Life In 19x19

just wondering if i followed this too closely? i had been warned before that i seemed afraid to do this. at the time i was just thinking about the idea that its bad to push the cart from behind so i thought maybe it was good to enable my opponent to do that by just pushing ahead and letting them follow me down a straight line. anyway this game just happened. as i was doing this i just started to feel the line i was making was very weak and had a lot of defects.

im not looking for a whole game analysis just the big obvious hane at the head run that happens. i quit pretty early

Amusing.

Some comments.

While I agree with what Bill said, I would like to say that after , black is ahead by at least 30 points. White's wall is doing almost nothing, while black's dominates the entire board. And after white plays and , which only serve to remove black's cutting points, the game becomes even more favorable for black. Your problems start with the sequence at - , where you make what's called broken shape (also known as toothpaste Go). After this, white's group is still in one piece, while yours is cut in two, and has major weaknesses such as the cut at O8.

- provide a good opportunity to learn/refresh your memory about snapbacks

At , you should just connect at K11, and while you've lost a bit, your group will still be strong.

Finally, at , you should patch your cut at H16. This is ultimately what cost you the game.

cherryhill wrote:just wondering if i followed this too closely?

If we follow any proverbs or guidelines too closely, we're in trouble.

cherryhill wrote:...the idea that its bad to push the cart from behind...

We're all trying to learn these over time:

hane head of X -- sometimes it's correct; sometimes it is bad.
pushing cart from behind -- sometimes it's bad; sometimes it is correct!
broken shape -- sometimes it's bad; sometimes it's OK.
empty triangle -- sometimes it's bad; sometimes it's brilliant.

Therefore, corollary:
Wrong: always hane head of X.
Wrong: never push cart from behind.
Wrong: never make an empty triangle.
Wrong: never make a broken shape.

It depends on your reading and assessment of the global situation. It's your level.
It takes a lot of experience, reviews, examples, counter-examples, general ideas, special cases...