Life In 19x19

I will echo what tapir and Bill said: Take control! Play your own game, not your opponent's!

Not too long ago, I gained a stone in strength when I realized I could take sente against players stronger than me and that I didn't have to follow them around the board. That is, when I consciously put it into practice, rather than simply knowing it abstractly. Even against players many stones stronger than me, if I can get sente to attack a group that my opponent left a little too weak or too thin, I can sometimes win the resulting fight, and it's really fun when that happens.

But even if you can't score a clear victory in the fight, by attacking, you can often settle the shape by forcing a stronger player to choose how to save or sacrifice a group earlier than they would have liked. This simplifies the position, especially if you got some thickness out of it, which can help greatly when figuring out what your next target should be.

One of my favorite ways to take sente is with the variation Bill showed on move 8. If there is a weak group or something else urgent on the board, it's perfectly fine to tenuki the low approach in order to take back the flow of the game. And if the opponent follows with a double low approach, the option to kosumi and then tenuki *again* can be really nice. Just make sure that when you take sente and attack, you're attacking something important - don't settle for snipping off a few small stones here or there.

lightvector wrote:it's perfectly fine to tenuki the low approach in order to take back the flow of the game. And if the opponent follows with a double low approach, the option to kosumi and then tenuki *again* can be really nice.

Of course white might try some tricks like below

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c Overplay to keep situation urgent and discourage tenuki
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . . 2 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

Another tip which can really help handicap games is: be prepared to go for large trades (one of Bill's diagrams had a big trade). The great thing about trades is they settle large areas of the board (of course white might not agree with the trade and try funny business!). Even if the trade is slightly better for white, say he gets 50 points and you 40 points, that is a large amount of the board settled so there is less space for him to catch up the rest of the handicap stones. I saw this just last week at the club: I lost a 5 stone game against someone I would usually beat. Why? Because we had a huge trade in the early middlegame that settled almost half the board. The trade was good for me locally, but it meant there wasn't much game left for me to catch up the rest of the handicap stones.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . 5 . . X . . . 3 . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . a . . . . . 6 . . . . . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

In the game B played at a. From Michael Redmond´s ABC for Attack and Defence I learned to defend the weakest stone. After the center handicap stone has only one escape route open, the one to the center. The left handicap stone has both the escape route to the center and to the left side open. So it is not the weakest one. If I understand Redmond correctly B should jump to in the center instead of a.

cyclops wrote:In the game B played at a. ... If I understand Redmond correctly B should jump to in the center instead of a.

cyclops, both in the game (D14) or jump from the center B stone (K14) are OK, no problem.
B's mistakes happened later, not here. is not the problem.
Reality check: White has TWO weak groups, while B has NONE (neither D16 nor K16 is weak; both are OK).
So as long as B can handle the K16 stone (which he can, if played correctly), then is no problem.
(In fact, B has many other choices for , all OK, because of the high handicap.)

(In other words, correct reading and judgement -- that K16 will be OK, that B can get a good result both locally and globally --
supersede general guidelines/proverbs.)

cyclops wrote:

$$Wc
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . 5 . . X . . . 3 . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . a . . . . . 6 . . . . . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . 5 . . X . . . 3 . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . a . . . . . 6 . . . . . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

In the game B played at a. From Michael Redmond´s ABC for Attack and Defence I learned to defend the weakest stone. After the center handicap stone has only one escape route open, the one to the center. The left handicap stone has both the escape route to the center and to the left side open. So it is not the weakest one. If I understand Redmond correctly B should jump to in the center instead of a.

is certainly playable. It is not defense, but attack. E. g.,

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . 5 . . X . . . 3 . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 7 0 . 9 . . 6 . . . . . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]