So, as some of you may already know, the University of Michigan Go team won its first round against Carnegie Mellon University 3-2. It all came down to the final game with our John Starkweather pulling out the win in an impressive game. Yours truly? I played awful. I'm not sure why, because I played some warmup games and I was doing well, but I encountered some situations where I can only say I just wasn't thinking. A bit more discipline might go a long way. We'll review my game, although I in many ways hate going over games I've lost :P
Here's the first part of the game. Not a lot to write home about. The lower left is a not quite joseki. I came out with 24 to fight against Black sealing off the center since him having influence in the lower left quadrant would make the game hard on White. Black could've cut instead of extending with 27, but Black 27 is one of his choices. I pushed one more time to make double sure that this center area doesn't materialize. Black can peep to reduce my corner, but that's small now. Now, Black pincers with 35 to breakup a possible White territorial framework along the top. I kind of regret White 34, it should be one higher at A. Works better with the thickness in the upper left. Now, Where should White play? We have a corner enclosure in the lower right and some thickness in the upper left. We don't have as much territory as Black.
I ruled this standard sequence right out. White 1 and 3 are defensive moves and Black settles ridiculously easy on the right, and my lower right corner enclosure is ...well just two stones making a handful of points; nothing more. This also doesn't use my thickness effectively.
White 1 is the best option. It forces Black low, weakens his pincer stone facing my thickness, and the right side isn't interesting for development anyway. There are some other options for White, and we'll go over some tomorrow, including the fabulous move I chose!
