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Teaching Game 53
PageType: OngoingGame
mat: OK, here's my first teaching game online... I'm somewhere around 7k. Dave, how many stones do you want to give me? I want to learn, so comments and hints are very welcome and so you might want to give me less handicap... mat, when you say 7k, where is that - online (IGS, KGS, ...?) or over the board somewhere? I am 1k on IGS and 5d-6d "on the wood" in Japan. Dave mat: I'm not very sure about my rank, but I estimated 7k from my games at go clubs in germany. I don't have experiance with IGS. I've just added 4 stones - if you want to give me more add them. A game with less stones than I actually would need would give you the chance to give me some useful hints... OK? Dave OK, I am guessing that I would be on the order of 2d in Germany. I have set the board up at 2 stones to give you some problems to address from the start. At the same time we will give you a 50.5 point komi. This is something like another 4 stones advantage. One issue for you is how to think about and use the large komi. You might want to discuss a strategy first. Post Mortem Thank you for the game! Of course I'm interested in your thoughts about the game. What would you guess is the most important thing for me to improve? did I continously loose my credits or have I been especially weak at a certain phase of the game? mat Dave First let me say that it was fun and interesting. Directly related to the final result, I think that the ko threat at B142 was regretable since without that unexpected gain for me, it might have come down to a half-point decision. Of course there were many other points earlier (only natural from the difference in strength). We'll go over them gradually, hopefully with the help of our fellow SL visitors. Quite early the game turned into a moyo contest. It continued to the end in quite a peaceful manner with only a brief flurry of activity at the top. If you judged that you were ahead throughout (correctly) and only stumbled at the end, then there is nothing really to criticize in your overall approach - there is only a question of improving your technique. On the other hand if you settled for quietly dividing up the board because you were not sure what to do, then you missed the opportunity to try a more aggressive but unclear course of action and either succeed spectacularly or crash and burn in utter ruin :-) Since this was a teaching game (the page title says so!), I wish that you had done so (and during the game feared that you would). I think that once we set up the moyos the biggest learning opportunity was the exploration of how to invade or more aggressively reduce. In my own Go this is a big, difficult question - frequently frustrating but ultimately fascinating. When we play explicit teaching games with stronger players, we should try to test ideas and look at parts of the game that we do not understand well. In my own case at the end of the 80's I had the opportunity to play a long series of games with a lower-ranked pro at a club near where I was living at the time. My advice here is not based on what I did but rather my reflections on looking back at the way I wasted so many Saturday afternoons thinking that I was almost beating the guy :-) - which in any case turned out to be wrong 90+% of the time! mat At least I made two attempts to invade (B36 and B38) for which I was punished quickly ;-) And B68 was aggressive, too. (I see, 3 aggressive moves are not too many...) I like to play solid in teaching games, because that makes the course of the game clearer and enables me to look at where my moves end up. To improve in life-and-death situations I can do exercises (e.g. goproblems.com), but a teaching game might be over too quickly after 2 or 3 fights are lost - which would be a pity! (I played a couple of times against a 2kyu player (germany) who playes very aggressive - and I tried to fight back: the game (even with 4 stones) tended to be decided after 40 moves.) Of course I was unhappy to watch you reducing my territory while I couldn't do an equal damage to you (you remember my comments?), but what could I have done? Probably I missed some big invasion points just because I didn't see them. Can you show me some?
Moves 191-200
Dave W191 Almost done now. mat B192, 194, 196 Dave W193, 195, 197 you may capture and connect the ko, which I believe is the last point. mat 198, So you pass?, then B200 and pass. I'll count a bit later, I'm in a hurry right now (in a first guess You have won by some points...) Dave Yes, please count (good practice :-). Then we can go back over the game at our leisure. mat 4 1/2 points for you! I'm still happy that it wasn't more (however, in a teaching game one can never tell...)
Moves 181-190
Dave W181, W183, W185, W187, W189
mat B182, B184, B186, B188, B190
Moves 171-180
mat B172, B174
Dave B171, B173, B175
Dave B will have to connect at both the cutting points marked "a" so W plays "b" next to create a dead shape. If B tries to play "b" next to stop this, W has 2 liberties on the left so there is time to play atari at "c" and force B to connect. B176 was a wise choice :-)
Dave W177, 179 mat B178 Moves 161-170
mat B160, B162, B164, B166, B168
Dave W161, 163, 165, 167, 169
Moves 151-160
Dave Wait, I have patched the game! After all the analysis below, I still made a mistake and gave you incorrect advice. B has a much better play than the original simple connection in the upper left. See below... W151 blocks, if you connect at 152, I will connect at 153 :-) That's all for me tonight. Consider well how to take advantage of your sente! mat Honestly, I initially have planned B148 were you patched it to. Of course I hadn't analyzed the situation as deep as you, I just thought it was a sort of "can't-be-wrong-move". OK then, I followed 152 and 153, B154 and "a" seem the biggest to me, maybe B154 (and the possibly following 155) is more sente. Dave It seems the two marked stones appeared rather magically out of all the confusion. But that we will consider punishment for my poor analysis/advice yesterday! Without them, I might ignore 154 to play at "a". In this, however, I will connect at 155 since the aji at "b" is lost if you capture my two stones. If that happened I would have no more sente plays along the bottom left. mat B156, B158 Dave W157, 159 (if you play "c" next, I will answer at "d")
Moves 141-150
Dave W141 mat B142
Dave If B plays 142 here, the threat is the same as in the game. However, when W answers with 143 and 145 (after which B takes the ko), W's territory is 3 points smaller (including the stone not captured at 145) while B's is 2 points greater (most likely B will have to add a stone in the corner later in the game sequence). Dave W143, 145 mat B144, B146 Dave W147 I'll connect here. However, I think that I made a misleading statement in the alternative to 142 above when I wrote that B would have to connect later. The more I look at the situation in the upper left, the more it looks like I can now force a seki starting with a play at "b". The seki would destroy about 8 points of B territory. mat B148 Well then thank you for that hint. I felt unsure about it, but in a first guess I thought I could live (without seki). Anyway, leaving it to you although I know better now would cause me a headache ;-)
Note that because of the marked B stone, B can capture the ko and force W to connect at the marked W stone before doing anything else. This looks like the correct result. However, before B plays 8, he can push out to the right at "a", threatening to connect to the dead B stones to the right. This will allow him to destroy about 5 points of W territory. This reduces the loss suffered in the corner.
W would like to play 5 here but it looks like B just has time to play 8. B10 then increases B's liberties and makes miai of "a" and "b".
Updated The last two diagrams give hints to the proper course of action for B. The point is the connection to the right.
After 147, B should start by taking the ko, forcing W to connect. Next B plays the hane on the right. W has nothing better than blocking and connecting. After this...
In this position if W tries 1, play flows along until B sets up a double ko with 8. W plays 9 to prevent B from capturing. But how can W win the ko? She has to first fill in the outside liberty by capturing the outer ko at "a". Whenever she does so, however, B captures at 6. If W makes a ko threat and recaptures at 9, B recaptures at the marked stone. B is alive. I have corrected the game to reflect this situation.
Dave W149 I'll connect the ko. B in turn plays a superb hane at 150 :-)
Earlier Moves: This is a copy of the living page "Teaching Game 53" at Sensei's Library. (C) the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0. |