truth & go

“Play where you want and don’t be afraid. If you’re chasing the dream you must take the risk.” Yasumasa Hane 9p

A dream comes true / ASR game review

by 8 Comments

As i mentioned before („To conquer one’s weaker self: Starting from Zero“) after i have realized that i have cultivated soo many bad habbits in my go i really tried to change that.
And it was very motivating that i somehow could beat a dan player in a even game in the ASR league, just right after i really thought a lot about this „starting from zero“ again.

As i showed in my review, black, could have won this game, or better to say, had good chances to win it, if i would not have killed a big group. So my go is not suddenly dan level play, my opponent jsut underestimated the danger, made a mistake. But anyway, i`m sure every kyu player is happy when a victory against a dan player is achieved, and so this was a win with a good timing in order to regain full motivation after some more or less very self critical thoughts about my go.
I often mentioned the danger of thinking like: „oh i won, i must have played a good opening and a good middle game“ or things like that… i think black had a better position, and maybe it was again a somehow dangerous situation for me (bad habit of me = risk loving) to trying to make live with this weak center group. Anyway, … i felt i was playing better in terms of thinking more concentrated and deeper about tactics and strategy, even while my strategy maybe was not very sucessfull and i was just lucky to in the end kill the group. If i would not have killed it, black maybe would have won the game.
Anyway, hope you enjoy this interesting game, and my review.


Download the SGF

  • http://www.bengozen.com/ Ben

    Nice job this game! When I was in ASR, I noticed that players often underestimate their opponents when there is a huge rank gap. So odds are your opponent thought that it would be an easy game against you. Props to taking advantage of your opponent’s overconfidence.

    • http://truthandgo.blogspot.de/ Eyecatcher

      Good point, yes, one should never underestimate anyone, even not 16 kyu wbaduk users

  • Noam Taich

    Regarding your comment at move 9 – it begs a question –
    why DID you play this joseki?
    because in your comments, it just seems you played it because you’ve read it was joseki.
    but that’s never a reason to play anything. Not alone…

    you can play 100% perfect josekis all over the board in the opening and be in a lost position.
    So, you need to play something which is good for you in the given position.

    As to the position in question – I’m aware of takao’s analysis, also I’ve seen a lot of other pros talking about this idea – and it’s a lot more complicated than you might think. Actually, if you don’t know the details, it’s for SURE a mistake… For reasons that will be explained below.

    The first thing to note is that the „fight“ at A is never dangerous to black. it’s about territory. And you know it’s not dangerous to black, because we know that a 3 space extension is ideal there, so we know there’s no danger of being attacked.

    So what are the problems with this special sequence and when is it good (because it can be…sometimes):

    You played first in the corner. Your opponent got a stable position and you….didn’t get the corner.
    black can invade whenever he wants at the 3-3 and he will succeed. Also, he won’t be afraid of A even after the invasion. It’s not a weak group.

    So – When and why is this variation ok:
    in a couple of cases –
    1) When A would be quite nice for you immediately – such as when you ALREADY have an extension to M17 when this happens. (and no, aiming to play it as a gote move AFTER the joseki and only then perhaps having a follow up which isn’t severe anyway isn’t a viable plan…)

    (in some of these cases, in pro games, black would extend only 2 actually, but he can play both ways…)

    2) When you know or think you can play A either immediately after the joseki or sometime early on before the 3-3 invasion becomes big enough, and then, you need to know the interesting details – for instance, if black defends on the second line (which he could) you can take sente since that exchange has already defended against the 3-3 invasion (and you need to know why…), and also – know how to handle the attachments on top – which actually have some nice continuations…

    So, yes, it’s sometimes a playable move, but without the full details, it just leaves you with almost nothing in the corner and with an optimal extension for black.

    Now, why play something because it can be „playable“?
    just defending at C14 normally gives you more or less the same (corner is open anyway in the other variation).

    If you hate playing against the mini chinese after C14, then there are many ways to avoid it.
    (Such as playing D17 on top (not the other 3-4….that would give black an early edge) or approaching his 3-4 instead of taking the second corner… All are fine ideas)

    If you want to experiment with the way you chose in this game, I’d suggest learning the details a bit more in depth 🙂

    The main point is, to not play a joseki (or any sequence) just because you know it’s playable.
    Actually, when the aim is to improve and grow, you play exceptions to general principles only when you know why you’re playing them… 🙂
    (and there are countless exceptions of course… Even if you think you’ve read something, or that you have a specific plan for this board… but, it is generally not good to do so just because it’s possible 🙂

    The game is very nice though 🙂

    • http://truthandgo.blogspot.de/ Eyecatcher

      Hi! Thanks a lot for the detailed explanations about this move.
      „you can play 100% perfect josekis all over the board in the opening and be in a lost position.
      So, you need to play something which is good for you in the given position.“ —— i know and totally agree… but i like to try out new things and experiment… my english is not good enough to really reply to your comment… yes you are right in terms of theory, but li like the standpoint of Takemiya Masaki: „if there is a point on the board where you wanna play, try it out!“ So i think i will study this move a bit more and will not play it so careless… but as with your explanation, it came because i played it 🙂 so i have the opportunity to learn now.

  • Noam Taich

    Terminology moment – After move 9, you say black may get a double wing formation if white doesn’t approach, but since in none of the variations you gave did black have any kind of double wing formation at all, I thought it might be useful, in order to prevent confusion when you encounter the term again in the future – to explain it – A double wing formation is when a player has both a corner stone (sometimes a shimari, but whether that is necessary or not depends on the exact corner stone…) AND a stone in the middle of both adcjacent sides.

    If you have an extension to only one side, the other stone in the other direction just closing a shimari, it’s not a double wing yet, and not a very threatening thing.
    Also – if one of the sides have stones helping you on the other end of the sides instead of in the middle, while that side is good for you, it’s still not part of a double wing formation.

    However, you are right that approaching black seems to be more important for now.
    The reason, however, is just that normally, 3-4s are more important than 4-4s…
    you need a special reason for doing otherwise and thinking it’s good (many reasons out there – one example in modern opening theory – if you want to set up a specific special strategy – such as playing the Mini Chinese fuseki.

    3-4s tendency to be enclosed in one move and having only 1 direction of useful enclosing/approach usually makes them more important if you’re unfamiliar with another good idea in the same position 🙂

    Your instincts seem to have been correct though 🙂

    • http://truthandgo.blogspot.de/ Eyecatcher

      Thanks very much for clearing things about this terminology, yes you are right i`m sure 🙂

  • Noam Taich

    and you seem to have a knack for creating interesting positions 🙂
    Your e2 is another unusual but indeed often playable reply 🙂

    You should be prepared for a fight when you play it though, as black can (and often does) fight instead of just defending. There are several ways for black to do that, and the move he played, while many consider it a pure trick, is not really one… as it has been played seriously before. It’s just not the most usual ( C6 is the more usual way of fighting for black).

    the hanes on both sides are possible for you. just that – the variation black should play when you hane on the outside as in your variation is not really what you show here. It’s rather more complicated, and starts with the surprising D3 hane ,and it gets a bit crazy from there on out 🙂 (no one should play like the black player in your variations…)

    the inside hane is pretty much the only option there. It’s also a good one 🙂
    Well, in the end you got a suboptimal result because of e3, which makes you a bit overconcentrated and cedes the corner at the same time.

    the opening was at least ok or even good for your opponent… you should be proud of yourself for beating a much higher ranked player from that position!

    • http://truthandgo.blogspot.de/ Eyecatcher

      yeah, i saw the E2 much in games i watched online. I know it is not bad (but of course depends on the situation)
      It is inspiring to study some pattern where black starts a fight after this move. Yes, my variations are often not a good example how to play… but the idea with this blog is mainly to share my study and my thoughts not really, as some blogs aim for that, giving the reader some kind of „lesson“ …
      I think it would have been a even, or maybe more good for black game, if he would have taken the threat of his big wall getting killed serious… he kind of never really thought about that this could happen… and then… too late… but only one move would have made a different, and good for black, game i guess.
      But thanks again for all that (very usefull) feedback!