Life In 19x19

This is a game that I lost against a 6d with 8 handi stones.
That means that I have made at least 8 major mistakes worth a handi stone each.

Yes, it was a great teaching game, but nevertheless it's frustrating to lose with such a huge amount of handi stones..

All comments are welcome.

Is the game incomplete or you resigned? The major "mistakes" I saw were mostly misreads (I assume). I'm not a good handi player, so my suggestions don't come with a lot of strength, but you have to try to stay connected as much as you can... And cut white as much as you can. White has a group spanning all the bottom, and connected through a cut almost all the top, too. Don't take this as a critique, I'm guilty of worse handicap sins

Thanks for your input.

I replayed the game with Drago to store it as SGF, so it seems to be incomplete, but actually it is complete. I lost this game on time, but it is pretty obvious that black is pretty much behind and I would have resigned anyway within the next few moves. The opponent was soooooo strong

karaklis wrote:That means that I have made at least 8 major mistakes worth a handi stone each.

Are you sure? How do you know it was not (8 stones/74)-mistakes spread over 74 moves?
Or, any other combinations in between?

The first move that looks questionable to my kyu-eyes is 22, which feels thin, instead of pressuring w's own thinness. Then twice, move 30 and move 40 you choose to protect territory instead of protecting your weakest stones. This proves to have been in vain as white later creepily dissects your corners. I can certainly empathize with your frustration, but on the other hand, white offers us some great examples of how to rob banks.

I've tried to illustrate where white gains points from important mistakes. The three main ideas in the area I covered before running out of time are:
- Move 22 is powerful. They way you follow it up is antipowerful.
- Moves like move 40 are big. Are you sure the top right isn't bigger?
- Move 42 is a terrible shape move, even if it saves your stone. Think about playing more powerfully, even if it seems riskier.

n3 = please separate my stones.
l9 = please separate my stones.

Thanks amnal, that was helpful.

daal wrote:The first move that looks questionable to my kyu-eyes is 22, which feels thin, instead of pressuring w's own thinness. Then ... move 40 you choose to protect territory instead of protecting your weakest stones.

amnal wrote: - Move 22 is powerful. They way you follow it up is antipowerful.
- Moves like move 40 are big. Are you sure the top right isn't bigger?

So much for my kyu eyes

Maybe "the ABC of attack and Defense" of Michael Redmond applies here for your move 6.
I copied some of his variants into the sgf.
All later comments and variations are Amnal's. I liked them a lot.

karaklis wrote:This is a game that I lost against a 6d with 8 handi stones.
That means that I have made at least 8 major mistakes worth a handi stone each.

Yes, it was a great teaching game, but nevertheless it's frustrating to lose with such a huge amount of handi stones..

All comments are welcome.

Without looking at the game, the rank difference suggests that the handicap was insufficient. You were supposed to lose. You might actually have lost by less than you should have. I remember taking four stones from a 2 dan and losing by only 40 points. I was thrilled! (I was a DDK then. )

Also, it is probably not the case that you made at least 8 errors worth a stone each. To lose with 8 stones, an average error of 1 point per move will do. OC, we do not expect the errors to even out, but you could easily have made only a few errors greater than 5 points, with no errors as large as a handicap stone.

OC, recognizing and eliminating large errors is good. But there is also the idea of playing up to yourself. Difficult fights which are beyond your ability can lead to large errors. But if you can avoid errors that are within your ability not to make, if you play up to yourself, you will be hard to beat. In a game last year I misread a semeai, leading to a sizable loss, but I still won by 8 points.

L9, N3, G6, G5, E2, M16, L17, N17, H3.

You are supposed to lose even with 9 stones when your opponent is 12 stones stronger.

I tend to disagree with Bill: Your problem is not that there is fighting in the game where you may misread, the problem is that you let White decide where the fights are. I would blame coffee break moves like E2, your opening moves were pretty good but they are only as good as their follow up. There is no quick fix for reading, playing the right attacking move etc., but when you decide where it is suitable for you to fight, you will be surprised how much easier reading gets. In fact, I believe you were afraid to pick fights with the opponent, given he is so much stronger, which enabled him to pick the fights where he wanted.

OK, now I have looked at the game. Some comments on the early play.



Main focus:

Make a plan. Do not let White dictate play.

Thanks Bill! That was very insightful. Regarding the weak stones at the bottom left I made the wrong plan. I thought I could abandon them and make territory at the left side by trying to reactivate the stones. But turning the weak stones into strong attacking stones was a real eye opener.

karaklis wrote:Thanks Bill! That was very insightful. Regarding the weak stones at the bottom left I made the wrong plan. I thought I could abandon them and make territory at the left side by trying to reactivate the stones. But turning the weak stones into strong attacking stones was a real eye opener.

De nada.

White can complicate that last variation. In particular, after Black plays the knight's move, a White jump to G-06 instead of saving the White stones right away looks better than what I showed. But attacking White's weakness is still a good idea.