Review request


I have two questions:
  • Where should I have played to get something to live in the left?
  • How early did I actually lose the center? Where could I have stopped that invasion?

Note: I try to ask for specific things when I post review requests because I try to pinpoint where things went wrong as best as I can and also to not ask too much of people’s time, not because I won’t take all the advice I actually need.
It might not show, but I do read and appreciate everything.

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Here is my attempt reviewing it. I hope it helps!

edit: If you have questions, write them into the review, and write me a notice.

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Thank you very much! I will read it carefully. :slight_smile:

At the very beginning you are far too generous and let white cash too much in the three corners. It’s nice to try a moyo strategy but you should give less to make it winning.

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You are too generous :sweat_smile:

Moyo are really difficult to handle, but a good school for progress.
I’m not sure if it was completely clear plan for you but seems you had that idea. Then there is a dubious early move when you go into the left side. It’s not consistent with a moyo strategy

The way should be you grow a moyo as huge as possible while your opponent makes some points. Then at some point it’s him who should come into the moyo, not you playing somewhere else.

When he comes, you use your stones to cash by pressuring. Same time you create stronger influence as even before. And with this influence, now you can go play on his side and use your power.

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What do you think the answers to your questions are?

Additionally, what could your opponent have done to kill the left side, if it was alive? What’s the earliest they could’ve killed it, and were your moves elsewhere worth more than that group? If it was alive, but killable, then it was killable for a long time. When should you have addressed it, and how?

For the center, what improvements can you find to the moves you made? Are there any consistent patterns to the way in which you get invaded? Are you paying attention to your cutting points and shape?

In general, I’d recommend doing a self review before asking for a review request, and then sharing your self review. Try to focus on describing your thought process behind your moves, rather than just playing out long variations. Why did you make the moves you made, and what were the flaws in your reasoning? Figuring out what the better sequence for living on the left might have been is just tsumego; figuring out for yourself what your overarching weaknesses are is how you improve.

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I will take into account everything, I would just like to clarify two things:

  • I almost always do a fast re-run of my games, especially if I think there were certain points that I need to ask for further info.
  • If it looks like I’m doing that, I’m honestly flattered. :slight_smile:

Note to self: I should really start taking notes during my correspondence games, because I find it hard to review a game afterwards, especially my opening moves.

This is not directed at you, but I’m taking this as an opportunity to mention it:
One of my very first teaching games, I was asked to provide a review after a silent game, and my teacher/ opponent just up and left. I didn’t even know what I was supposed to do, let alone how I was supposed to do it. Of course I didn’t do it correctly, and all it would have taken was a slight nudge to the right direction.

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Well I hope to have echoed a bit your thoughts in this game with the moyo thing.
Building a full game with a strategy like that is a bit high, more directed to a SDK so don’t get anxious! I think it explains a bit of what you asked first in the op.

And don’t be shy to try it again, consistency comes by practice and adjustment.

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I didn’t even realize I was doing that, so I really should revisit it. I might be back with questions. :wink:

Sure. You can check some of Takeimiya books like the sanrensei opening (with a relaxed mind, if it’s too alembicated, forget it, there should be some videos somewhere too)
And you’re welcome for more questions then.

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I’m not sure if I’m good at reviewing this kind of game, but I wrote some comments anyway, I hope it’s helpful:

https://online-go.com/review/557553

Edit: My approach for reviews is talking about mistakes and providing possible improvements. So I fear that my reviews often come across as negative or disencouraging, when that is not the intention. So be warned.

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Thank you, I took a quick look and I didn’t find your review negative at all, actually I welcome the specific points you made. :slight_smile:

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In terms of how to review, I generally go back through my games and try to identify what went well and what went wrong. What should my strategy be at a certain point in the game, and what are the best moves for approaching it?

For openings, the two questions you should try to answer are what’s the direction of play, and am I playing close to joseki? For instance, for F16 and C7 in this game, are those the correct sides of the board to play on? Did your follow ups go as planned?

It’s less important to be able to say “this is what I was thinking three months ago” than it is to go through and say what you think of those moves now. Do you think they’re good moves? Would you rather have played somewhere else? Sometimes I look back at my moves and say, “this was a blunder and I have no idea what I was thinking,” or “I was getting too bogged down in this local fight. I should have treated these stones more lightly instead of fighting to keep everything alive.” I don’t necessarily know exactly what I was thinking at the time, but I can look back at my moves and try to figure out what I’m doing that’s wrong, what ways I should be treating the game differently, and what I can do to improve.

Knowing what your thoughts are on the game would be helpful for trying to give pointers. F16 in the opening, for instance, is a move I wouldn’t personally play, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily wrong. Knowing what you think of that move would be helpful for giving pointers on the opening. O18 at move 41, on the other hand, seems like a big mistake, but if you’ve already gone back and identified that as a “I should’ve played P18 instead and I’m not sure why I didn’t” scenario then there isn’t as much feedback to give.

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Thank you for the whole thing, but this especially was insightful, I realized I do abandon my strategies frequently (when I maybe shouldn’t). I’ll work on that more.

I don’t really have strategies, except for those very simple that I took from Dwyrin’s basics videos (and still struggle to apply).

But one thing I would stress here: if your moves have a goal, an aim, a principle, whatever, they are stronger.
So I think it’s a very good habit to ask oneself before making a move: “What would I do with this move? What’s my intention?”

Applying this to each move instantly makes a stronger player.

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