80396477-154-LudwigOak-mochi1234.sgf (1.7 KB)
In this game, in move 27 to 34 i let my opponent have a big moyo and i wasn’t able to invade it later on and live. i think that in move 27 i should have played tengen in order to prevent my opponent from getting a big moyo. i noticed that it’s recurring in my games that my opponents get a big moyo somehow and i lose because of it. any thoughts of how to break that habit?
all comments are welcome
Edit: the actual game mochi1234 vs. LudwigOak
I totally sympathize, I’m forever asking this question 
From a “pure basics” perspective, move 6 was a “mistake” because it was playing into a side before dealing with corners. The “basics principles for beginners” say “corners first”.
From my barely-SDK perspective, this was the start of problems (that I similarly suffer from).
Look at the resulting board at move 10: already scary for a moyo on the left.
Move 11 just added to the problem - too late for that corner now, because you are forcing them to build a wall facing their moyo!
The AI analysis suggests that the problem came from “not being able to deal with it in midgame” (around move 80), but as a beginner I feel that not getting into that situation in the first place seems easier to contemplate.
F17 at turn 9 changes the picture completely, because it stops white’s encirclement of the whole left side.
Full disclaimer: I suffer from this problem myself, but at least this means that I have given it some thought, and I’m not so far more skilled than you that my advice isn’t applicable 
Somehow is a wrong desciption for this particular game at least.
My moyo alarm clock fully ringed after move 10.Move 6 and 8 already indicate an influencial game but after 10 Id be sure they dont mind a big moyo. Why? Because of all their high stones. Their bottom left corner enclosure is more aimed for influence if you compare it to your enclosure on the top right. The 4-4 starpoint they played is flexible in the beginning, but after they played the two other star points on the 4th line, their intend is obvious. The 4th line is for influence and the 3rd for territorry - according to a proverb at least. For a balanced game you want both high and low stones, if they only have high ones their intend is not hidden.
Depending how much and how early you want to prevent them from building a and what kind of moyo, a split at C10/D10 as move 11 may be an option. Or even earlier at move 7, at C14 instead maybe. Your move 7 keeps the board split, the left side has only white stones, the right only black stones. Thats another indicator for moyo potential in the area. If you split the board in 4 squares, you can compare the ammount of stones. The bigger the difference, the bigger the moyo potential. Your 3-3 invasion didnt really help preventing them to build a moyo at least, so much is obvious, right? You perhaps played them in their hands. After that you can already think of reducing.
I hope that was not an too chaotic of answer.
To me also the 3-3 invasion seems like a strategic mistake. Yet the computer thinks it’s completely fine! That boggles my mind!
I suppose it is a good illustration of the idea that sometimes the computer move’s is only good if you can follow up at some high level of tactical skill.
Being aware of the problem is the first step toward solving it. I think most DDK and weaker SDK players (including me) struggle with this problem. There is a rule of thumb that says, if a player encloses, block the extension; and if they extend, block the enclosure. In the game you cited, that would mean blocking White’s extension by playing K4 or even J4 on move 7. As the AI shows, you had the opportunity to similarly take an extension after an enclosure at M3 or M4 on move 11. Instead you played C17. Personally speaking, I think the immediate 3-3 is not suitable for DDK and weaker SDK players, and I have avoided it in my play. It often gives away influence or even a strong moyo for a small corner.
The AI is renowned for it’s confidence in dealing with moyos. It can invade a bent-four in the corner 
That’s why the AI result shows even till move 80: it knows how to deal with the advantage that white has built up, wheras DDKs, even SDKs, have no idea how to recover from there!
Hi - I’m very familiar with this feeling - and it points to a very particular set of skills you’ll need as you rank up from 15 to 10 kyu - figuring out how to play a Balanced Opening and manage the transition into Midgame without giving your opponent a huge advantage in the first 50-80 moves
I wrote this article which may help
19 x 19 FOR BEGINNERS: Playing a Balanced Opening
And yes, towards the end of the article, I caution players away from the Chinese Opening, or other openings where each tries to grab about half of the board, and the rest of the game ends up being risky invasions…
If you stay ahead on developing a bigger moyo, it’s your opponent who will have to make a risky invasion.
A moyo is not too scary if it has weaknesses. You move 21 at A (picture below) was a (small) mistake since it strenghtened your opponent. Your corner was already alive, you should have played elsewere like this, to invade the moyo.
Then if your opponent pincers you from one side, then you can extend towards the other side.
It’s true that your opponent still has a lot of potential at the bottom, but Black also has a lot of points. And since the stone K4 is high, Black can play M3 to reduce White’s potential while increasing Black’s territory.
But if you don’t like moyos, you can try to prevent that early. At move 5, instead of enclosing your corner, approach White’s bottom corner, at C5 or D5.
I will second everyone’s advice, especially @tonybe 's thread/article which explains a lot of these ideas in detail.
The only thing I want to add is that if you want the opponent to not have moyos, then you should play accordingly from the beginning (and I see now that @jlt pointed this out as well).
Here is my example, just following basic joseki:
According to josekipedia you can play in the choices A-F as a continuation so that part has too many options and it is probably ok to leave it as it is. In case you want to tenuki, the square marked points are various choices where you can play to build something of your own, or distrupt the opponent’s growth, or both.
However the goal has been achieved. As far as I can tell, G16 seems the only place where any semblance of a significant moyo potential for White is left on this board now.
G16 (but other similar like a keima there) is the mutual boundary between both moyos so of highest interest. It’s for white AND black.
Still I would fix a bit further the bottom left corner
IMO double corner enclosure+ playing your side star point + somehow early 3-3 invasion is too much on the territorial approach. AI may think it is fine but like… ngl I cannot see myself dealing with it since it is tactically hard for my level.
I think it’s worth noting that this is an “even” game where the players have 7 stone difference in rank.
The reason I point this out is that your invasion to the left side probably could have worked if you were playing someone closer in strength.
I’d recommend you play more learning games with evenly ranked players, so you don’t enforce ideas like “moyo => I’m screwed!”, but rather “moyo => i need to invade or reduce”
Play higher moves.
At move 25 you have on average played on line 2.67, your opponent played on line 3.25.
But note that the AI says the game is totally even at that time.
Another thing: If your opponent ignores your hane-connect in the top left, be aware of the two cutting points that creates.
Yep ignoring there is very dubious. I would have promptly cut to punish.
thank you all for your comments, it’s been really helpful!
