The Heavenly 100 - Games 28-35

 

Let's change things up. I am currently in the fortunate tier of 14-17 kyu where my opponents are not as dangerous (obviously) as higher ones and that gives me training opportunities. Especially if I don't care about losing. So, for the next 5 games I will attempt to train a play away big point game. So if someone attaches I will defend (once) but the standard rule will be play away and see if big points counteract the local losses in fights.

 

Game 28

 

First game was a win 'wooo' but omg my opponent was an arse. New account - only from September this year (so less than a couple of weeks back) and managed no less than 264 games!! In that period ranging to 14kyu at best. Perhaps unsurprisingly with that amount of play at this range they were actually fairly good (and his fighting was much, much better than

mine). My approach of backing off caused some huge losses in the top left and permitted no less than two successful invasions (to the right and bottom left at end) but he also launched two unsuccessful invasions after I had built up big points and this cost him the game.

What got me (and I don't like these types of game) is that he didn’t respond on the chat (fine, not everyone is talkative or even speaks English) but when he started making the first of the risky invasions I offered to resign if he wanted the win that bad (and was ignored) but then after time had passed and I started passing consecutively he (I am guessing he but who knows) started playing the trick of making a dead group alive in the scoring section to try and switch the loss

to the win. He would then cancel after I used the auto score to switch back and wait a minute and do so again and this went on for 20 bloody minutes. I reported him when I realised that was the plan but still.

 

Key takeaways for me defensively was that I missed to many ataris into danger on my own stones and was too greedy in trying to protect territory which ended up costing me. Defensively on his two successful invasions I missed obvious ways to kill (lack of practice or tiredness perhaps). Here they are.

 

I just end gamed R19 and my oppo defended S19 and I looked for an attack but in the end went for this safe play

 

 

My (wrong) thinking was that S16 would cause him to take S13 and then though I could go up one to S17 it would be

2 to 2 liberties and I would die. Which was stupid because the 2nd move was S18 killing the upper 3

 

 

He could take Q19 but I could then block with P19 and if he fills it's a straight kill and if he doesn't a 2 step kill. My

Reading of even simple game boards sucks...

 

The second invasion was in a small place and I failed here as well. Here is the failure point

 

 

 

Whoops. From this he managed to squirrel life. What I should have played was B5 which gives lots of advantages and yes I lose C4 possibly but that doesn't matter!

 

My fighting just sucks. Against a competent 13 or 14 kyu and I will be toast sadly enough. It would mean I get to hang around in the psycho attack kyu ranges though which is good experience.

 

Game 29

 

Surprise Sunday game! Versus another newish 15k 83 games in a month(what's with it with these players who can play so much in such a short period! Had lot's of the basics right, so much so in that he was leading by move 71 with a well protected large moyo and me with a bigger moyo but much less protected. At this point he launched an invasion

 

 

 

And here the double kyu curse existed and I managed (god knows how) to hold off the invasion which should have lived. I think, and its obviously a guess, that it got complicated and he thought he was in bigger trouble than he was leading to playing away when he could have gained life and hurt me. At one point he launched a 3-3 point attack that I managed to kill! By reducing it to an eye and a false eye but rather than sealing the false eye I decided to ensure the larger middle group was dead. By move 135 the big invasion was on last legs (it possibly could still live but would be hard) and I launched my own deep invasion using a cut at L8 as the initiator then a sequence I was pleased to see I was capable of making

 

Here is the invasion area

 

 

Now first port of call was a deep stone at L3, my opponent blocked my base at N3 (which the AI opinioned 'meh, but not so bad'  I then clamped at J3 while my oppo played L2 to threaten

The first stone. I then jumped to F3 threatening to play E4 (which would kill those 4 black stones at the edge) as it stands my opponent noticed the danger and blocked with E4 and a few points after I had a base and mainly by 2 bad black plays at 149 and 151 (costing 58 points apparently!)

By move 153 I had a securable alive group. I then proceeded to eat up the available space and really dug into the moyo from my now secure base

 

 

Game 30

 

I am starting to think there was a mass server wipe I missed at the beginning of the year as all my opponents seems to have started in February-April. This particular one started in February with 654 games!! since then with the greater mass in early spring with a best rating of 11 kyu. Since then frequency dropped though there has been an uptick in the last month (with another visit to 11 kyu territory) Therefore he seems to be far more of a match to what my last official rank was. Play was interesting with a scattering or central stones obviously looking to build a mass very quickly (and it does look quite intimidating). I tried an early invasion that failed to the extent I lost 12 or so stones (whoops) then tried another invasion (that Ai hated)

 

 

In the sea of black territory that only succeeded due to the weakness of the three upper Black stones this led due to black missing a stunning opportunity to create safety through a table shape and instead allowed that little mid group to be captured which enormously strengthened by center. Curiously AI showed a much better way to capture the group aiming for the following position with as throw in capturing 5 stones (for the loss of the throw in)

 

 

I didn't see that, cause I'm still useless, but still captured with a slower approach  that perhaps shows the limits of my reading

 

 

Same 5 stones captured for one lost but Black has strengthened that single stone by 2 and in return I only got to reinforce my corner above it. I prefer the upper method much more elegant.

 

After some digging of trenches around positions an upper invasion was launched and throughout all this period I could have killed the upper left group as well as so

 

 

Meh. No matter I managed to kill the top North invasion, didn’t kill a top right invasion then killed a bottom right invasion. Throughout all of this the review AI was going apocalyptically red at both our failures to pick up the weakness of the upper left group until move 239 when black finally defended the key point I hadn't seen.

 

 

 

Game 31

 

I was due a loss and drew an opponent who has been playing since 2019 with 4,105 ranked games in that period and a highest rating of 7kyu, more commonly 8-9 from the looks of things. I was also feeling rough due to having had a tooth out the day before. I am not sure whether thumping headaches are conducive to good go play but I considered resigning early on then thought I would just allow my worst speed instincts to come through and just played fast.

I actually could have won this according to AI building up a largish margin before merrily throwing it all away. Curiously this has been my first end game loss for a while as it's end game that I lost 10 points.

 

Here was the last lead

 

 

And end position

 

 

Also interestingly the AI was not particularly bothered by either players moves with one exception throughout a 3rd of the game it moaned a bit that my bottom group was alive/dead/alive/dead etc etc as we both ignored it's weakness.

Game 32

 

Unusual Sunday game for me versus the backbone of OGS, another player who mysteriously started in April but has played 119 games since with declining frequency and a steadily

improving rating. The game was fairly standard with me killing an invading Dragon and successfully 3-3 point invading his space for the win (in all probability).

 

AI showed me some interesting tactical points that would improve my game if I was able to assimilate them. Here I carried out the stupid step of hoping my opponent would make a mistake. He did not and then I filled in (oh well) but instead I should have blocked and accepted the loss of the single stone and eaten into more of the bottom

 

 

 

It is also interesting that I was flagged as behind until my own 33 invasion here

 

 

It's also interesting that the best defence recommended had me alive but squished to the right side. My oppo choose to push me down which gave me the lead. Equally I was not as aggressive in pushing the defence here and could have gained a lot more territory. Here are some of the suggested AI best variations.

 

Black could apparently kill me entirely but the defence actually provided gave me a nice base

 

 

Around 155 a 2 stone invasion was re-activated top left that (again) could have destroyed me by using some inconsiderate cut points to help live but as it stood I just about dealt with the majority leaving only a small group alive.

AI didn't think the group should live but it could fight to a KO that allowed it to kill my bottom invasion

Right at the end (and around 23 points up) I launched a trick attack that caught my oppo out

 

 

He should have ataried the stone next to it but as it was lost not only those 7 stones but allowed me to eat into the remaining moyo putting me 50 or so ahead

 

 

Game 33

Technically 34 but the game before was against one of those brand new players who spends the first 10 moves surrounding an area 14 points in score with a solid wall. No point in describing it. The next opponent was a 14kyu who has played 893! Games since August hovering consistently around 14kyu with a sudden leap in October to 12kyu no less. The vast majority of games were 9*9 or 13*13 until (also) about a month back.

I didn't feel particularly threatened this game. After the initial starting horse trading my oppo showed they very keen to get up close with contact plays when I approached a corner I then went back to big points and let him get on with it. Once I had a fairly decent defensive position they then launched 2 invasions, one tiny and one huge both of which failed. I tried my hand at my own after they proved ineffectual at defending the borders of their own territory (and to give credit where credit is due they stopped that one)

 

The only moves I want to focus on is firstly at 172 when I tried to turn into his corner but should have been more adventurous. Diving in means Black has to choose whether to block me joining to the outside group and letting me likely live on the inside or trying to prevent the inside life but allowing the two groups to join

 

 

 

What surprises me sometimes is the brutality of the AI if I play through the 'best' moves that group doesn't stand a chance either way so why mark that as a 'choice'. I may have to look into seeing if I can the AI to focus on one section of the board and ignore the rest as that would help with local problems.

 

The more useful attack points wise was at the base of the board. Here is the invasion and the various cutting point/liberty shortages I was eyeing greedily

 

 

 

The correct defence incidentally was also P4 so my attack was misplaced. As my oppo loved contact plays I was able to squirrel in when I should probably have been defeated

 

 

Now if I 'had' attacked P4 there looks like 2 approaches. The first is to lean on the bottom liberty shortages and let black get life whilst filling as much space as possible so something like

 

And that would have increased my win by 10-12 points. The best black response is (simple)to sacrifice that group and seal off the attack (which is interesting as it was not hard to read)

 

 

Or try and kill (which seems eminently possible but with AI reading) I'm not sure if any peeps at my level would have done it which leads to the simple sacrifice perhaps being the simplest approach

 

Game 34

 

I don't seem to be doing to well with black at the moment. This game was against an 11kyu who started in 2019 with a bunch of games then play fell of for a few years until Oct 2022 then regularly since. Best rating looks to be a 7kuu

 

Obviously far better than me at kill points in positions I managed here to make a big top position but several of my invasions of his bigger territory failed. The big decider was when I decided to reinforce my upper territory and didn’t protect a group in the middle. I could have kept that alive and ate into his territory but instead lost that group and he gained all the central territory

 

 

Game 35

 

A new player sadly 15kyu already and their first try on 19*19 , I think mentally they were prepared to lose at the start as they had no confidence. I was playing 'no contact plays at all unless its end game/ life death or my opponent contacts first' to try and force me to play looser. Not sure what lessons can be learnt from that though