Game Files

It's been a while since I posted any game files of my games. Here are some for you perusal. Again, all comments are welcome. Notice that I am up to 19 kyu! Much better than the 26 or 27 kyu I was when I started this blog!

Alcibaides v. phaggi, even game, loss, Black + 49.5

http://www.mediafire.com/?bmhyjgygy2m

Move 13 – Great move for him, I have secured that corner, rather than mechanically form the wall like too many players (myself included) or jump to another section, he forms a base for his attacking stones and claims more territory in the middle

Move 18 – I think this is a mistake on my part, any thoughts? I tried to attack his stone by hemming it in from the center; instead I should have played F6 and removed his base

Move 39 – this is clearly not going well, with this stone he threatens to claim the entire right hand side of the board, I saw that at the time and failed to stop it

Move 42, in retrospect, I should have played this elsewhere, possibly further up toward the middle; I allowed him to shore up this side of the board

Move 72, I don’t know why I obsessed over connecting these stones or what I thought I could connect them to, notice how after a while he coolly claims the bottom part of the board while I’m just messing around there

Move 92 – finally I start to claim a section of the board, at this point it is entirely too late, at best I will claim 1/6 of the board in the top left corner, he is in control of the top right quarter and most of the bottom left corner, I should have resigned…

Move 110 – I fall back on my old trick of trying to snake my way through territory to reduce his space, he does a great job of retreating and minimizing my breathing room

I lose. it felt more decisive to me that it was. This is a boring game of go in that there were few battles. Very few stones were captured. It was a good territory game. This guy was just more methodical and honestly a little out of my league right now.

Alcibaides v. gohya even game, win White + 52.5

http://www.mediafire.com/?dtmxextvrt9

Contrast this guy’s opening strategy to the last game reviewed, instead of staking out territory, this guy wants to fight. I successfully claim each corner to start the game

Move 48 – textbook example on my part of how to lose a joseki battle; instead of playing the hane (which honestly did me no good) I should have connected the groups at C3 or B2, both would have kept him from making move 49, oops notice how no matter where I play I will lose one group or the other, perhaps I could have driven down the B line to form a living group with four spaces in the eyes

Move 57 – they’re dead Jim

Move 74 – I feel fairly confident despite my debacle, the trouble is all his thickness built up towards the middle of the board, he only has a small amount of true territory but he has tremendous influence, I go to work on it

Move 93 – this starts an interesting capture race, the pieces in question are my white triangle on the O and P lines and his four wall pieces on the N and O lines, this would break his control

Move 109 – I did not play this series perfectly but with this move, the race was over, I had also been allowed to build a wall breaking his center influence up, also I was allowed to claim the center right section of board

Move 167 – Instead of going there to escape, he should have formed an eye at K9, it would have given him some more time to run

Move 170 – I was harshly criticized by my reviewer for making so many of these shapes, in this case I’ll make an exception

Move 202 – I shouldn’t have captured, those stones were dead, I should have pushed for more territory in the unclaimed top 2/3 of the board, this starts a new chapter in the game as we both rush for it, notice that his influence turned into some territory in the bottom corner but the rest collapsed, influence is all potential, you have to capitalize

In the end, I claimed a few spots and snaked away some of his potential territory. I felt satisfied by the win but I really need to work on my fighting skills, at several points he could have crushed my invasions but just didn’t finish the job.