Long off-topic explanation of above linked the game
Itās actually a great and somewhat humane move.
And yes, at some point in the game it becomes more valuable than just saving the group in the corner.
So basically, starting from move 24, when this first appeared:
Another key mistake by Black is this move, because of this variation:
At first glance, it may not seem like a White advantage, but it is at least +5. You have to understand what happened: you dived into the corner, grabbed your points (a standard 3-3 corner for side influence), then attacked the strong side, miraculously lived, and ran away.
You may have some space to live on the side, but you donāt actually need it. At the same time, you gave Black awful shape on the side. Basically, half of their moves towards the lower corner are useless, and the funny part is that only Black has problems here. They have several awful cuts, and they canāt really attack White. If they try, White can basically give them that opportunity while grabbing a ton of points on the side.
And move 19 is still useful even now. Move B11 gives White opportunities to connect on the side, which means getting a tempo. Itās one of many variations, but basically it shows the idea.
So, to conclude for White: it helps with the cut Black is threatening, gives more space and opportunities on the side, and also compromises Blackās opportunities.
If White plays E13 outright, Black has variations like this:
(AB being move 8, depending on the style of play.)
White doesnāt have any opportunities to live on the side. Black is much stronger, with both cuts and connections, and will definitely have sente. Iām showing the easiest variation; there are a lot of āwhat ifs,ā but even this one is roughly even. So, in conclusion, in terms of points, this is slightly better for Black. But in terms of how easy the position is to play and what opportunities each side has:
- Variation 1: Black has a weak group vs. a semi-weak group.
- Variation 2: Black has a strong group vs. a weak group.
The second situation is simply better in terms of the overall idea. Black is still losing, though, because of the mistakes played earlier that gave White so many opportunities on the side.
So basically, in all your games, you should look for sente moves that give you opportunities later while taking those opportunities away from your opponent. Extra eye space for a group thatās running is 90/100 times a halo.
Later, the idea changes. Black has somewhat established themselves there (although not really), but White is still a running group for quite a long time. For Black to gain anything from that, they canāt allow White to live on the side at all. It basically becomes permanent sente: grab, I donāt know, five points, and move on with your life.
However, at some point it becomes a halo again. At some point, after the corner was more or less played out, even if it could be killed or lived in one move, playing there was still important.
You were right about squishing. Itās easy to attack White even more severely than that. But that move - or rather, the sequence of moves - implies that giving up 20 points in gote in the corner isnāt really worth more than attacking Black and getting more space in the center for White.
You should count how many weaknesses your opponent has and make use of them.
Black had around three groups that were semi-weak or fully under attack, while you had around one and a half groups under attack. One of yours somehow got itself into trouble, but thatās another question.
That group was worth about 20 points, while Blackās two āstonersā were worth nearly 40 each.
When you have that many groups and a decent lead, you should stabilize the position and attack one group. If it lives, attack the second one. If that one lives too, attack the third.
Every group that escapes will naturally move toward the center, which means you gain influence there. That lets you attack even more effectively and potentially gain a tremendous amount of points while Black is living with very little territory ā or even kill them.
So basically, the same move had a different purpose throughout the game.
At the beginning, the idea was to stabilize yourself in sente and create opportunities to attack while weakening Black further.
Later in the game, it became a sente move that starts a sequence aimed at attacking Black and, most importantly, not giving Black opportunities to come back.
Hereās an example variation. White doesnāt have any weak groups. Even if the bottom-left corner is somehow dead, all of Whiteās stones across the board are safe and strong.
They influence the moyo and affect three groups simultaneously. Even after a defensive move, Black would still struggle to live there. Compare this variation with the one you sent where Black is squishing White. The difference is tremendous, and it all starts with that move.
Actually, itās a semi-human move as of right now. Iām pretty sure that at the start of the game, the majority of players around dan level would have played it, if not all of them. And later in game, Iām pretty sure they would have sacrificed the group.
//Sorry for going off-topic, but I wanted to help the person understand the move.
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