Life In 19x19

Cao Dayuan 9p - Seo Bongsoo 9p, W+Time (Komi 7.5)
Shaoxing World Veterans Tournament, round 1, 2018-07-01

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O O . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . X O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Gomoto, thanks.

Found something very interesting this week -- the concept of "head". Specifically, this link from a reddit comment: https://viktorlingo.com/2017/11/08/%E9%A0%AD/ So, I thought I'd share it in case other's find it helpful.

This is one of those rare occasions in which one is presented with a lesson at just the right time. I had begun to notice the relationship between shape and what is described in this article as head strength and scope, and this article wrapped up all of those nascent observations into one general concept. I love it when this happens! It is such a pleasant feeling to learn something and instantly have all of those little things you've noticed might be connected just fall into place

Been spending a lot of time playing on Fox. I seem to be bouncing between 1d and 1k now, and I'm MUCH more comfortable with local and running fights. I've also been playing a higher ranked account on IGS to see if I've ranked up (started the account at 4k) and that account finally settled out at 4k after the 20 provisional games. Here is my first non-provisional game. Ironically, it looks a LOT like a game on Fox!

Few interesting tidbits:

1. I learned something in this game about the strength of groups with large eyes. I managed to surround one of my opponent's groups early, but he split the surrounding stones into two groups, neither of which was alive. So, the game tunred on whether or not I could settle the two groups or get enough liberties to kill the original group. Problem is that with a six point eye, the group had 16 liberties. I did not appreciate how difficult it can be to compensate for that many liberties. I ended up settling both groups, but with both of them, I think I got two eyes before I managed to get enough liberties to kill the original group outright.

2. Inspired by Gomoto's posts on the early approach to the 3-4 to avoid the kobayashi (viewtopic.php?f=15&t=16075&hilit=gomoto), I decided to try an early approach. Looks like I approached high when I should have gone low, but I like the concept and will likely play it again.

3. In general, my direction of play was entirely consistent with Lizzie's. I didn't always choose the right move, but it seems that I was correctly assessing the board and aiming at the right broad strategies. That does not always happen

A few more games on IGS. With the first, I couldn't help but feeling that Lizzie was saying, "You seem confused. Your opponent is playing a game called go. You should try it. I don't know what game you are playing, but it's not go..." It was a fairly rough game in which I made a number of mistakes that I know much better than to make...

First Game

Lizzie's overall take: The game:

Second Game

Catastrophic mistake at :b111:. If I had played correctly and saved the group, I'd be at about 83%. Amazing how one can throw away a game with a single move

Lizzie's overall take: The game: