Life In 19x19

I am harrypotter192 on OGS. Currently at 12k. This will be my Study Journal where I post the Games, my progress and everything about my Go. I believe that My Reading skills are less than 12k, though, Some times I win by luck and blunders by opponents. Most of my losses can be accounted to reading mistakes, at present. Strategy mistakes are lesser, may be it's the same for everyone at this level. Regarding the Title, I like the kosumi shape, may not be good shape but really nice to get into the Enemy territory. The name 'Kosumi' is also very cute The reason for choosing L19 is the awesome people who review the games!

My Next Go Plan
Tsumego Pro App - 300 L&D and 300 Tesuji , Currently at 30 Each
Play 1-2 Games everyday, NO BLITZ
Read Tesuji from Elementary Go Series


I played a Game in IGS today, and had to leave it in the middle for some reasons, I thought I would make it back to the laptop in time, but IGS automatically resigns if we close the app(I think)
I don't remember making any obvious reading mistakes and would have won had I till the end
Hoping for some small analysis from someone here
I am white.

Hi saisandeep,

( Basic shape problem. ) If you want to play around here, B10.

Basic shape problem. Why not C8 and link up ?

( & ) -- Basic shape problem.
This combination makes little sense.
Locally, the natural move is hane G8 -- get ahead of your opponent.

Exchange of ( & ) Basic shape problem ( for W ).
B takes the shared vital point. You voluntarily give it to him!
You voluntarily let B get ahead of you.

Basic shape problem.
Pulling back is wrong feeling. Locally, maybe G10.

( & ) -- Basic shape problem.
Again, this combination makes little sense.
After the exchange ( , ), a natural move is jump ahead (to H10).

The exchange ( & ) Basic shape problem -- good for B, bad for W.

Basic shape problem. The local shared vital points are E16 and E15.
Proverb: Hane at the head of two (enemy) stones .

at E16 is a lot of cash for B.

Basic shape problem ( same as ).
Both of you missed the vital points.

Basic shape problem ( the same ). The vital point is get ahead, E16.

Basic shape problem ( the same ). Get ahead: E15.

Finally. B had to have read the cut first;
if the cut is bad for B, then just extend to E16.

Basic shape problem. H3.

Basic shape problem. ( Could also be reading error. )

Local result terrible for W ( starting with -- Basic shape problem. )
This local shape is a classic Toothpaste .

Exchange ( & ) Basic shape problem (the same: Toothpaste ).

Basic shape problem: inefficient empty triangle.
F4 better.

Basic shape problem. G3.

The exchange ( & ) Good for W.
Re: ( & )

Basic shape problem. If W blocks at P4, good shape for W.
( Hane head of two for B. )

.. Basic shape problem. Again, see toothpaste & related pages.

Most of my losses can be accounted to reading mistakes

You referred to tactical calculation mistakes -- yes...
but as you can see, so far, almost 100% of the mistakes are problems with the knowledge of the fundamental shapes.

Reduce his outside, non-shared liberties from your stronger side, P1.

Reduce his outside, non-shared libs, o1.

100 Pass. Tenuki.

109 Strange.

110 ( basic shape problem ? ) You're happy to take his cash, J17, why not ?

( 114 , 115 ) B is happy to take 4th line cash.

( 125 , 126 ) This is what happens when you're not aware of the basic shapes. Re: Hane head of Two.

126 This painful result is because you were not conscious of the basic shape problems at { 114, 116, 120, 124 }.

IGS automatically resigns if we close the app(I think)

If you don't rejoin the game in 5 minutes, IGS awards a loss by Resign ( Forfeit ) to you.

I don't remember making any obvious reading mistakes

At these levels, it's common to be completely oblivious to the basic shape problems.

EdLee wrote:At these levels, it's common to be completely oblivious to the basic shape problems.

That's right. You could improve just by figuring out why hane at the head of two of your stones is disadvantageous.

Thank you EdLee for your useful review. I started watching video of dsaun and the 5th book of Learn to Play Go, both to study about Shape.

And a game that I played today. I am Black. Reviews are welcome

Q6. ( General guideline, not always true: corners, sides, center. )

Q6.

R3.

R3.

- Bad shape for B; see Toothpaste.

( replies at P11. ) See Toothpaste; see of your last game.

P11.

, These two moves are hints mistakes were made earlier.

- Bad exchange for B -- you're pushing from behind.
( Re: )

Slow.

Today I played a horrible game, 37-45 are huge blunders I think; I chose the wrong direction of fight. Learnt lesson - Play away from thickness. Like always, any quick comments are welcome

S14.

Yes, you could've tenuki'ed.

M14.

o12.

You want to let the big dragon die ?

saisandeep wrote:Learnt lesson - Play away from thickness.

And the value of stones: trying to save your lone, damaged stone with was the start of it.

saisandeep wrote: Like always, any quick comments are welcome

and contradict each other. and contradict each other. Black can probably achieve more on the lower side, for example with the nice play at H5, than by defending on the upper side.

Thank you EdLee and Charles for the comments
Another lost game, But here I felt the opponent read better than mine and also may be my resignation was a bit too early. One valuable lesson is .. well, look few moves ahead! Other than that, trying to fight when you are already very weak is a bit risky and leads to complex fights.. Don't do it unless you are confident about the outcomes
Any comments are welcome

When Black plays move 11, it is more typical for white to play a move like O4, the peep at Q5 should really be answered by black and the exchange becomes OK for black. When Black doesn't connect and takes the corner white should look to make the most, pushing through at Q7 at move 16 seems important to ensure the black groups remain cut. Then white will need to take advantage of the wall white has built.

Move 32: This move isn't very useful if black plays at T7 will you connect at S8? how useful was the move at S9? connecting directly at S8 is a better move, but how important is the stone at S7, if black plays at S8 white can block at S9, black has to play at T8 or take the stone at T7, white can then try to make a base or move out to the middle. So as white has options here and the one stone at S7 isn't important to save. Is there somewhere else white might like to play? N6 looks like a nice place to play, white gets black's two stones and the bottom looks huge.

Move 42: How important is white's stone at O3, does it really need to be saved? White was saving the group at Q5, white doesn't have time to save the one stone at O3 and the group at Q5, and the group at N8, white needs to focus on saving the biggest black can't kill all three groups at once either, so if white saves Q5, then its possible white can save N8 if black takes O3, or O3 is Black tries to kill N8 group.

Move 46: playing like this reduces black's three stones to have 3 liberties, and whites three stones above also have three liberties, but it is black's move, white can't win a capturing race like this. Blacks cut at L8 reduces white's liberties by one, white plays the atari, black extends and gets 3 liberties here, white has to connect to avoid losing the capturing race, but the stone at L7 only has three liberties, and it is black's turn, now white has to run the stones out, black gets to connect and his group has 5 liberties, and white's group at Q5 is in trouble again.

So move 46 made several weak groups and put your group at Q5 in trouble again.

If instead white connects out with L5, black has two weak groups now, the stones at N7 and the stones at P9, white only one weak group, the stones at N8, which can run away and be used to attack one of black's weak groups at the same time.

Played this weird game. Need to improve the reading skills and play correct honte moves rather than just being attacking. And about the opponent ? His style is just too weird. Too attacking ? Any comments about that ?

Comments are for the game played on 2016-07-30.

is not needed, as both Black groups are strong. If anything, playing at B7 will allow your left side group a chance at life.

should be at G4. This prevents at G3. If you must play where you played in the actual game, nobi is better than hane.

should be at Q5 or R5, since is not very strong by itself despite being in the corner. In Go, you want your groups to have potential for growth as well as life. A corner enclosure has greater potential for growth than a mere placement play near a corner. As well, a corner enclosure will make it easier to attack the White group on the lower right side.

To be brief, if White plays the first few moves as she did in this game, you should tenuki and play fuseki. Corner plays, then side extensions, followed by jumps into the center.

After :W40:, the Black stones on L5 and L6, despite having some aji, are basically weak and vulnerable to attack.

: this move should have been played long ago. Also, the direction of attack is wrong. When attacking, do it from your weak position towards your strong ones. If the corner enclosure were already in place, N6 would be a good place for this move.

should be at B8. is the reason why. Unless you want to sacrifice that big Black group and make up for it by gaining territory elsewhere, then :b71 in the actual game would be OK. However, protecting your groups is always important, as every point counts. If at R15, your stones on the right side are strong enough for a strong pincer, at R12 or R13. This way, you can force White to run out into the center. Again, attack from weak to strong!

Here is a video from Gogameworld's Yao Yun 5d illustrating in a nutshell that concept: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqYNNjuhrTk

should be at Q7 or the attempt to cut White fails since she gets to add an extra stone here. In fact, in the actual game Black at Q7 would still have been better.

should be at R3 to restrict White's eye space. White should then push through at Q4, Black blocks at P4, White will likely play at R5 instead of cutting at P3 or P5 to avoid the atari when Black plays at R5. By this time the situation in the lower right corner is hard for Black, since White can count on the nearby group for assistance. If White gets a living group here, Black's stones have no hope of surviving.

So far, White seems to be interested in outward influence, so an attacking style of play suits her well. Still, I saw that the center White group was vulnerable to attack throughout much of the game, but Black did not do anything to take advantage of that.

Your fuseki was sound, but your opponent had the upper hand with superior tesuji and life & death skills.

I would recommend doing plenty of life & death and tesuji problems that you can solve in 30-60 seconds. This way, you can learn how to create strong positions on the board as efficiently as possible. There are books you can read, smartphone apps you can play with, and online sites wherein you can do puzzles to strengthen your life & death skills. One such place is http://sahwal.com . This website I like because therein the puzzles are set up to make you work through all possible solutions. Try out puzzles No. 200 and below, as the ones No. 201 and above are too difficult for beginners. As for smartphone apps, Tsumego Pro is my favorite, as it has a feature that guides you through the solution to a puzzle in the event that you have difficulty solving it.

As well, I recommend that you observe how good shape is made during a game, as you got yourself into trouble a whole bunch of times due to bad shape. To do this, play through some kifu by a player that tends toward a thickness-based style of play. Hon'inbo Shusaku - of Hikaru no Go fame - was one such player. You can go here to replay through some of his games. http://jakkoji.blogspot.com . Just type "shusaku" into the search blank.

@tekesta :
19. Agreed. Good point. That was an auto pilot move.
25. Yes. It's an overplay, but it was an instinct to avoid getting hit on the head. But this exchange would have made the black group solid and would have made the whole game a lot better.
43. I am not sure about this. But I was worried about the heavy black group on the bottom left, hence came out there. But it's true that corner enclosure is better in the sense that it would put pressure on the little white group on the bottom right.

63. Completely Agree here. The two videos are really Good. But I wonder why she doesn't upload more. But yeah, I was only thinking about the corner enclosure but here, direction was more important.

71. True, This was the losing move I think, Blunder in reading. Can be attributed to lack of practice in Tesuji.

83. Yes, the original move was bad shape as well.

sahwal.com is cool too, I was looking for website where we can store our progress rather than just solving the problems randomly. This is the reason why I like Tsumego Pro.

And yeah, agree with the shape part. Dsaun Youtube lecture is quite good. I am halfway through it. Will try shusaku games

Thanks a lot for the review! It's quite helpful

saisandeep wrote:@tekesta :
19. Agreed. Good point. That was an auto pilot move.

19 was fine.