My first "real" game in months was against this guy, and I misread a ladder (sorry Kageyama), but fortunately he wanted a rematch! This time I was black. Especially since I haven't played for so long, i'm pretty happy with my play for once. Sure you can find a million and one mistakes, but for my abilities, I feel like I've done well.
Mostly because I remained calm and chill, and I didn't play chicken-go. It felt like a very "adult" game for me. I didn't overprotect areas where I would usually place an extra stone 'just to make sure'.
Examples of moves I was "proud" of, because i read that it worked or didn't work or didn't act out of fear. (doesn't mean they're the best move on the board or downright mistakes, but i was proud nonetheless that I didn't cower in fear) :
-43: ladder doesn't work, so bring it on! (51 on the other hand may be slow... it's safe though. And i have no idea what 52 is from white)
-75: because i read that he can't push and cut. Yes, i'm simply proud of reading out that he can't do that. gotta start somewhere
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
-79: because he's just a stick and i'm making shape
at 89 i should've cut. i played too quickly there. stupid move. because stupid = not thinking.
at 101 i think i go wrong. (it rhymes so it must be true)
at 103; this cannot be (still rhymes)
at 105, it's not alive (...)
okay this part of the game i'm not proud of. this was fairly horrible
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
so let's skip it for now!
-135: i'm proud again. white takes with 136 and I get all his stones on the upper left! yumm!
-247: yes! in the past i would've always given up 2 stones to be safe. But i wouldn't this time! I read out everything until move 251 and I figured i'd be all right, because I had the most liberties. What followed was an exercise in reading i hardly ever have in games. I was constantly thinking: i should've given up those two stones, but i didn't and i'm not gonna lose any stones because i can read! (the AI found a move that would've done it, but my opponent isn't a 9dan computer program, so it turned out okay!)
-283: here we go. i had read it out earlier that this does not work. Maybe just connecting is better, but I managed okay and didn't give him any free stuff
and at 294 an entire sequence at the top left begins.
To be honest, i probably made some bigger mistakes there. But i kept reading (even if misreading, better to read wrong than not at all!) and kept figuring out i was fine! up until 307 when i realized I would end in gote, destroying his 3 eye shape. so it'd be ko. And i didn't have many ko threats. So he lived. i was sad by this, but it wasn't the end of the world. I'm still happy that i didn't play too cautiously so now I can learn from this. Had i protected, he wouldn't have tried this so no chance to learn!
Need some insightsIf anyone wants to give me some pointers/insights, i'm particularly asking about:
- the top left corner. should I have protected it with another move before he came in? or did i just handle it wrong and allowed him to live where that shouldn't have been possible?
- the top right corner: same question. This one turned out fine for me, but should i have sacrificed the two stones and was I greedy?
- At what times was my direction of play good and at what times highly questionable?
- Better alternatives for 101?
Thanks for any help