New player 24k vs 20 k 19x19 review request

I’m new to Go

Can anyone review the game and give comments? I particularly found my black pieces were suppressed by the white, that makes my occupied space very small.

Thanks a lot!

I made some comments up to move 65 (https://online-go.com/review/148051)

1 Like

@mikemc
Thank you for the comments :wink: I thought it’s important to connect the stones so I did those moves to make the bad empty triangle. Was I too conservative?

Yes

Yes, you were usually too conservative. Sometimes you defended a cut when you didn’t really need to, because if White cut then you would be able to capture the cutting stone. Before defending a cut, you should ask yourself what will likely happen if White cuts. If that result seems good for you (like capturing the cutting stone or getting strong while leaving a weak white cutting group) then you don’t need to defend the cut and can play an important move somewhere else. You may have to defend the cut later if the situation on the board changes and makes the cut better for White.

Also, there are better ways to protect the cut using a single stone than with the empty triangle; I showed some examples in the variations. Even though these other ways don’t physically connect the stones, the stones are as good as connected, since if white cuts then white can be captured. The advantage of these other methods of connect is that they have the five properties of “good shape” listed here: http://www.britgo.org/bgj/06224.html