done and dusted… let me know if you have any questions or whatever. i tried to keep it simple, but as usual, i always find i have much to say about any game im reviewing.
let me know how you get on tho bro.
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15k is a pretty decent ranking. Don’t beat yourself up. And it’s hard to keep 3 groups alive in 9x9.
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Lastly - just one more oblique strategy
Learning Go is a long, multi-step process. There are so many skills to learn and layers of strategic information to process that no one can grasp it at once. It’s like learning a martial art - you can’t jump from white belt to black belt in three short hops.
The good news is - you can gain those skills at stages, and there will always be a handful of skills that are appropriate to your skill level. In other words, if doing tsumego / living small gets frustrating (I think of these as 15 kyu to 10 kyu skills, and I’m still terrible at tsumego) - try to focus on developing other skills like
- getting an advantage during the Opening by using whole board play rather that over-focusing on local fights (20-15 kyu skills like playing a balanced opening, sente/gote , direction of play, etc)
- getting an advantage during the transition from Opening to Midgame (17-13 kyu skills like whole board play, sente / gote, direction of play for moyo strategies)
A lot of this advice might be more applicable on 19x19 and 13x13 boards but - IF you play a balanced opening, have no weak groups that need to live small, get an advantage going into Midgame by building a moyo, and defend that advantage through Midgame by attacking from thickness, you might not need to live small in the first place.
It takes a bit of conscious effort - and a really good sense of sente / gote & when to tenuki - but especially against 17 kyu to 13 kyu players - one can avoid getting drawn into long contact fights early on, and use sente to grab an advantage going from Opening to Midgame. Learning how to play and win a Peaceful Game - where there are no big captures, and everybody’s early potential stays mostly alive - is a really interesting skill in and of itself. It also has the side benefit that when you rank up to SDK, you’ll have much better direction of play and efficiency sense because you’ve absorbed that practice.
Again, this is all very subjective based on how I learned to play. Your mileage may vary, some cars not for use with some sets, void where prohibited.
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NEWOLDGUY, where are you, sir? I miss you. They closed the thread ‘starting week three of my journey into go’ and maybe thereby got you to ‘let this thread rest for a bit’.
Please keep doing what you were doing. You’ve got at least 1 fan; I admit that one of the first things I did on the forums, was find out if you had posted anything new and then enjoy the reactions. Now you’ve all but faded into oblivion. Don’t let them persuade you to abandon Your work. I appreciate it.
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Thank you very much for the detailed review. I have seen it, I just haven’t had time to go through it properly. I’m not sure when I can make the time so I’ figured I should say thanks now!
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I am too stupid for this game
That’s how I feel when I lose a game that I should have won 
And how dare you say that you’re “too stupid” while you’re sitting up there at 15kyu 
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One big difficulty is to learn to finish a game. Even if you get some advantage you need to keep it to the end, and that’s not easy at all.
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I’m not 15 kyu, nowhere close. I used to be ok about 10 years ago and it kept my level here for some reason, now I am trash.
I don’t think I ever have an advantage, pretty much every move I make is the wrong one, it feels.
You’re in good company 
Edit: you should also feed one of your games into AI Sensei. You’d be surprised how many of your moves are considered “good” or even “AI” moves. I understand blunders hurt, but there is a lot of reasoning that goes into even DDK games.
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I see you almost only play Blitz or Live. Play some correspondence games as they give you more time to think. And play 13x13 or 19x19, as 9x9 is less forgiving of mistakes. In 9x9 usually one mad move and its game over.
Edit:
I noticed you’ve been an SDK before. You don’t have to listen to me. You’ve been up there, you can do it again.
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Playing blitz or live is not a problem if you
- study
- try to apply what you learned in your games
- review your games.
Some people have become dan players by playing blitz, but they took the time to review their games afterwards.
However I tend to agree that thinking longer during games is usually better. You don’t need to play correspondence games, live games with long time settings are fine too if your schedule allows it.
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Well its not like its going anywhere, so take your time, friend!
This is super valid. Its why I offer game reviews. The best way to get good at something is by 1, doiung that thing, and two, learning about that thing.
The value of studying Go pays massive dividends very quickly, and even more so for the long run of your game!
I actually prefer live for learning. Correspondence is nice, but you lose a lot of context between moves and the feedback loop is too slow imo.
Slow enough to not blunder, but fast enough that you can get a few games in seems right.
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Well, you are not alone in this. Since the AI revolution a few years ago, almost all go players can be considered dumb, only some of them are more dumb than others.
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Still a total dumbo, not even at square one.
Look on the bright side - you have more kyu than you did last week 
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I have one serious question… why do you play go?
Because, as an outsider looking in here… you don’t seem to be enjoying yourself at all. So what is driving you to continue playing? You don’t need to answer this to me; this is something you need to work out for yourself. Only after you have answered this…honestly, and truthfully to yourself, should you think about playing any more Go. The self-deprecating remarks aren’t a good look, and they aren’t good for your mental well-being. Further to that, you cannot be expected to play good go when you are dulling the blade of your mind with the rust of accumulated negativity.
Once you have found the reason why you play go… You should take some time to develop that reason, to learn about yourself and the game.
When you play Go… you play against 2 opponents… the first is the person sitting on the other side of the board, or screen… the second person is you. You cannot hope to improve when you lose the battle before the war even begins. In the game you just posted, there were a couple of points at which you were winning the game. But you let that escape yourself before you had even really fought for the win. Not even halfway through the game, you were saying you were “Really bad”.
I don’t usually go out of my way to make these kinds of responses, especially as they can seem standoffish and rude… but I see you falling for the same mental trap over and over again with seemingly no real progress in the way of getting yourself out of that funk, and it’s like nails on a chalkboard for me… of course… There is nothing I can personally do to improve your position. I can give you all the sage advice in the world, as can the other people in these forums, but the person who bears the responsibility to make those changes is you.
I feel like I have said all I need to say. As always, I am available to help in any way I can.
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I’m going to try to say some kind things to you, and I hope you are in a place you can hear them:
I am very familiar with this feeling - and it’s something that all beginners face. Unfortunately, as [fuel-for-motivation] or [encouragement-to-learn-better] it impedes a lot more than it feeds. Most importantly, if it becomes an emotion that follows you around even when you’re not playing Go, it’s more likely to keep you in the same place rather than allow you to learn.
You just recently started playing again after a long break. Your current rank will take some time to stabilize. I really don’t feel like you are a TPK (twenty plus kyu) at this point. On what do I base this opinion? Well, even though this was long before the OGS rank update, this is what I played like when I was around ~21kyu:
Based on my terrible performance above, I can say confidently that you have a much better understanding of Go fundamentals like
- playing a balanced opening
- direction of play
- transition from opening to midgame
- keeping your stones alive using good shape
- living small and killing groups trying to live small
If you’d like a more in-depth review of your game lined above, I can do that if you like. However, my main take-aways were:
- a 10-12 point loss is a totally respectable game - IMHO it doesn’t feel the same as a 30-50 point loss - I think of it a clean match that came down to little things rather than a big gap in ability / performance
- I’ve always disliked having to deal with the Chinese Opening - because the only way to counter it is throw the Opening > Midgame transition out the window, and start a risky invasion at like Move 6. Unfortunately, playing the standard knight’s approach to the hoshi usually results in your opponent building a moyo from that large extension, which is pretty much how Black won the game above. The fact that you were able to keep the score relatively close speaks well to your abilities.
If you would like to improve, I have some suggestions
Learn a bit more about various Opening strategy, and the transition from Opening to Midgame. I’ve written a couple of articles about this topic, and there’s lots of good stuff on YouTube. Focus on how local decisions can create whole-board positions by using direction of play strategically.
You are good at living small, but you could use more practice in killing groups trying to live small. I personally find doing tsumego as fun as flossing teeth, but it really helps in this area
I highly recommend this collection
Cho Chikun’s Encyclopedia of Life and Death
even though it starts super-basic, IMHO it’s good to just do it from the beginning
To sum up - take heart - give yourself a little kindness - and just give it time. Things will balance out, and you will find a place where you can learn again.
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