Life In 19x19

Hey!

I played this game today and I would appreciate any general pointers, where I could have played stronger (like how to invaded/reduce the Moyo my opponent made at the bottom). I added my comments to certain moves, when I thought I could have played better, maybe you could take these as a guideline. But feel free to comment any move you find questionable : )


Thank you!

6: I think most pros would play something around K3 or L3. Letting black have this formation uncontested is largely the source of your later problems.

10: Why so tight? M16 is still close enough to hurt him and makes the counter-pincer much less effective.

16: The aji at R14 worries me. Now black's S18 - followed of course by T18 and R18 - is probably sente.
Again, you need not get quite this close to attack. R13 seems good enough.

18-28: This does not seem too bad for you. You get life underneath, and his outside influence is mitigated by your stones at Q13 and Q10. If you get to P13 before he does, there is some aji left in the tobi stone.

30: This feels like the wrong direction. He is working on a moyo to the east, and you undercut the stone to its west. This seems unnecessarily cooperative. If you want to forstall his approach northward, and ignore the impending moyo, D14 seems more focussed.
Or, if you want to contest the moyo, K3 or K4 may still be playable.

42: Probably the wrong direction. This commits you to the side, and allows him influence. With E3 and K4 in place, influence is worth more.
D7 looks like fun. O6 is big, as is K6.

50: Just play the honte move at C10 or B11.

68: N6 bigger? Beats me. I'd like to hear opinions on this from stronger players.

70: I think that you have to go in deep enough to threaten the push at D6 and cut at E7. Now, his natural defensive move not only blocks your reduction, but covers the cut.

86: Play R13 and thank him.

124: T4?

177: Answer J9 with H10.


Overall, when you attacked, you tried just a bit too hard ( moves 10, 16, and 202, at least ) leaving bad aji on the back side of your attacking stones.

Your direction of play was misguided on the lower west side. Not only did your choice of direction help his moyo, but led to some ugly moves around B10 when your influential group coming south met your territorial group going north and the two found that they had nothing in common but color.

A few comments, a few variations.

As always, no guarantee of correctness.

Thank you both!

Joaz Banbeck wrote:6: I think most pros would play something around K3 or L3. Letting black have this formation uncontested is largely the source of your later problems.

Yes, why would anyone miss something this simple? ^^

Joaz Banbeck wrote:10: Why so tight? M16 is still close enough to hurt him and makes the counter-pincer much less effective.

Hm, I thought pincering further allows him to live underneath so that I can't chase him while making a nice framework on the right.

Joaz Banbeck wrote:30: This feels like the wrong direction. He is working on a moyo to the east, and you undercut the stone to its west. This seems unnecessarily cooperative. If you want to forstall his approach northward, and ignore the impending moyo, D14 seems more focussed.
Or, if you want to contest the moyo, K3 or K4 may still be playable.

Yeah, I can see that now. Thanks to your and Bill Spight's suggestions of moves.

Joaz Banbeck wrote:68: N6 bigger? Beats me. I'd like to hear opinions on this from stronger players.

Bill Spight agrees with you so I will agree with you both ^^ I always underestimate such moves. They look so worthless to me : /


Bill Spight
If I play S18 on move #14, wouldn't that give Black the attachment at R15? He escapes easily and my side is on the second line.

C7 on move #18 looks like an advantageous move and I can see that Black can't kill my pincer stone with one move but with my holey framework on the right, I think I might suffer more from an uprising fight at the top.

P13 on move #20 is great. Never (would have) thought of that : / Although Black gets nice territory at the top... Such things really buck me in the first 50 moves ^^

C16 on move #32 to take Sente, hm. I would feel uncomfortable with the local result but I can understand the importance of reducing the bottom.

D7 on move #46: Yeah, maybe I should open the safety belt from time to time ^^ I tend to play only moves, which have a high chance of not getting killed ^^

Move 50: Yeah, both of you are right. My jump in the corner wasn't good timed.

B14 on move 64 is a further example of how someone can miss something that simple : /

SoDesuNe wrote: [...]

Joaz Banbeck wrote:10: Why so tight? M16 is still close enough to hurt him and makes the counter-pincer much less effective.

[...]

Hmmm move 10 looks perfectly fine to me, each pincer has good and bad points. A one-space pincer puts more pressure on the stone.

SoDesuNe wrote:Thank you both!

Joaz Banbeck wrote:68: N6 bigger? Beats me. I'd like to hear opinions on this from stronger players.

Bill Spight agrees with you so I will agree with you both ^^ I always underestimate such moves. They look so worthless to me : /

Go saying: The one space jump is never bad. Besides, plays on the frontier of two moyos are quite big. That said, the one space jump here is not my recommendation. White should show more enterprise, I think.

Bill Spight
If I play S18 on move #14, wouldn't that give Black the attachment at R15? He escapes easily and my side is on the second line.

Yeah, that was my trick brain. I have now edited that out of the SGF.

C7 on move #18 looks like an advantageous move and I can see that Black can't kill my pincer stone with one move but with my holey framework on the right, I think I might suffer more from an uprising fight at the top.

You have already indicated that your jump was not so good. Black is alive in the top right. The plan is to leave your aji there for later. If Black wastes a move to capture your stone there, so much the better.

C16 on move #32 to take Sente, hm. I would feel uncomfortable with the local result but I can understand the importance of reducing the bottom.

Taking sente to get the last big move of the opening is important. But the main reason for blocking on the left is Black's strength on the top. It will be easy for Black to come into a White framework there. As for the closeness of the extension on the left side, that is not a big deal at the end of the opening phase.

D7 on move #46: Yeah, maybe I should open the safety belt from time to time ^^ I tend to play only moves, which have a high chance of not getting killed ^^

Your original plan to make territory in exchange for a Black wall was ill advised. Black gets a definite lead. But once Black has responded in the corner on move #43, you can throw your B-05 stone away with no regrets. D-07 on move #44 would have cut off the Black stone on the left side, reduced the Black moyo, and threatened to connect to your B-05 stone. A triple threat.