Playing Go again after a long hiatus (KGS 7k) - any advice?

[ra88it]

I would appreciate any criticism of this game. I play Black, and I am particularly interested in suggestions for responding to W c13 (move 12).

Thanks!

[Bill Spight]

is problematic. In general, do not attach to stones that you are attacking.

Allowing White to live in sente was not good.

[EdLee]

Hi ra88it, a little caveat on Bill's suggestion: OK to hear about some "general" ideas (say, proverbs),
but be ready to question them and discard them every time. See var.

[ra88it]

Bill, carelessly attaching to weak stones is such a bad habit for me that I didn't even notice it there. I wish I could configure my go client to squawk whenever I make such a move.

EdLee, somehow I was blind to your variation, but it makes sense.

Thanks to both of you for your comments!

[EdLee]

Thanks to both of you for your comments!

You're very welcome.

carelessly attaching to weak stones is such a bad habit for me that I didn't even notice it there.

Carelessly doing anything is bad, whether making a bad attach, or missing a good attach.
Habits, whether good or bad, are difficult to change precisely because we are not usually aware of them.
Unless they are pointed out to us.

somehow I was blind to your variation, but it makes sense.

It's pro move. If you were able to consistently play like that on every move, you'd be at least 9 stones better.
So it's not "somehow", it's "of course" that many of us would miss it.
This one happens to be a very standard, very basic shape; good to remember.

[Uberdude]

Play e15 at f15: attack from a distance. The reason e15 attach is bad is white d16 push is sente and then your e15 stone has not many liberties and a gap above and below for white to break out. Move it away a bit to f15 and it has 4 liberties and it's harder for white to break out. I didn't read if white can live after f15, but even if he can you'll get strong outside in the process and he'll live in gote at best which is nice for you. This idea of reading just two moves forward and seeing if your current move would be better elsewhere is fairly easy to apply and will help you catch many mistakes.

[ra88it]

Thanks for your comments, Uberdude. That is very helpful, because it is a move I considered but for some reason rejected. Probably it seemed too passive to me at some primitive level, since I am "backing away" from the white stone. But now that you show me I can see it is obviously better than, but with the same intent as, my original move.