Life In 19x19

As far as I can tell.
Major mistakes at , w126, w142
Uncertainty at , , w102, w130



was this the best choice? Was there any sequence that ended in sente?
huge but I didn't know if C12 was severe. During the game I had no idea how to harass D8 group.
necessary right? I never know how to take advantage of K3 in this game.
Not sure how to use influence.
w102 not sure how to profit from attack.
w130 was kinda aimless. I felt it was too soon for J7.

Any other mistakes I missed?
Any input is appreciated.

I'm hardly stronger that you, and this review is pretty superficial, so take it more as a discussion.

looks good to me. If you really want sente I think p18 is playable as well, but I don't know these sequences well.

I like , or at least, I like the result you got in the game. Maybe there was a more severe sequence for your opponent, but I can't find it at the moment.

I don't know about . You're giving black a lot of territory. Wouldn't simply Q6 be better, leaving 3-3 for later?

I don't like the direction of this move. You're closing a territory that's open on the other side, which is small, instead of using your influence. I would lean on the black group from above to stake a moyo, something like J4-K4-L5. Maybe there's a better sequence starting at M4?

I feel like the difficulty to use your influence comes from , since you don't have any more sente moves on the bottom.

w126 is a pretty difficult situation, I feel like you have a kinda bad result whatever you do. Would tenuki be an option?

w130 I actually like it, helping your weak group and preparing an attack on his weak group (I agree J7 would be too dangerous). Maybe at w132 you could keep the idea and play something like L7 or L8 before answering 131. Here a lot of tactical reading needed obviously.

w142 I like your third suggestion, didn't think about it.

Thank you for your thoughts. You helped me see a lot of things I didn't think about.
A lot of the ideas lead to needing a big score in the center. I think if I could have ever got a move in the lower left corner in sente the game would have been a lot easier.
I think it also would have helped if I had probed H11 sooner. Knowing how white was going to play there I could have changed the plan for a lot of my moves.

I think this is what I wanted in the game. I don't think black can link N17 to the left side thanks to G17. It's joseki but I think N17 might be a pain once D15 gets stronger.

I think you're definitely right about this. Or at least if I'm playing like this I should follow up with your J4 sequence then Q12 and P9 isn't necessary?
fwiw I think if I had played Q6 then P9 would have been correct.

Well my thought was C3 is big but the other side is open so I should try to close it first.

I'm curious how J4 would have gone though. Once I play that way I'm definitely getting 0 points and I'm never getting a base in the corner but maybe that's okay because C3 is never sente for black.

I can't help but feel like the center is too open to try to take.

Maybe G13 @ first, get black to commit to J11 and then do J4

Yeah. I see what you mean. Maybe H5 first and try to get into the side? But if I'm going to play something like this is J4 at better?
Actually maybe bad timing. I should play against L4 first and then play O5
I think C3 is worth 15 points? 7 points for white 8 points if black had it instead.

w126 I think tenuki is possible. Maybe L8. follow up at K9 or N8 depending how black responds.

After writing this all I think maybe it is me overvaluing C3. After J4 C3 is small for white and therefore smaller for black. Right?

Unusedname wrote: I think you're definitely right about this. Or at least if I'm playing like this I should follow up with your J4 sequence then Q12 and P9 isn't necessary?
fwiw I think if I had played Q6 then P9 would have been correct.

If you follow with the J4 sequence, I feel you'll have a hard time joining both influences. Actually I think you'll end up forcing black out between your two groups, which would be pretty disastrous. I think your second suggestion is more reasonable : strenghten your weak group before building somewhere else.

Unusedname wrote: Well my thought was C3 is big but the other side is open so I should try to close it first.

I might be judging it wrong but you play this sequence right after black plays B4 so it looks like a panic reaction move to me. I think this area is relatively small.
If you press the bottom in sente then play G13 (or the other way around as you suggest) it should be playable. I don't love it either but it makes sense to me. The thing is that F6 for black may be overplay (cut then C7), but again I didn't do the reading.

I think C3 is worth 15 points? 7 points for white 8 points if black had it instead.
After writing this all I think maybe it is me overvaluing C3. After J4 C3 is small for white and therefore smaller for black. Right?

The point is that after playing G3 C3 might be worth 15 points, but you have sacrificed something for it to be worth 15 points. After G3 is played I agree C3 is good. Without it it is like 0 points for white. So I guess I agree with your second sentence.

w126 I think tenuki is possible. Maybe L8. follow up at K9 or N8 depending how black responds.

Because you commited to help your 3 stones remaining aji prevents you from cutting at the left. I was wondering if maybe you could tenuki and directly cut at J7. The goal would be to get a sente move on the right during the fight (say P7) to settle this situation. But without reading it is just a blurry idea.

W26 stands out as a bad move, achieving nothing in particular and strengthening a Black group adjacent to your rather thin top group. Keeping the G16 peep as option would have changed later exchanges.