How to protect against an invasion of a very large moyo 19k vs 19k

link to the game

hi, in the end of the game i got invaded and it took me a while to kill it off. could i have reacted differently? this is the main thing i would like to review but i would welcome comments about any other part of the game.

for example:

  1. my timing of playing tengen

  2. in one of the scenarios where i pushed to make a wall, could i have tenukied earlier instead of pushing?

this is my first post so i hope the link to the game works

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At move 140 just peeping instead of wedging might have been cleaner, you don’t want to make things too complicated and risk white capturing some of your stones on M. (See variation in game, I think White has very few options except maybe threatening a cut at P10.)

In general with this type invasion it’s better to surround it and try to eliminate any possible eyespace, than to increase its strength and options by chasing it.

The tengen move seems to have worked out great for you. Granted your opponent immediately played into your hands by simply giving you a wall across the entire left side :slight_smile:

Perhaps you could have also considered capping white with P11, or another move towards the right, to more actively threaten the white stones while building your moyo.

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thank you very much for the insights.:grin:

How to protect against an invasion of a very large moyo;

You don’t.

A moyo is not a territory you have to expect and welcome the invasion.

It’s crucial to differentiate first moyo and territory or you will have difficulties to know how to manage an invader.

3 Likes

He just used the wrong word in his title. If you check the game, this was a hopeless invasion of territory.

2 Likes

Your first 2 moves were the right way to handle such invasions: fix your weaknesses, surround from a distance. Then you went wrong with typical mistakes of trying to capture the invader by playing too close, filling in its liberties, making your own stones weak and trying to not let it have even 1 eye (saving n8), when all you need to do is stop it making 2 eyes. Moves like k6 later are the right thinking, fix your weakness, you don’t need to stop his eyeless stick walking around your strong surrounded territory up top making 0 eyes. The p10 cut was also one to fix (e.g. o10 instead of o8).

Think of your territory like a prison camp with a paratrooper trying to live inside, so long as you just fix your fences and don’t let them have enough space to build a farm and start growing food then you don’t need to actually go and stab them (where you might get hurt too in one-on-one combat) , just let them starve inside.

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That’s true but I guess it’s good to use the right word so not to get confused when choosing the way to handle the situation.

It’s already a territory and the invader should die.

How? This come by practice but here I think too that you play far too near. And the wedge wasn’t efficient nor necessary. Just catch from a distance (you can let him get 1 eye, not 2) simply restraining his movements and keeping your stones connected