Today I played two games.
The first one was against "cousin", who is a 20k? on KGS, but claimed to be around 13-14 prior to the game.
2012-05-16-Median-cousin.sgf
I didn't like my opening. Up to 6 I'm OK, but with 8 I started goofing up. Luckily, he was nice about it and didn't punish me. 8 and 10 are huge mistakes, as they leave me with no good follow-up in terms of shape. Not to mention that he could atari after 8 which I kind of ignored. That would work out for him much better than the game-play. Lesson learned! I need to spend some time on playing against approaches where I am one step behind.
27 and 29 seemed strange. He probably felt that my upper side was getting too strong. I didn't really cope with the situation well, and that sort of stuck with me up to the end of the match. I feel that 55-59 went hugely in my favor. I wanted to use that momentum to win the game. I made a game-losing mistake with 76. In retrospect, I see that I simply should have played lighter (H9, for example), and that would have been the end of it. I overthought the situation, because I was looking at that K9-H12 connection all the time, and forgot to keep things simple. Lesson learned: always ask yourself: "Is there a simpler way?"
With this in mind, I stepped into the next game. It was against a 7k called "kcang". I don't like handicaps. I really don't. I have nothing against the system per se, and I will always accept it if the other person wants to use handicap, but I rather like to not use a handicap when I am playing against a stronger player and trying to learn. I don't mind being beaten to a pulp.
2012-05-16-kcang-Median.sgf
Lately, I've been playing the first 3 moves as an opening with black quite a lot. I'm starting to dislike it, and move more into an "approach before you enclose" state of mind. So I should have played 5 at Q5 really, but I wanted to give this "passive" attitude a bit more time to settle in my mind. He chose to extend after approaching (6,8) which is gote. That felt strange, but it lifted my hopes. Tiny details, tiny details. When he invaded the upper side, I decided to pincer from the side because I had already enclosed my corner. When he takes his base, I can expand the corner and attack at the same time. He decided to make a wall on the fourth line afterwards. Yay for him. My first instinct was to find a way to neutralize it, and making a thick right side seemed easy as well as profitable. Once I noticed he started to make another wall there, I decided to let him, because his lower left was wiiiide open. I was pretty sure I could live there, so all he would have in the end is the two walls and territory in between. I think his fatal flaw was the attachment at 38. Afterwards he defended his left. I wouldn't. I would hane with 44 on J5 and fight to the bitter end. 48 was another big mistake. It was cuttable, and he could not afford a cut there. 59 was my big mistake. I should have simply turned there. Now he managed to cut me off, and that was baaaad. At 78 he could have killed me. He was ahead in liberties, and he just had to start filling up, and I would have nothing to fight back with. Instead, he tried living on the side for some strange reason, and first chance I got, I played L11 for safety. I don't know if he didn't think of filling up my liberties, or simply didn't see the defense of L11. In any case, this was the big mistake that let me win the game. Well, it would have been very close otherwise... He made a mistake in the lower right probably out of desperation. 128 simply does not work in that situation. I'm pretty sure that the 3-3 stone can live inside even without the support from Q5. I tried living in the lower left, but failed. I think that 187 was the main mistake, and should have been played at C4 for life. Maybe not. One simple response that comes to mind is B2, after which I really don't know what to do.
One thing that struck me about this player was that he was very insecure about shapes. Apparently, reading books on shape, failing at a lot of tesuji, and time spent at www.goproblems.com do pay off. Now I am officially only 1kyu from single-digit! Onward!
The first one was against "cousin", who is a 20k? on KGS, but claimed to be around 13-14 prior to the game.
2012-05-16-Median-cousin.sgf
I didn't like my opening. Up to 6 I'm OK, but with 8 I started goofing up. Luckily, he was nice about it and didn't punish me. 8 and 10 are huge mistakes, as they leave me with no good follow-up in terms of shape. Not to mention that he could atari after 8 which I kind of ignored. That would work out for him much better than the game-play. Lesson learned! I need to spend some time on playing against approaches where I am one step behind.
27 and 29 seemed strange. He probably felt that my upper side was getting too strong. I didn't really cope with the situation well, and that sort of stuck with me up to the end of the match. I feel that 55-59 went hugely in my favor. I wanted to use that momentum to win the game. I made a game-losing mistake with 76. In retrospect, I see that I simply should have played lighter (H9, for example), and that would have been the end of it. I overthought the situation, because I was looking at that K9-H12 connection all the time, and forgot to keep things simple. Lesson learned: always ask yourself: "Is there a simpler way?"
With this in mind, I stepped into the next game. It was against a 7k called "kcang". I don't like handicaps. I really don't. I have nothing against the system per se, and I will always accept it if the other person wants to use handicap, but I rather like to not use a handicap when I am playing against a stronger player and trying to learn. I don't mind being beaten to a pulp.
2012-05-16-kcang-Median.sgf
Lately, I've been playing the first 3 moves as an opening with black quite a lot. I'm starting to dislike it, and move more into an "approach before you enclose" state of mind. So I should have played 5 at Q5 really, but I wanted to give this "passive" attitude a bit more time to settle in my mind. He chose to extend after approaching (6,8) which is gote. That felt strange, but it lifted my hopes. Tiny details, tiny details. When he invaded the upper side, I decided to pincer from the side because I had already enclosed my corner. When he takes his base, I can expand the corner and attack at the same time. He decided to make a wall on the fourth line afterwards. Yay for him. My first instinct was to find a way to neutralize it, and making a thick right side seemed easy as well as profitable. Once I noticed he started to make another wall there, I decided to let him, because his lower left was wiiiide open. I was pretty sure I could live there, so all he would have in the end is the two walls and territory in between. I think his fatal flaw was the attachment at 38. Afterwards he defended his left. I wouldn't. I would hane with 44 on J5 and fight to the bitter end. 48 was another big mistake. It was cuttable, and he could not afford a cut there. 59 was my big mistake. I should have simply turned there. Now he managed to cut me off, and that was baaaad. At 78 he could have killed me. He was ahead in liberties, and he just had to start filling up, and I would have nothing to fight back with. Instead, he tried living on the side for some strange reason, and first chance I got, I played L11 for safety. I don't know if he didn't think of filling up my liberties, or simply didn't see the defense of L11. In any case, this was the big mistake that let me win the game. Well, it would have been very close otherwise... He made a mistake in the lower right probably out of desperation. 128 simply does not work in that situation. I'm pretty sure that the 3-3 stone can live inside even without the support from Q5. I tried living in the lower left, but failed. I think that 187 was the main mistake, and should have been played at C4 for life. Maybe not. One simple response that comes to mind is B2, after which I really don't know what to do.
One thing that struck me about this player was that he was very insecure about shapes. Apparently, reading books on shape, failing at a lot of tesuji, and time spent at www.goproblems.com do pay off. Now I am officially only 1kyu from single-digit! Onward!
No comments:
Post a Comment