i read on another go site in their forums about a fellow who went two years before his first win – is that to be expected i have won a couple of games, but really, they were the other person giving up, and in no way was my playing the reason they lost. so after a month of playing, I’m still waiting for my first legit win. in a 13 x13 3 day game – but i hope it doesn’t take years to accomplish that. yeps!!! Maybe a little sooner, i hope good luck to new players and their goals
Your modest appeal was very affecting, so I took a look at your most recent 9x9 and 13x13 games. The two overwhelming deficiencies of your play are (1) you do not know the fundamentals yet, and (2) you are not looking closely at the board. In your 13x13 game, you opened with a 5-5 move and proceeded to try to surround the center, it seems. I suggest you do OGS’s tutorial ( Play Go at online-go.com! | OGS ) and then take a look at mark5000’s tutorials on the Puzzles tab: Play Go at online-go.com! | OGS , Play Go at online-go.com! | OGS , Play Go at online-go.com! | OGS .
In your 9x9 game, you created a double atari, but when your opponent protected one stone, you failed to capture the other stone, apparently because you did not see it. Your opponent also missed it, but you missed a second opportunity to make the capture. This means you simply need to take a closer look at the board.
Good luck on you go journey. Go is a beautiful game, but it is very hard, and it never gets any easier.
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This sequence jumped out at me immediately too.
For reference:
This is great! White plays D4 to put black into a double atari.
Black plays B4, and white has a chance to take a huge lead… and plays F3.
Notice the difference in what the board looks like if white had simply captured at D2 instead of playing F3. It’s just massive.
@dokbohm A couple of prescriptions:
- Do some basic go problems. The most beginner problems possible, and drill them until they are automatic.
- Slow down when you’re playing. We can’t see the timings from the game replays, but it looks like you’re just spraying stones onto the board without giving it enough time to consider where to play.
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iam sure most of what you say is true - and after looking at the boards you presented, i now see what you are talking about, at the time, mind you i did have hindsight when i made the moves, and it is always easier to see one’s mistakes after they make them i guess it will be a while before i even get close to winning a single legit game hummmmmmmmmmmm! frustration
Reviewing your game is one of most profitable activity. You could spend as much time playing as reviewing
Naturally that’s not something to propose to a beginner.
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yes, reviewing one’s games is good, if someone else points out what you did wrong, but more importantly, what you should have done on any given move. Those above reviews were very helpful from that perspective
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May I recommend
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you take part in RenGO,
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visit this often for fundamentals Play Go at online-go.com! | OGS
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REdefine “win” for each phase of learning
for example, as a newbie, I felt like winning, big, when I lost to this “20 to 19” 3-month 13x13 match yesterday. Guess why:)
what is ren go ? why did you lose ?
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Rengo is more as 2 players game. A team against another team.
Besides this I don’t especially recommend correspondence games for beginners unless you can’t find opponent for a live game.
I’m very curious of your own opinion
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There is a go proverb that says the you “lose your first 100 games”. For me it was even more, it’ll come with time don’t worry just play 
Maybe yeah do a couple tutorials and try to get some basics, but by playing you’ll naturally detect where you failed.
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Have you checked OPs history?
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Nope wait lemme check
Holy shit 46 correspondence games. Tbh OP you should just avoid blitz and correspondence until you start to really get the basics of the game. Try slow paced live games that would be better
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Another piece of excellent advice I expect @dokbohm / @NEWOLDGUY will ignore.
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That’s a great question, and @Groin has already explained what Rengo is. For me, losing that Rengo game felt like a win.
As a newbie, my goal is to learn (and fail before win) as much as possible. I’ve been focused on figuring out how to use the various OGS tools to improve as quickly and efficiently as I can. This game was a huge part of that.
Even though I lost, I gained valuable experience. Here’s why:
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The challenge: I ended up playing against 3 patient and experienced Go players.
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The opportunity: I asked them to stay until the end so I could practice, and they were kind enough to do so!
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The outcome: I learned so much from playing against them, which is exactly what I wanted from the game.
So even though the scoreboard says I lost, I won by getting to practice and learn with great opponents.
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EL_EL_EN_EN your answer made real sense i was interested myself as to the depth of why you lost but your answer served its purpose instead thank you
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as usall the others responding here, are harsh with their comments about me, some find solice in the misery of others i suppose. but i do find satifaction in couple answers that where helpful thank-you to all that are helpful in the game of go for newbies
@dokbohm don’t lose heart. Indeed. Your writing is also beautiful.
For easier reading, I just wish you’d use more full stops, commas, and capital letters. It’s similar to Go matches on OGS: sometimes you need clarity and serenity.
I partly understand why you’re having 40+ daily correspondences games. I used to have 77 myself, and now it’s down to 55. For almost two months, I played nearly 900 9x9 fast matches with the OGS bots (5 minutes each). Some days I even pushed myself to 60 back-to-back games.
Why? I think we’re both kinesthetic learners and result-oriented (Type A). Others might remember things visually or auditorily, but we can’t unless we experience them with all our senses. So, keep reflecting and welcoming all comments with open arms.
(@Groin as a Go veteran, who knows me and my anxiety level, can add more to this?)
Cheers!
In my case: Not even remotely!
Instead, it comes from the frustration in the face of the (how can I say that?) “peculiarities” of the sum of your behavior on this site.
But let’s don’t talk about the past.
Let’s talk about the most recent game you have played:
Time control is Fischer time, 3 minutes plus 7 seconds per move.
After move 25 (from your opponent) the AI evaluates the position as basically equal. Half a point in favor of your opponent.
Now let’s have a look at the amount of time you spent on each of your moves after that (in seconds):
0.71
0.56
0.64
0.52
0.49
0.55
1.33
6.91
0.87
0.67
0.63
4.40
0.77
0.52
0.78
0.90
5.45
0.55
0.57
0.49
After these moves (after move 64) the AI says your opponent is 48 points ahead.
One move later you chat to your opponent: “i really don’t care about losing stones iam here for shapes play”
With this amount of thinking time (or better: lack of thinking time) even a pro would struggle to find reasonable moves.
You care about winning? You must be kidding.
Care about playing legit games of Go first.
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FritzS instead of talking completely about how i did this timing badly or how I don’t take time to move each stone correctly – why not for change give exact details on which move i should done this or done that so i can learn to move my stones in a better relationship to my opponent that game you show is one where i was trying to copy a video i saw on utube about shapes and how to create them - i realized quickly that i started to close to the centre so it went down hill from about move 15 on. the comment was to myself not to worry about losing stones and just concertrate on making the shape they prescribed in the u tube videos anyways
i realize that you really have neg opinion of me and that you rather be neg. to my learning than help so i will just accept what you have to say as that