Life In 19x19

So I've read a bit, played against the computer a bit... but I basically know nothing as of right now. I thought it would be interesting to track my progress from complete novice, so I'm going to do that in this thread. I welcome any advice and ridicule one might like to bring. Note that many of these games will probably make your eyes bleed, especially during these learning stages.

I'm so... so sorry...



A bit of uneducated commentary, but to my untrained eye, my opponent seemed awfully aggressive.

Also felt a bit of a thrill when I recognized a ladder starting to be formed around move 45 or so.. looking back I can't help but wonder if I shouldn't have played it out...

White's not really that aggressive. Rather, black is extremely passive.

Don't worry, you will improve quickly

Some thoughts:

11: Study this shape. Your stone was lost immediately, worse than passing. Forbid yourself from playing it.

25: NEVER play on the first line in the opening. Don't even think about it before move 50.

27: ??

around 45: there was no ladder. You had no way of catching the white stones.

57, 59: You were already alive. Both of these moves = Pass. Study Life and Death problems.

61: ????????

93: THIS was a ladder, you should practice reading these out. Life & Death study will improve your reading.

Can you do all these problems? http://senseis.xmp.net/?IntroductionToLifeAndDeath

emeraldemon wrote:
Can you do all these problems? http://senseis.xmp.net/?IntroductionToLifeAndDeath

Most of them.. but yeah, need to study that a lot more.

Thank you for the comments!

Two quick pieces of advice for you. Moves like and are too small. You make only one or two points with each move here. On the other hand, a move like R3 is a big tenuki point, and a move such as K17 makes many more points in the same area as you played. Try to avoid completely playing out a position in your next game - it's okay if your territory isn't completely enclosed until the end of the game - it doesn't mean white can invade and live .

does kind of look like a ladder, but unless the white stones are alternating between one and two liberties, it doesn't really count as one . This is because playing out the ladder does not let you capture the white stones - instead, it will just leave you with a lot of double-ataris.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . X X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2 O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm6
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . X X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 O X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . 6 5 3 X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm12 Uh-oh - black is in double-atari. He can't save both stones.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . X X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 1 B O O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . B O O X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X O O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Anyway, I hope this gives you something to think about next game. Keep playing and you'll improve a lot.

You may also enjoy playing a bit on the 9x9 board. The computer is a pretty decent sparing partner (on 9x9) if you go with a program that dynamically adjusts the difficulty or that has different selectable difficulty levels. Possibly choices here are Many Faces of Go 12 (not free, but has the widest variety of different AI opponents), Igowin (free, based on an old version of MFoG, so plays weaker, but it too gives you a rank, so you'll have a sense of progress), Leela Lite (free, adjusts the difficulty automatically, but does so mostly by means of handicap and limited heuristic searches, but always plays fairly strong). There are also some others. (Note that this is for 9x9.)

As for everything else, just play many games and briefly look at your games after they're finished. Try to find a couple moves you feel were not so great and how you could have done it better. Spend some time at Sensei's Library, starting here: http://senseis.xmp.net/?PagesForBeginners or here: http://senseis.xmp.net/?BenjaminTeuber% ... comeStrong

This may also be useful: http://senseis.xmp.net/?FusekiExercisesForBeginners

Most importantly: Have fun.

You should play on 9x9 for 100 games or so, to get a feel for the small stuff.

They'll also allow you to see how to properly end a game without having to wait over 200 (sometimes over 300) moves first. Most games on 9x9 are over in about 30-60 moves, so you can end a game several times in the time you need to play one game on 19x19.

Everything you learn this way will still be useful on 19x19.

Some good advice I found useful as a beginner:

1) Go for the corners! By their nature, you need less stones to surround a piece of territory in the corner than you do in the middle. Hopefully this is enough persuasion to bring home the idea of playing in the corners first.

2) In relation to 1, you played the 6-6 point (move 27) (6 points from each edge) in an otherwise unoccupied corner. It might be an idea to play a little closer to the corner, since if you play the 6-6 point, the opponent can just play the 4-4 point if he wishes, and suddenly 'your' corner is not yours anymore! If you play the 4-4 point, it's generally a lot less of a good idea for your opponent to jump in. The 4-4 point can still be invaded, but it's usually not a good idea to do this too early.

So, to summarise:

- Aim to make sure no corners are completely empty after the first few moves.
- Maybe stick to playing the 4-4 point for now in the corner since the 4-4 joseki (opening moves) are simplest for the 4-4 point.

Good luck!

read this 2 books

http://www.fzort.org/usagi/