i had to resign a lot of games today as i had reached my cut off point of getting 100 points behind and losing over 20 stones they all came at once as games all came to about the same conclusion in play with me getting boxed in and losing corners one by one —this not a complaint of anything just a obeservation some days i can go all day without reigning in a game and some days like today i just swamped all at once – it is what it is i have dropped playing that mirror flow opening as it just was to hard to keep it going and of course knowing when to let it go was the big hardship i just didn’t get it – oh well i have to get into more corners or at least domiate one corner before i move on tonight – maybe i will do better – lesser things under the sky have happened
From your most recent 13x13 game, D11 created very bad shape for Black:
Cutting right through a knight's move is very big at Sensei's Library
After reading several of your posts, I think your problem isn’t about specific techniques, but that you don’t yet know how to start improving. I want to give you three suggestions – not complete techniques, but useful for a beginner:
Complete the corner, watch for useless moves, predict your opponent’s next move
I think you should start with joseki (corner patterns). You might not understand them yet, but that’s fine – use them first. At least you’ve already realized that corners are more important than other areas in the beginning. Then the sides, and finally the center. Joseki can roughly be understood as mutually acceptable sequences in the corner, accumulated experience from countless players over a long time. Deviating from joseki will almost never make the position better – it will usually make it worse (maybe AI sometimes finds something, but don’t worry about that for now). There are many joseki, but fortunately, mastering just a few will serve you well for quite a long time. For example: star point · small knight approach · small knight response, star point · 3-3 invasion, 3-4 point · low approach · small knight, and other common ones. I believe many resources can guide you. Like OGS → Tools → Joseki, the numbers or letters listed first usually represent the more common moves.
You should watch for “common bad habits” – worthless moves. For example, connecting when your group is already perfectly safe. That move could have been used to create new value, but now it’s wasted. Before playing, think: what does this move gain? Is there a place where I could gain more? Not just focus on the local area you’re looking at, but observe the whole board.
You can try to predict your opponent’s next move. Where is the biggest possibility? The second biggest? The third? Form a list of predicted points. Then think: if the opponent plays in these positions, how should you respond? When the opponent moves, check whether it matches your prediction. If it doesn’t match, then you definitely didn’t consider something your opponent considered. Sometimes your opponent made a mistake, sometimes it’s your blind spot, sometimes your thinking is completely different. Don’t worry – mismatches are completely normal. Your opponent doesn’t want to play where you want them to play. If they do, it means they’ve fallen into your rhythm, which is usually not good for them (unless they have no choice). Trying to predict your opponent’s moves is very important. Thinking from your opponent’s perspective means you need to observe your opponent’s position, not just your own. When you can see many moves ahead, you’ll figure out what your opponent wants, and then target that. But don’t rush – take it slowly. Start by predicting the next move, then increase.
A quick checklist:
In opening: Have I completed the corner? (Finish the joseki before tenuki)
Every move: Is this move valuable? Is there a bigger place?
Before opponent’s move: Where is their most likely move? Second, third? → What do they want?
After opponent’s move: Does it match what I thought? If not, why?
VERY HELPFUL TIPS AND WORTH READING EVEN TWICE, THATS FOR SURE!!! I DO LIKE THE IDEA OF TRYING GAMES WITH JUST THE WINNING OF ONE CORNER IN MIND AS A GOAL OF THE GAME - WILL TRY THAT NEXT GAME I START
LET ME PLEASE REMIND YOU THAT ON THE ’NET WRITING WHOLE TEXTS IN ALLCAPS IS CONSIDERED RUDE BECAUSE IT IS PERCEIVED AS SHOUTING.
See also: All caps - Wikipedia.
soory sometimes with my bad failing eyesight i don’t see the caps light on or I don’t see the letters as i type them with my good right hand one finger style – i really don’r see the issue but others do they are larger type face so can be seen by others with simlar eye issues – but i understnd and will try in the furue be more careful – bit as you have pointed out many times iam ignorate of protucal and when my speel checker dosn’t adjust my type size things slip throught – again sorry
Yeah, I remember that you said something about bad eyesight – and I also remember that either I or someone else told you that you can enlargen the display in your browser by pressing CTRL+[plus sign] (on Windows/Linux) respectively CMD+[plus sign] (on macOS).
Maybe try that?
There will also be options in your operating system to enlargen the display of EVERYTHING, i.e. on desktop, in directories (folders), in the menus, etc.
At that time, I mentioned that
CTRL+[zero] or CMD+[zero] , as the case may be
resets the zooming from CTRL+[plus sign] , CMD+[plus sign]
- so there’s no concern about the plus-sign zooms
causing you to lose what the default size is -
although I imagine it doesn’t reset
choices from in the operating system.
well thanks for the update on that info you gave before – mind wonders when the meds take over and sometimes i forget i i will try very hard not to use caps again and again thans for the reminder