Hi all,
Would anyone be willing to drop a couple of comments on the game below? I was playing Black. There are many mistakes from the middle towards the endgame, but my main concern is regarding timing and direction of play (please see comments on the review):
Many thanks!
Dropped a few variations in the original game. Since you won that game, I gave advice to white, @osyang128.
I’ve dropped some comments in response to yours in the review. Overall I think there’s just two big issues which can be summarised by one theme: shape.
Playing big moves before urgent moves. Part of this is a result of insensitivity to good shape. You had many changes to punish the bad shape of your opponent but you chose to play a big spot instead. This made some of your moves ill-timed because your opponent managed to get away with a lot of things too easily while you end your moves in gote.
Overall your direction during the opening is getting there. However during the skirmish on the top group you created bad shape for yourself with the tigers mouth at G15. Throughout most of the middle game white missed the cut at J16 during the middle game and you missed the chance to defend it with L17. Try look for ways to settle your group along the sides than to make bad exchanges with your opponent for shape in the center (moves 25-31 is a good example)
Thank you both very much for taking the time to go through my game. Your comments were very useful!
I agree, that is probably my greatest weakness. I always try to stretch myself as much as possible and end up leaving lots of bad shape behind.
Thank you for this. I’m glad some of my decisions were correct, especially the hane at the bottom to build the bottom right while White ran away. I will continue working on identifying urgent moves rather than big ones.
Many thanks!