Review Thread?

tenkuucastle, 11 months ago

I've been in a pattern lately where I feel like I've actually gotten a little worse at the game after reading up on a lot of strategy. I've found a lot of my 19x19 wins recently have either been from getting lucky with an opponent making a mistake, or playing against someone that's a few ranks below me. When I lose it's usually a blowout, this is one of the closer games I've had recently: https://online-go.com/game/54507315

Would love some advice on where I'm needing the most improvement right now! I feel like I'm making pretty good plays in the opening to establish some influence, but as soon as my opponent starts going on the offensive my strategy kind of falls apart

ALoafOfBread, 11 months ago

You play very calmly and patiently, which is good. I like that you are able to create heaviness, and you do make some good invasions and defend well.

Early on, though, you played very slowly and defensively, opting to consolidate territory on the top and bottom sides rather than attacking the corners strongly and weakening and dividing white. Additionally, your slow and heavy style allowed white to build up some very large moyo. Ultimately, I think being more aggressive, prioritizing the corners, and considering what the biggest/most valuable moves are will help you.

Here's an example of how playing defensively (slowly) actually loses you maybe like 20+ points. By playing K16 on move 13 instead of truly approaching the corner, you avoid any possibility of complications or a pincer, etc. but if you'd just played F17 instead, you'd have limited White's control of the top left corner, played out some moves to make your shape good, and then backed off to like K16 to claim the side. So you'd have achieved the same goal (control of top side) without ceding a large area to white and allowing them to take more of that top side than the faster, less defensive method of just approaching the corner directly. In this case, offense is the best defense.

You mentioned maybe getting too preoccupied with theory, but I think learning a couple common joseki might help you understand opening theory a bit better and help you be aggressive in a way that still allows you to make good shape and stay safe. You don't need to always play established joseki, but understanding why they work is beneficial.

Mikrochip, 11 months ago

Do you really think it's a good idea to learn joseki at 14k? Most common advice I've read/head was to save them for later, as their complexity is supposedly a bit too hard in the beginning and memorizing them wouldn't neccessarily help if one's opponent didn't stick to a joseki all the way through.

I've reached 7k and not really looked into them so far, though perhaps it is time for that.

ALoafOfBread, 11 months ago

I don't think they (or you, or me for that matter) should memorize tons of joseki - you're definitely right. But, I think it'd help them see some common strategies for approaching the corner safely. Especially given that Tenkuucastle's approaches ceded so much ground white. More about getting some idea of what's possible in a good corner exchange than perfectly executing a joseki.

Mikrochip, 11 months ago

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks!