Winning My First Shidougo Game

Today’s shidougo lesson comes from a person that I’ve come to befriend and look up to: frozensoul. If you’d like to help support his efforts in helping out players trying to get stronger, please visit his site for more information!

I guess you could call this my first “shidougo” victory… but I wouldn’t classify this as that due to the fact that frozensoul was actually trying to create a tie. So in reality, congratulations are in order for frozensoul for being only one point away from creating a tie!

Overall, I was really happy with my performance in this game. It honestly has nothing to do with the victory and more on the fact that I played almost every move with confidence. And for those who would remind me that frozensoul wasn’t actually trying to play anything crazy, the confidence I’m speaking of is more of a “I read it out to the best of my ability and I’ll give each move everything I got.”

That being said, I still have a lot of work to do in regards to my connections and such. One example of an efficient connection that I’ve yet to really utilize fully is the hanging connection (see variation on Move 13). And even though I made a few moves that received compliments for being solid, I know that I have a ways to go before more of my moves are played with a simplicity and efficiency that gets a nod of approval from strong players such as frozensoul.

Hope you enjoy the kifu and be sure to share any insights that you may have as you look over the game!