Category: Commentaries

Commentaries►Monday Go Meditation

Monday Go Meditation: Game 67

For this week’s meditation, we are turning back the clock to my first game at the Go Congress 2014 — Prelude! For those who need a refresher, this game was from the day I arrived in New York and was asked to play a match while we were waiting for people to arrive. It’s a fun game that shows just how you can find the opportunity to reverse a game if you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and complicate things. Hope you enjoy this game!

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Commentaries►Monday Go Meditation

Monday Go Meditation: Game 66

As the weeks have passed, one of the major factors in me starting to play go again has been the numerous friends who have been kind enough to take time out of their day and ask me to play. Just like last week’s MGM, this week’s MGM features teafree. It’s an exciting one that is chocked full of ko battles and exciting exchanges. I hope that it keeps you on the edge of your seat as we navigate through the treacherous waters of this kifu! Enjoy!

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Commentaries►Monday Go Meditation

Monday Go Meditation: Game 64

Contrary to what I said last week, this week’s Monday Go Meditation features my Yunguseng Dojang game from last week. The reason for this is two-fold: (1) I didn’t play any other games over the past two weeks and (2) I’m still trying to keep MGM as current as possible.

As I mentioned before, I was feeling rather iffy before this game. My opponent was around 4–5k in strenghth, and with my ups and downs lately, I wasn’t so sure that I could even beat him. But before I could wallow too much in my own insecurities, the game started.

Note: Similar to the other YSD match I posted last week, any specific things I learned from the review will be omitted in this game to respect other members’ paid membership.

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Commentaries►Monday Go Meditation

Monday Go Meditation: Game 63

For this week, I’ve decided to honor a request made by my friend Rob who asked that I review the game that was the cause for my post on being confused. Though I haven’t been commenting on games from YSD, I’ve decided to make an exception for this one.

Just to note though, any specific insight that was taught by Inseong is withheld from the commentary in order to respect other member’s paid memberships. So while I will comment on what I understood on my own, any specific details will be omitted in this review. Hope you enjoy this review!

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Commentaries►Monday Go Meditation

Monday Go Meditation: Game 62

About a week ago, there was a bit of discussion about the importance of endgame. Now while I would never even begin to propose that endgame is not important or can't make a huge difference, I was saying how I didn't think studying it would serve kyu players as much as say dan players.

Ironically, the game featured this week was played shortly after the discussion and happened to feature endgame as the shining star of the game. In addition, this game is also a good example of competing moyos and how critical points in shape and boundaries can make a huge difference in the resulting outcome. Hope you enjoy this review!

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Commentaries►Thursday Go Tygem

Thursday Go Tygem: Game 07

Introduction

After my third game in Yunguseng Dojang, I became a lot more comfortable playing White. Maybe it’s because I’ve started to really appreciate having komi. Either way, I’m glad to have broken away from my fear of playing White.

This game was the first one I played after being dispelled of that anxiety of playing White. And believe it or not, it was actually a rather calm game where no dramatic battles of life and death occurred. See for yourself below!

Game Summary

no,Category,Good,Bad
1,Opening,Move 30 - Using the knight’s move to gain sente from the 3-3 invasion was a big reason why I could get an advantage this game., Surprisingly I cannot find any fault with my opening. Please let me know if you spot something I missed!
2,Middle Game,”Overall it was quite peaceful and neither played created any big weak groups, but I managed to take more territory overall.”, N/A
3,Fighting,”To my surprise, there wasn’t much fighting in this game.”, N/A
4,Endgame,Move 164-175 - I was proud to find this sequence that reduced a lot of Black’s points in sente., Hard to find any big flaws in my endgame. It seemed I was stronger than my opponent in this area.
5,Overall Reading,Move 100 - Finding this preparatory move for the resulting sequence was a big step forward for me.,Move 52 - I completely missed the double atari when I played here. Shame on me.
6,Strategy,Move 78 - Realizing that it would be difficult to continue severely attacking the Black group and simply cashing in on territory is a move I used to find it impossible to do.,”Move 52 - Even if we assume this move works, there wasn’t much strategic value here since White did not have great potential in the center nor a weak group to attack.”

Commentaries►Monday Go Meditation

Monday Go Meditation: Game 60

With this week, we continue on with Game #4 of Maaike's April Challenge, which also happens to be the first round of the 1st Washington Open Baduk Championship that I participated in a month or so ago. Though it ended up being a completely crazy roller coaster of a match, it is an excellent example of how volatile games can be in tournaments. Because of the pressure of competition, players will look for any slack move or advantage they can to reverse the game. With that said, hang on to your seats cause this is going to be a bumpy one!

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Commentaries►Thursday Go Tygem

Thursday Go Tygem: Game 06

Introduction

This opponent was a unique one since he thought longer than I did and took his time. He actually ended up in byoyomi early on in the game and used most of his byoyomi time which is really weird for Tygem since most players I’ve encountered play pretty quickly and I’m the one usually running out of time. Overall though, I felt that I was in control for most of the game. Hopefully you’ll agree! And if I’m totally wrong, please let me know!

Game Summary

no,Category,Good,Bad
1,Opening,Move 9-11: Ignoring White in the upper left was good in that I did not unnecessarily strengthen my opponent by trying to struggle.,”Other than the inconsistency of Move 21, I don’t see any egregious errors in regards to the opening.”
2,Middle Game,Move 39-63: It felt like I did a good job attacking White while gaining nice 4th line territory on the right.,Can’t see any major mistakes at the moment.
3,Fighting,Overall the fighting seemed to be in my favor most of the game. Nothing terribly complicated.,Didn’t see any real weaknesses in my fighting this game.
4,Endgame,Move 219: Ignoring White’s atari at M1 to make an extra point showed I was not making automatic moves and trying to look for bigger plays.,Move 164: Letting what get the diagonal here first was rough.
5,Overall Reading,Move 121: I was proud to be able to read out this attachment and know it could not be cut without some loss to White.,Move 70: I could sense there was double cut aji here but failed to read it out properly.
6,Strategy,Move 81: Sacrificing the F3 group in exchange for breaking up the left side seemed to show good judgment.,”Move 21: Though successful, the 3-3 invasion seems to be contrary to my initial plan at making a moyo. So negative points for inconsistency.”