The mistakes I make

[EdLee]

Hi mongus,

Please see toothpaste and related pages .
You made many of these shapes in your 9x9 game v. Frank.

[mongus]

Hi mongus,

Please see toothpaste and related pages .
You made many of these shapes in your 9x9 game v. Frank.

Interesting. Guilty as charged. I am doing the exact same thing in our current game. I think I really need to rethink my whole game here. I came to this thread thinking I was just no good at counting liberties and all my mistakes came from that. But from what I've learned so far it goes much deeper than that, and most of my mistakes come from playing too close to my opponent which causes me to get into all these bad shapes and situations. I am bringing a sword to a gun fight.

To play from more of a distance is a whole new way of thinking that requires reading ahead more than one move. I think.... have to do more study.

[EdLee]

I came to this thread thinking I was just no good at counting liberties and all my mistakes came from that.

Our understanding continues to evolve as we improve. ( True not only for Go. )

[Bill Spight]

I think I really need to rethink my whole game here. I came to this thread thinking I was just no good at counting liberties and all my mistakes came from that. But from what I've learned so far it goes much deeper than that, and most of my mistakes come from playing too close to my opponent which causes me to get into all these bad shapes and situations. I am bringing a sword to a gun fight.

To play from more of a distance is a whole new way of thinking that requires reading ahead more than one move. I think.... have to do more study.

Thinking and study are good. But at your level it is possible to overthink. To be sure, you have made some mistakes in close encounters of the worst kind, but if you had not played so closely you would not have learned about those mistakes. Nor would you have learned that playing so closely was a mistake. Now that you are going to play a little further away, you will discover that sometimes you should have played more closely. Welcome to the wide world of go!

At every level you need to study your own games, which means that you need to play those games first. Record them and study them afterwards. Get reviews from stronger players.

Good luck!

[mongus]

Just finished a 19x19 game today. I made a lot of mistakes. Here is the game with my comments on where I think it all went wrong for me.

[Bill Spight]

A few comments.



Edit: Added variation for move 178.
Edit2: Added some more.

[mongus]

Thanks for the comments. I got a lot to ponder now!

[mongus]

Another game. This time I had a 9 stone handicap. I was crushed and dragged through the dirt in humiliation...

[EdLee]

Hi mongus,

Basic shape. Hane at the head of two enemy stones.

Your notes here. is not a good move, nor a good idea.
The situation is not as you think -- it's an opposite of it.

Bad habit.

Tenuki and Turn, very good!

Your P18 stone is very light (small) --
you can easily discard it if necessary. No ladder problem.
You can think about how to attack this stone for profit.
( Or, you can think of other ideas to keep your lead. )

Not what you think. Your game move is OK.
Your variation is bad.

Slow. ( Your notes: not what you think. )
Can you find any better local moves ?

Either M17 or M16 is better.

You get confused when there's contact fight.
What are you trying to do with this inside-hane ?
What's wrong with just hane on the outside with o12 ? ( To profit the right side. )

Bad habit, bad instinct. You bump your head into W; you reduce your own liberties.

W can P14.

You're trying to remove his eye at N13. However, your move at M12 is not the only option.
Did you see or consider the other options ?

Another vital point is N12.
If you want to profit on your right side, atari o12.

( Your notes here: Not what you think. )
You don't have to kill W to win this game.
All you need is end up with 0.5 more points than W.
Up to here, you played some misplaced stones, but overall, Black is still way ahead.
Just count how many points W has, and look at the whole board.
You can profit on the right side; you can profit on the left side.

Lost track of what's happening (confused).
W is not alive yet. You are happy to continue to reply --
example, P11, to continue to profit your right side as you attack W.

(Same note as ). You must take care of your top right group. Q11.

R11.

W is confused ( ); he gives you a chance to connect up,
but you miss it. R11.

, Lost track of the board.
On , what were you trying to do with this move ?
When W ignored , why didn't you follow up with it ?
For example, instead of your , did you see you can cut off completely ?

K8 or L9

[Bill Spight]

Another game. This time I had a 9 stone handicap. I was crushed and dragged through the dirt in humiliation...

No humiliation at your rank.

Some comments.



Edit: I see that I have somehow managed to mess up the file. Last edit. I hope.

[DrStraw]

Another game. This time I had a 9 stone handicap. I was crushed and dragged through the dirt in humiliation...

Based on the comments you make I am actually very encouraged. They actually show you are thinking about the game. Unfortunately, in many cases you thinking is wrong. But to me that is not a big deal. It is the thinking that counts. With more thinking, experience, and feedback from stronger players you will soon start to improve quickly and those errors in thinking will just disappear. I don't find it easy to edit and comment on SGF files (lack of time) but I think others will help there. I would not be surprise if, in another year, you are the person posting here helping other beginners.

[Bill Spight]

Another game. This time I had a 9 stone handicap. I was crushed and dragged through the dirt in humiliation...

Based on the comments you make I am actually very encouraged. They actually show you are thinking about the game. Unfortunately, in many cases you thinking is wrong. But to me that is not a big deal. It is the thinking that counts.

Hear, hear!

[schawipp]

In your last game I just want to mention that you can still ladder the white stone at P17. It is just a slightly different ladder than you mentioned in your variation...

[mongus]

Many thanks for all the feedback and very kind words. I will work through it over the next few days.

I am very glad I found this forum and decided to get some feedback - so much of this stuff I would never have guessed by myself!

[Bill Spight]

I am very glad I found this forum and decided to get some feedback - so much of this stuff I would never have guessed by myself!

Why reinvent the wheel?