Life In 19x19

The last time I posted a game for review, up here, I got a ton of great commentary and improved my KGS rating by two stones, so I figure it's definitely a great learning tool!

In this game, I felt like I was just a little bit behind in every fight, which added up to a big deficit toward the end when we started that Ko fight. I figured I might be able to get some extra bit of territory out of it, but I never thought that my opponent would miss the snapback I was setting up at move 286. Of course, then I had to go and screw it all up, when I had all but killed his two upper groups.

I already know the mistake I made at the end. That was just flat out dumb of me. But the honest truth is that I never should have been in a position to make that mistake in the first place, so I'm more concerned about my blunders earlier in the game.

Thanks for your help!

I haven't looked at the whole game, I just jumped to the end fight you mentioned ... White 300 at P19 kills Black up top. That was the case all the way up to move 315, when Black finally protected.

I may look deeper later.

A few comments on the first few moves.

24 is the first wrong move. Q2 is normal. It is a complicated position; you'll be able to find it in joseki books if you want to see the branches.

32: You now know this doesn't work, right?

34-38: Surely there must be a bigger place to play than this. Always let your opponent keep your garbage stones, and try not to make new ones.

44: damages your side stones. Same comment as 24.

Consider the corner position after move 26 as a life-and-death problem: B to play and kill. Can you solve it?
How should W avoid this outcome by earlier play? Look up the corner joseki and try to understand the reason for the W moves.
There, you are now at least one stone stronger

Wow. I wrote a mega-reply that was eaten by the internet. So irritating. Let me repeat the three main points:

1. Sente-sente moves come first. In both the lower left and the lower right, if you hane under the black wall and connect, B has to respond. If B hanes under into your corner and then connects, you have to respond. So playing here before he does is big.

2. In the sequence that happened around o6, there are two possibilities. Either you understood that cutting B's stones apart was a great idea (good job!) but you didn't see the loose ladder, or you saw the loose ladder (good job!) but had the horrible idea that you needed to play some forcing moves and then "defend" them in gote. ---- If you misread the ladder, I suggest practicing reading ladders. ---- If you liked the result you got, let me note the two big mistakes you made. First, you didn't preserve the flavor of the position. Go positions are tasty. B owes W some forcing moves somewhere around O6, if W wants them, but its not clear which, if any, of them are most beneficial. So W, like a tiger, will lick his lips and slowly stalk his prey, waiting until one of these forcing moves becomes clearly best, and then he'll pounce and devour his poor adversary. (Or at least gain a few points in sente.) Yummy! So, save the aji (flavor) for later in the game. ---- Second, you defended your forcing moves. Oh no! O6 and P7 aren't great, but they're not useless - after all, you got them essentially for free, so if you play somewhere else now they'll help you eventually. In fact, the best case scenario is that you take the three biggest moves on the board while B spends three moves capturing these two silly forcing stones. But if you play an extra, non-forcing move here to "defend" your forcing moves, you're in trouble. First, B gets sente to play elsewhere on the board. Second, these three stones aren't any safer but they're slightly more juicy as a target, so when B eventually gets around to attacking them, giving them up is much more painful, while defending them is quite dangerous.

To recapitulate: (i) Practice reading ladders. (ii) Preserve aji until you know which threats/forcing moves are most valuable. (iii) Play your forcing moves and then, unless they're hugely important right now, abandon them.

3. Near the bitter end, at W292, how much is the white group in the lower left worth? How much is the black group on top worth? Count for yourself before checking my answer. Never be afraid to sacrifice your own group, however big, to kill an enemy group that's even bigger.

And one small note: at 126, L5 solves your shortage of liberties problem in the best way possible.

Why not White 316 at N4?
Edit: nevermind, doesn't work - but trying doesn't cost you anything^^

8: A bit small this early in the game. Your C16 stone is not threatened, so go for something bigger like K3 or D10 or C6.

10: Again, just a bit conservative. You don't need to worry about the life of that group: it has Q18 to take a big corner, and lots of room to run to the center. So go for something bigger. K3 and D10 and C6 all are still big, and if you really want to play on the right, R6 works too.

16: Good timing!

24 thru 58: DTS and Mitsun pointed out the obvious problems here. The really unfortunate thing that neither of them mentioned about the two lower corners is not only that you got unnecessarily small corners, but that you lost sente twice.

62: This move has two problems: it tries to make territory where the other side is open ( he can play J2 ) and it allows the opponent to lock you in. Something like H6 or J6 would be better.

102: This move is an indicator of a major opportunity in improving your play. You have two stones at P7 and O6 which do not do anything for you. They don't cut anything; they make no territory; they make no eyes. They aren't even a likely ladder breaker in the near future. ( If P5 was alive, they would be worthwhile. ) So abandon them.
With N7 and again with P9 you are playing Egyptian go. ( That is, you are senting living stone sin to join the dead )
Far better here would be something like Q10 or F14( both aiming for the center which could become big black territory all too easily )

132: This is aji-keshi. He just connects and you have accomplished almost nothing. ( Indeed you have shorted yourself on a liberty. If 134 were at P12 where it belongs, then you could block at Q12 with no weaknesses. He could cut at R12 but you would kill him IFF you have the extra liberty at R10. )

150+152: Good exploitation of your opponet's mistake.

154: Why make a weakness for yourself? When your opponent falls, then you kick him; you don't get on the ground with him. That's only in the movies.
Stay strong and extend one more.

Thanks for all the help! This will definitely start me on the road to improvement.

@Marcus, thanks! I completely missed P19 to kill that top group. After N19, I had given up on it, figuring it as being alive, and kicking myself for having played T18 instead of N19. I probably should have just buckled down and thought about the position a bit more before berating myself.


@daniel_the_smith and mitsun, I really need to start studying some joseki. I'll definitely read into this position more. Thanks!


@jts, on point number 2, I was trying to cut B's stones, but missed the loose ladder. I'll definitely take to heart your points on aji, though, as that certainly makes a ton of sense. On point number 3, I thought (rightly, I believe) that I could both save the lower left AND kill his top. If it had been an either/or situation, I most certainly would have sacrificed that small corner for his whole top.


@Joaz Banbeck, thanks for the insight! Extremely helpful!

You can kill the top group, but only if you get the first move. As it happened you did get to move on top first, but played tenuki at the critical point. Saving the lower left gives black the first move on top.

jts wrote:You can kill the top group, but only if you get the first move. As it happened you did get to move on top first, but played tenuki at the critical point. Saving the lower left gives black the first move on top.

Ahhh, I see. You are absolutely correct. Thanks again!