Life In 19x19

Fedya wrote:For the record, here's the game in question:

$$c 11 at a
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 7 9 . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . 8 0 a . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 , . 6 . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c 11 at a
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 7 9 . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . 8 0 a . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 , . 6 . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I spent 24 seconds on trying to figure out if it would be bad if I let White play there and get a good moyo with and , or whether it would be worse if White approached me from the top and followed up around K16, getting a good moyo on the top.

surprised me, so I spent another 15 seconds thinking about whether to extend or hane.

After , I began to wonder whether I was going to be letting White get too much territory if I just kept extending, or whether I approached and let White hane. I didn't particularly like , but felt it was the best option. I spent a whopping 20 seconds on the move.

Well, certainly deserved thinking time as there are several valid options, though I don't like your option (if he play one point below what he played in the game and you make a 2 space extension, he can still make a shimari). one point higher may be playable, though for a play on the side, I would favour an approach (high so you don't give him a good pincer).

Playing on the bottom side would be good, too, and as he played one of the weakest 3-4 enclosure there is, you can expect some prospect on the side/the bottom left corner.

I'm not sure you should have been so afraid about him making a moyo, given that black would have an advantage in a moyo contest.

Some thinking time on whether to hane/extend is reasonable.

What's not to like about . That you hesitate about a hane at the end of two stone in such a position is a far greater problem than taking too much/not enough time on your moves I would say. Though obviously if White was strong enough in the area that the the cut was severe you should extend instead.

Spending 20 seconds on each move here doesn't seem unreasonable. I think everyone may be getting too used to us amateurs blitz playing until the first fight breaks out. As long as my opponent doesn't play something unusual I think I spend about 2 seconds per move as B in fuseki, though I always play Orthodox.

PeterN

I can relate to some of the things discussed in this and other posts about having very different feelings about games in real life vs games online.

I have played go since I was a kid, but never got very far (maybe around 10k or so), primarily I think because I have been very off and on.

Some of my best times playing go were when I played at a club that literally consisted of 2 old guys who played each other every week. They were very welcoming to anyone else who showed up too. I played many games particularly with one of them and they were always slow and without a clock. I learned a lot about the game and got much better at that time because I actually was thinking about what was going on on the board and making plans and trying things and then getting feedback on what worked and what didn't.

I also find that with chess, I much prefer slow games. Luckily there are several volunteer run leagues for slow chess online. These games often start with a base time of 45 minutes and add 45 seconds to your clock whenever you make a move. I also very often play 90 30. Think about this for a minute because most chess games have significantly fewer moves than go games.

I find that one thing is that if I play a game and really have time to think about what I am doing and why, I don't feel the loss in the same way. Though it is never fun to lose it doesn't hurt my enjoyment of the game in general.

On the other hand, when I find myself racing through a go game just slapping stones willy nilly and find that I have started some big fight I didn't have the time to understand or read out, and that I crash and burn, I often feel upset in a way that makes me not want to play anymore.

All this is to say, if anyone is interested in playing slow games, where it is understood from the beginning that a lot of time would be taken say starting with a base time of 60 or 90 minutes and then some form of increment or overtime then send me a message.