This was one of the most interesting games that I have ever played. I had a much stronger opponent that quite relentlessly attacked me, but I think I learned quite a bit from the complicated fighting (for my skill level) that developed. Hopefully, I can learn some more from a review. Unfortunately, my opponent seemed to disappear from the site and timed out, which gave me an undeserved win for what seems to be a thoroughly losing position. It would have also been nice to see exactly how the game would have played out.
Comments/questions:
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I felt quite ineffective and aimless in the opening. Any comments/suggestions in that area would be greatly appreciated. I played the cross game just for kicks, looking to get some interesting fights. Boy, I certainly got plenty of that.
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Move 108 initiates a long, complicated fight that is finally resolved 63 moves later with the large seki that is referenced in the title of this post. I guess this is really part of a larger scale fight that began earlier with white attacking my weak top-side group leading to the strong wall that aided him in this fight. Am I correct in reading this as a seki (it seems that neither side can win a capturing race without the other first forcing seki)? Are there any other lines of play that would have forced a better outcome for either side? With move 151, I was hoping for the exchange of W at N14, B at P13 to allow both groups to live. However, perhaps that would have given white the strength to kill my weak top-side group?
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The top-left corner has a life and death problem that I wasn’t able to solve. It seems that I’m dead in the final position. Can I force a seki from that position? What would have been the correct response to move 172 (W at B19)?