Life In 19x19

BTW my choice

Knotwilg wrote:BTW my choice

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Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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Play on the border of 2 moyos.

Why not an extension from the top left?

Triton wrote:

Knotwilg wrote:BTW my choice

$$W
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X O O O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . X X X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . |
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$$ | . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . X X . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X O O . |
$$ | . X . X . X . . . , . . . X O O X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . . |
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$$ ---------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

Play on the border of 2 moyos.

Why not an extension from the top left?

An extension from the top left is perfectly reasonable. I don't think Knotwilg is saying that his move is the only good one. That said, lay out the position on a board, put down a White stone at 1, look at the position, pick up the White stone, put down a Black stone at 1, look at the position, pick up the Black stone, and repeat five times, and you will probably see why he is so excited about playing there.

At your level (and mine!) there are much much bigger mistakes than the difference between those two moves, so I would not obsess too much over it (in fact, it would be counterproductive).

Now I have an interesting game to share. This was played live on IGS this evening. My opponent resigned but I think he would have won if he had played it out.

My opinion:
- I would have played w10 at C9 in retrospect. This way if black had replied in a similar way I could have made a base + approached the corner in one move without overextending.
- w39 should have been at B7 to capture the stones.
- maybe I should have played G7 soon after black played at H7.
- w97 should have been at P10 maybe.
- w177 feels bad. Maybe S9 or H2 instead?

I'll let other people do the review but I'll just say that your play in the latest game (and your questions about it) looks more like 10k to me than 16k. So that's great!

P.S. In general you will learn more from reviewing games you lost than games you won, particularly games you won by 70 points. (People will also be more willing to review them in detail.) This is not just because you made fewer mistakes that need to be addressed in the games you won by a lot, but also because you had fewer and less interesting problems to solve as you played.

Your self review is an important good habit so I'll respond to it.

- Maybe I should have replied to black before playing elsewhere?
Yes.

- I am not sure at all about . I feel I lucked out.
Indeed. It was the first questionable move, for me.If Black hane on the outside, it affects your weakest group, at the top. No need to come in so greedy: defend the top or cut off Black's big lump at the bottom for easy profit.

- Not sure accomplishes anything.
It aims to connect. Your stones may be heavy indeed.

- w100 is me trying to get an opening into the center but I think playing the hane at F12 might have been worth it? Edit: I feel like it was the right move as it also threatened the black group. But maybe I should have played that hane at some point.

b99 was a bizarre move; you did well to finally cut off Black's lump

- w116 feels slow. Maybe something around N10 instead? Though I feel that what I played is not bad either.

b115 was another bizarre move; it didn't matter anymore at this stage what you did

- w194 was probably not needed and that's what I thought when I played it, but I just wanted to be extra safe due to my lead.
indeed

Thanks for your replies guys. Next time I'll be more selective of the games I post here

Hey guys. By mistake I have edited my last post with this message below. Reporting it here now:

Now I have an interesting game to share. This was played live on IGS this evening. My opponent resigned but I think he would have won if he had played it out.

My opinion:
- I would have played w10 at C9 in retrospect. This way if black had replied in a similar way I could have made a base + approached the corner in one move without overextending.
- w39 should have been at B7 to capture the stones.
- maybe I should have played G7 soon after black played at H7.
- w97 should have been at P10 maybe.
- w177 feels bad. Maybe S9 or H2 instead?

A few remarks.

• You insist several times (moves 43 and 67) on capturing the three stones B8, but this is small at this stage of the game. Thanks to the ponnuki, your group is already pretty safe. You don't have to be afraid of the cut D9, since you can capture the cutting stone in a loose ladder with E10.
• I don't understand what is doing.
• 101 not sente, small at this stage.
• 113: locally, A18 is better, check that the cutting points are not problematic.
• 117 is a bad shape. You are inviting your opponent to rip your keima.
• 119 is a bad shape. You are inviting your opponent to rip your tobi.
• 167 is a small gote move. Can you find a sente endgame move? If not, can you find a reverse sente one? Or a bigger gote move than the one you played in the game?

Hi Triton

As jlt points out, you have a tendency to

1) allow the opponent to cut your stones in a severe manner
Read this great article: https://senseis.xmp.net/?SmallGaps

2) pick up enemy stones which have no strategic value.
Here are two articles to learn the difference between
- key stones, which you want to capture (or defend, if yours): https://senseis.xmp.net/?PivotalStones
- junk stones, which are just that and can be left for the end: https://senseis.xmp.net/?JunkStones (I added your game position as an example)

My 2¢.

Triton wrote:Hey guys. By mistake I have edited my last post with this message below. Reporting it here now:

Now I have an interesting game to share. This was played live on IGS this evening. My opponent resigned but I think he would have won if he had played it out.

My opinion:
- I would have played w10 at C9 in retrospect. This way if black had replied in a similar way I could have made a base + approached the corner in one move without overextending.

Excellent observation!

This kind of move has a long history in go. It is called a wedge or a splitting play. Its downside is that it is not particularly dynamic. In fact, in the last part of the previous century it started losing favor with top players. And today's top bots do not favor at this point, either.

The old saying goes, "Corners, sides, center." It turns out that the bots value corners over sides more than we humans have done. It is better to wait to make a splitting play until the opponent has played a couple of stones in the adjacent corners. I illustrate this in the SGF file below.

Thanks a lot for your comments guys, very helpful as usual.
I didn't think my group was safe, glad I've learned about the loose ladder!

Hi everyone ! I hope you are well.
I haven't posted in a while because I think I've underestimated my rank when I registered on IGS and have been winning most of my games.
However here is one I just played, where I just felt overwhelmed by the number of groups and the clock ticking.
I know I've probably made a lot of very bad moves here, don't even know where to start.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Your biggest problem seems to be reading life and death.

at E2 kills (reduces White to an L group).

Move 112: do not save your three stones. These stones are not important, they are not cutting stones, the white group is already alive and Black too.

Move 228 should be at Q15. If White pushes at R14 then Black S13.

Move 270 is a useless empty triangle. If instead you play at G7 then your group is connected, you can kill the J8 group and win by 60+ points.

Don't let yourself get cut without reason. 272: connect. 228: connect — there is no danger on the side.

Go games are long and exhausting. Having stamina to keep focus to the end is a big part of strength.