Here I have two recent games in the ASR league. Both opponents declined to review the game, so while I've reviewed them myself I haven't heard any other perspectives. I post them below with a minimum of self-pity and defensiveness!
In this game I was crushed by an enterprising 9 kyu. I kept losing group after group with no compensation.
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Okay, a little bit of defensiveness. I was perhaps not very awake or careful at the beginning of my game, because I was not aware of just how enterprising my opponent was.
This game I won, but only because my opponent was really, really bad at life and death. Everything else was a disaster.
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Comments on either or both greatly appreciated!
Re: Two recent games
Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 6:46 pm
by cyclops
edit: I was very confused when I wrote this. I mixed up the players.
jts wrote:Here I have two recent games in the ASR league. Both opponents declined to review the game, so while I've reviewed them myself I haven't heard any other perspectives. I post them below with a minimum of self-pity and defensiveness!
In this game I was crushed by an enterprising 9 kyu. I kept losing group after group with no compensation.
This 9 kyu is quite strong. Your double kakari in the UR corner didn't work quite well because s/he was ahead there already. I prefer at E15 because it works well with your UR. Then he punished very skillful your overplay at So at it was game over.
Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 6:55 pm
by EdLee
jts,
Basics: Broken Shape.
In the iseedolls game, cutting at N17 is the only move; otherwise W connects at N17 and B gets a broken shape.
Re: Two recent games
Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:08 pm
by Magicwand
JTS: you are 6 kyu.. now you know the basic and it is time for you to study joseki.
i am sure you felt that you have been played on UR corner.
answer is given by Ed. thank you.
when you think you lost point on the variation and do not know where you went wrong..ask or try to find joseki.
that will make you stronger and one step closer to dan.
IMO, you opponent knew that variation and he is dan level player sandbagging.
Re: Two recent games
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 8:09 am
by jts
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
cyclops wrote: This 9 kyu is quite strong.
Yeah, he's undefeated in Gamma I, last I checked. We'll see how he does against the 4d.
Basics: Broken Shape.
In the iseedolls game, cutting at N17 is the only move; otherwise W connects at N17 and B gets a broken shape.
now you know the basic and it is time for you to study joseki.
So I actually have glanced atstudied this variation before, but I don't play it because I don't understand what it's good for. (Yes, I know this means I shouldn't have played Q14.) Any thoughts?
you think above variation is good for white??
in my opinion it is better for black because of sente and thickness.
i think that is why professionals try to avoid above variation as white.
Re: Two recent games
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:54 am
by jts
Well, I don't know. It just doesn't look that good to me. I guess I should play it a bunch and then I'll find out for myself. I just don't know what to do with the position. What would be your strategic ideas as black on a board that looked like this?
FWIW, can be joseki here, but there's an important difference
Re: Two recent games
Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:25 pm
by cyclops
I commented a lot of nonsense on your first game.
So let me try the second.
16-17 exchange is better for B.
After W20 W will become <edit> heavy <\edit> after Bc9,Wd8,Bc3.
B37 at b1 would turn W36 into a bad move because B would be alive
After w166 if b plays D18 comfortably living in the corner or at the top are miai. B helped you a lot by misplaying that corner.
After b189 you really finished him off.
Re: Two recent games
Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 8:57 pm
by jts
cyclops wrote:I commented a lot of nonsense on your first game.
So let me try the second.
16-17 exchange is better for B.
After W20 W will become after Bc9,Wd8,Bc3.
B37 at b1 would turn W36 into a bad move because B would be alive
After w166 if b plays D18 comfortably living in the corner or at the top are miai. B helped you a lot by misplaying that corner.
After b189 you really finished him off.
Thanks for the comments, cyclops.
I was sort of mad at myself for W16, but letting him get a stable position on the left and potentially invade both corners seemed hard. But perhaps I should have been happy with F16. What would you suggest instead?
You're completely right about W36, should have been at b6.
W166 was a complete overplay. I had decided by this point that L&D wasn't his strong point, and thought I needed it to make up lost ground. I still think that was the right decision... if B hadn't made a mistake on M17, it would have been a nail-bitingly close game.
Re: Two recent games
Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 6:29 pm
by cyclops
jts wrote:....
I was sort of mad at myself for W16, but letting him get a stable position on the left and potentially invade both corners seemed hard. But perhaps I should have been happy with F16. What would you suggest instead?
Maybe attach and extend or what about the cap at E14? It is at the border of two moyo's; it aims at the big gaps at the right side.
jts wrote:....
W166 was a complete overplay. I had decided by this point that L&D wasn't his strong point, and thought I needed it to make up lost ground. I still think that was the right decision... if B hadn't made a mistake on M17, it would have been a nail-bitingly close game.
Indeed a tactical overplay. Chapeau!! At 138 b is far ahead. You escaped further disaster at the bottom and won the game!! b139 should have been at N1 of course. The bottom is exciting after that move.
Re: Two recent games
Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 7:26 pm
by jts
cyclops wrote:
At 138 b is far ahead. You escaped further disaster at the bottom and won the game!! b139 should have been at N1 of course. The bottom is exciting after that move.
The bottom was a huge disaster! Not only b139 (as well as earlier points where B could have been more compromising), but around b155, B throws away several opportunities to crush me. I was really hoping some people would have ideas, either strategic or tactical, about how to not be in the position I'm in at b139 at all.
Re: Two recent games
Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 11:28 pm
by shapenaji
What was the deal with trying to save P10?
Re: Two recent games
Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2012 12:22 am
by jts
shapenaji wrote:What was the deal with trying to save P10?
I assume you mean either p8 or o10... for p8, there was no "deal". I just wanted to invade, and the invasion was a huge failure, and even the ko that I thought I had was denied because the r12 group was wholly useless.
For o10, at first I just wanted to cut and reduce liberties on M7 to make M7's life difficult, and possibly set up a connect-and-die, and then I saw a way that made miai of getting W the liberties he needs to capture m7, and connecting to g10 (which I thought B couldn't allow, although it turned out that should have been fine for him).
(If you're referring to the first game... well, it was a lot of points. In that case if I had sat down and read for three or four minutes, I should have realized that it was surrounded, though.)
Re: Two recent games
Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2012 1:14 am
by shapenaji
jts wrote:
shapenaji wrote:What was the deal with trying to save P10?
I assume you mean either p8 or o10... for p8, there was no "deal". I just wanted to invade, and the invasion was a huge failure, and even the ko that I thought I had was denied because the r12 group was wholly useless.
For o10, at first I just wanted to cut and reduce liberties on M7 to make M7's life difficult, and possibly set up a connect-and-die, and then I saw a way that made miai of getting W the liberties he needs to capture m7, and connecting to g10 (which I thought B couldn't allow, although it turned out that should have been fine for him).
(If you're referring to the first game... well, it was a lot of points. In that case if I had sat down and read for three or four minutes, I should have realized that it was surrounded, though.)
I was referring to the first game, it's just, you get very little out of it even if the P10 stones do escape. It's almost impossible for the P10 stones to escape and his group to still be weak.
Better is to just strengthen the outside elsewhere, and hope to aim at that later...
When you're behind, you have to sneak up on the kills..
I prefer at E15 because it works well with your UR. Then he punished very skillful your overplay at 
So at 
it was game over.
cutting at N17 is the only move; otherwise W connects at N17 and B gets a broken shape.
can be joseki here, but there's an important difference