If you simply run because you can, you'll end up becoming like a deer being chased by wolves. It doesn't end well for the deer.

_________________
"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

Run far, run wide. Choose wisely between the two.

And if you're about to start running to save one or two stones, please consider if it's that important to save it. Ten moves later, it will be, even if you can't.

Consider that rationally you must have had winning positions in all three because your opponents blundered (any other explanation seems to imply that you believe that you are somehow different from your opponents!). Now ask yourself why you play so much blitz if what you are trying to do is improve anything other than your blitz blunder rate.

_________________
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

@moyoajo + tentano: Thanks a lot, a baseline is always helpful when you have no clue what to do.



Not necessarily, I think I got handicap stones in all of them^^. I have the maximum range on KGS automatch right now, but for some reason the ranks that my opponents have don't really even out. More than 50% are higher ranked, which means I play a lot of handicap games, the rest is mostly even games and the games where my opponent gets some stones are almost nonexistant.

Also there are different kind of mistakes. I consider a blunder a bad move that you play, even though(usually) you know its bad. It just happens every x games. A conceptual mistake however is somthing that you don't know is wrong or something you don't know the answer to(and can't figure it out on your own), so you make a mistake every single time that situation arises.



Actually there are a couple of reasons for that:

- The games are often of a lower quality, so they are easier to review myself
- You get more games in, which means I get to see more moves/variations/etc
- They are based a lot of having the right instinct about a move

The last one is why I started playing more blitz, to see what I play when I don't overthink and to fix my fundamental go skills(or lack thereof). It was kind of flawed reasoning, since my reading is really not good enough and that is arguably the fundamental for the fundamentals^^.

And last but not least: Its a lot of fun. I (almost always) enjoy playing go, but the degree of enjoyment can vary. The last few days/weeks have been a blast though, so no reason to cut down the number of games when I'm motivated and enjoying it.

From a study perspective, playing might only be the second most valuable thing I can do right now. I really need to do more tsumego to get the grips on my reading problem. Right now my go time is about 50/50 playing and tsumego, but optimally I would do tsumego almost exclusively. That I can't bear though, so I add in a couple of games to keep the whole improving thing fun.

Happy new year everyone =).

Haven't asked for a review in a while, and this game was weird, so I thought I'd get some comments. I played so many handicap games lately that I kinda forgot that I'm not the only one that can make a mojo. It was a blitz game, so general advice is always appreciated.

Better to hane underneath, where White is weaker.

Just connect at S-10.

Why not simply respond? At F-16, for example.

Why not the hane at N-15?

Small. Black is already strong here. Better to attack at L-12, or invade at J-03, or, perhaps best, settle the top side at G-16, preparing to attack.

Too concerned with safety. There is plenty of room inside White’s sphere of influence. Why not extend to J-03 or hane at J-04?

- White makes a nice framework.

Small.

Good.

Strengthens White. Better to hane at H-13.

- Strengths White.

Small.

B-15.

- Can Black make life inside White’s sphere of influence? Maybe. But one thing is almost certainly true. Black cannot save all three of the stones in the bottom left corner. By trying to save all of them you lost all of them.

C-06 is almost certainly better. If White captures the corner stones, Black should be able to use them for aji.

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Thanks a lot Bill, good food for thought.

------------------------

So, I just played one of the most interesting games of my "career"; I got thrashed pretty badly, but I think I discovered the reason for a lot of my losses: I don't read. At least not as often as I should. Once a group is in danger of dying I start reading, and thanks to the practice this got better. But quite a lot of times I just play a move and don't read out if there is any aji there.

If my opponent makes a suspicious looking move it is not as bad, but at least on my own moves I just need to read more.

This might sound like a "duh" realization to most, but now that I went over the game and saw how often it actually happens, it blew my mind.

More influence = more loss , I kinda blundered at the end, but at this point it was more or less over, so I was less focussed.

I really don't know what's holding me back, the whole game felt bloodless. Every game is kinda like going through the motions, if I get to kill something I win, otherwise I loose. Maybe I should stop playing for a month or so and use the extra time to do more tsumego, that might reset my brain.

Some thoughts:



That said, since you feel every game is about killing, perhaps you should try to play with the goal of not killing anything. That doesn't mean that you aren't attacking, necessarily, but you should always have in mind what you're getting from attacking a group instead of relying on its dying.

After skydyr's white is surrounded and the game is for grabs.
Later at you reduce eyeshape instead of surroundingand connect+cut on a large scale. As skydyr points out these moves allowed white to connect out and reverse the situation.

Go is often called "the surrounding game". If you use thickness to surround, it will breed more thickness. This can be a surprisingly easy way to win, provided you don't slack off and connect or cut groups that already live.

Good advice in general, against a reasonable opponent, but maybe not throughout this particular game.

is an early indication that W wants to deny B any territory and does not mind creating weak groups in the process. The above advice applies -- B should find a profitable way to attack, without expecting to kill. The game moves thorugh are quite good. B gets profit in the form of corner territory to the right (not quite secure, but valuable anyway) and a thick wall to the left.

is an overplay, trying to deny B any profit from the newly created wall. This should get W into more trouble. B should again attack, not to kill, but to make territory on the left while attacking. The sequence through nicely accomplishes this. So far so good.

At this point, B could continue attacking either group, but it is not clear what additional profit will come from such an attack. Attacks from above, which threaten to enclose, will make profit in the form of center thickness. So G12 and L14 or N13 would be good moves. If W responds by making two eyes below, B can be content with these exchanges. Tenuki is another good option, waiting to see what develops, looking for a better opportunity for a severe attack. Again if W responds by defending the weak groups (not likely given earlier W play), B can be content with the exchange. Attacks from underneath, which steal eyes but do not provide any real profit for B, are more speculative. What does B gain by forcing W to run into the open center area? I think falls into this category. ( on the other hand is good, as it consolidates a large corner territory.)

However, if my opponent played as in this game, I think I would lose all patience with this "attack for profit, not to kill" philosophy and actively set about killing something. B has just reduced W to zero eye space on the side, and instead of defensively jumping into the center, W has decided to create a third weak group. Intolerable!

through give W additional territory, but they are good moves, preparing to attack (kill) one of the other W groups. I think I would play at C14, both for territory and for attack potential. Protecting the corner is very large (difference between B at C14 and W at B15 must be over 20 points), and the W group on the left would still lack a base. The surrounding B position looks strong enough to withstand a W cut at D13.

Anyway is superb. Now you are so strong that you should really think hard about actually killing the W group below. at K12 looks to me like it would end the game. W can cut, but after that I see no way for W to successfully attack any of the surrounding B groups. You should take some time to read this out, to the best of your ability, then play it if you think it works. Similarly for you should read out whether blocking at J11 (and cutting at K12 if W hanes at K11) is a killing attack. The game moves you played were softer, letting W escape into the center with good shape up to . Now the attack has fizzled, and this time B did not get anything substantial in compensation. You must not always timidly let your opponent out of situations like this.

(Actually, you did get some compensation, the unanswered stone at M14 plus sente. Can you kill the other W group now? If B plays O14 to thickly enclose the W group, does W have room to make two eyes? This should be your first reading task. Consider it a tsume-go problem. Here I think W can live, so was good. Unfortunately that lets the W group escape into the center. At this point, the game is difficult for B.)

A few comments.



skydyr is right. You resigned too early. White is ahead, but Black still has chances.

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Thanks for all the comments. Seems like my main problem is that I am too worried about my cutpoints.

I'll try to keep it in mind and be a bit more aggresive with the sealing in while attacking.

Hi

I hope pak0's dreams and goals haven't come to an end?

No, I just had to take a short 3 year break, because of real life things =).

I think I remembered that go exists around the time Lee played AplhaGo. So I dug up my books and board and started playing again a little.

My time is kinda limited, so I'll be careful with setting ambitious goals this time, but so far its not bad.

I'm 9k+ at IGS with a 66% winrate, which is around the level I stopped playing last time(I think). My reading is still pretty terrible but I don't think I deteriorated too much in the other areas.

Goals for now: Play a game a day. Do tsumego when I have some free time.

I managed to celebrate my promotion to 8k with quite the loss

The move I regret most is F10, if I play that at G9 instead I get a clear attack on black while building the middle. In the game instead I goof multiple times and manage to convert my framework into nothing. Kind of a bummer, since until then I thought I was ahead quite a bit.

Another game another loss, according to leela i was ahead pretty much the entire game, but still managed to throw it

I looked at my history, the vast majority of my losses come from games against people one rank below mine. Makes sense, I really hate reverse komi. I always feel pressured to build a mojo, and when my opponent comes in I don't know how aggressive I can be against his invasion.

Maybe I'll try a little alphago style and go for early 3-3 invasions, that will probably give me a more comfortable game.

Today was not a good day, maybe 8k really was my peak

All of the go books I have read so far tell me that walls are really good at helping you win games, unfortunately I really don't see it.