bubby

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I am new player to go. I am currently a 21k* on IGS. I am not entirely sure what other people have on user pages, but I will probably use this to track my progress and set links to things I have learned or need to learn.

Some things I am currently working on:

LifeAndDeath

InvasionItinerary

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I just jumped up to 16k* on IGS recently. I am not sure if I know exactly why this happened, but a few things I learned:

Global strategy:

I used to focus almost entirely on the sides. I would use two-point extensions on the third line to eat up as much territory as possible. I would jump out into the center only enough to ensure that my opponent got little, if any, territory in the center.

I now believe that strategy to be fundamentally flawed. It is too easy for the opponent to press down on my third line groups, creating influence for himself (usually in sente). Usually, my territory ends up being small.

My latest strategy is to go for bigger moyos. I look for good ways, in the opening, to create a good framework. Something that is both: 1) Connected to the side, and 2) Has potential for escaping into the side.

Invasions

I used to be afraid of invasions. Extensions more than two points were scary to me, because they meant my opponent could later invade and destroy my territory.

I now welcome invasions. Bring it on. I am confident that, in most invasions, I can gain the advantage back by attacking the invading stone. This was a major revelation to me. One illustrative variation of how one of my games might go in a Chinese-type fuseki:

[Diagram]

An example kyu opening position. Note that white's 5 is probably bad since it helps black secure his position.

In something like this, white has invaded and destroyed any prospects of black getting territory in this area, but black has secured part of the top and the right. Black can continue to grow these territories by pressuring the weak white group. If white does this, I usually win.

Problems: When my opponent does this, I have trouble figuring out how to reduce his framework. For instance, if he has a fourth-line framework, I can do two things: 1) Invade on the third line or below => he gains tons of center influence and secures other parts of his territory 2) Reduce at fourth line or above => he secures a large edge/corner and usually can pressure my outside group if I'm not careful.

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I think I realized something else today. I have been having problems with people on IGS who aren't so hot on general strategy or theoretical knowledge, but who are extremely tactical fighters. They tend to invade early and often and it is hard to create any significant moyos because soon after you create them, they are invaded. However, in several of these games, I have won by capturing an extremely large group (about 20 or stones). I think I am starting to grasp a larger idea. That is, even though they are invading, they are creating groups that are weaker and if you can seperate them all, one or more of them is bound to die. I am not sure how to generalize this though.

Still learning...


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