Need to study bases and openings

Initially the opening was scary, because just like an artist can freeze up at a blank canvas or a writer at a blank page, starting a Go game was something that seemed all too easy to mess up with a bad first move. But it is a mental block you have to get past to play, so I grasped on to the 3-4 opening. It has an expected follow on at 5-3 and gives you a nice enclosure. Any decent opening was enough at first - I just needed to get into the game far enough to start seeing those tsumego like patterns starting to form - now we are playing!

But, I got tired of the 3-4 as all too often I didn't get the chance to follow up with the 5-3. Even if I did, the likelihood of extending to the appropriate side star point (the one on the 3-4's side) was even slimmer. About then the brilliance of the 4-4 started making sense. It is less of an enclosure of the corner, and more like getting home field advantage when the fight for the corner begins.

Next thing that hits me is that the corners and sides are much more valuable than I could possibly have imagined! I had been playing some kind of "send eyeless dragons down from the center to reduce opponent's side territory, and then tie them together with a big central moyo" strategy (my poor man's attempt at a cosmic Takemiya Masaki style), but it didn't seem to work. I never ended up with that much territory in the center, due to opponents reductions and the difficulty of surrounding territory that requires stones on all four sides. My appreciation of the Go Proverbs "Corner, Side, Center" and "There is no territory in the center" grew immensely.

Imagining that the territory in the center was worthless, and that lines 1 through 4 were all that mattered helped me start focusing on fighting more fiercely for every point on the corners and sides. I tried to make all my moves on the 3rd and 4th lines unless defense required a move somewhere else. I think this is the right way to look at the board - at least for now. (As the game proceeds, any center area being surrounded by an opponent can be fairly easily reduced.)

My latest difficulty is building successful bases. I can claim a few corners with my opening stones, but then I need to invade and break up my opponent's areas. I know about what the size of a base is supposed to be, but I am pretty fuzzy on the details after that. I can't tell if a base is alive or not. So, I need to work on understanding bases.

And since this is one of the first things you do after the opening, it makes sense that the opening sets you up for the "base building phase". So, after finding a way to get past the "beginner's paralysis" in the opening, I am now ready to start studying why different openings make sense, and which may fit best with how I like to play.

Playing in the KGS Ranking Room

If you are not familiar with it, the KGS Ranking Room has a few Bots that will play rated games against you. There are only a couple so you have to be quick to grab one when the bot finishes its previous game.

I had RankBot000 and was ready for a game - I set handicap to 4 and clicked go. (I had to go fast or someone else would get the game.) In the process of setting handicap the game switched from rated to free. Doh!

Nonetheless, the bot is rated at 8k, so with 4 stones I figure I should get my butt kicked. I followed my latest thinking - play on the 3rd and 4th lines, focus on corners and sides, keep the center a low priority. It was apparently good enough to win by 20 points!

I will post the game under the "Prime Games". I did win, but hopefully the strategy I used is clear, and I think it is one a beginner can understand and use to gain a stone or two!

Traditional first move

Although there is no requirement on where to play your first move, there is a tradition.

Trevoke from GoDiscussions.com posted the details:

The tradition is 'kata' - form, japanese etiquette. Black is the weaker player and will then play closer to White, in a reaching move which can be extended as a bow. This leaves White's right-hand corner free, as a courtesy, so that White's first move does not force White to reach unless they choose to.

There is definitely no requirement on the exact spot to play, but playing in the upper right hand corner shows you know a little Go etiquette!

Ugh - where have these comments been hiding?

I just found out that there are some comments on a few of my posts. I am sorry to have missed them until now. There must be some setting that alerts the owner of a blog that they have comments, but being the "noob" blogger that I am I must have that turned off.

So, thank you everyone for your previous comments, and don't take offense if I miss your future comments! :)

Yet another good page at Sensei's

Some good responses to common situations at: Basic Instinct

I posted my latest thinking on strategy at GoDiscussions.com, but figured I'd repost it here:

Imagine the only important places to play are on the 3rd and 4th lines. You are trying to capture territory in the corners first, then the sides. Forget the center - it is a distraction!

Fairly quickly you will run out of moves on the 3rd and 4th lines and/or your opponent will do things that you need to defend that cause you to play higher or lower than those lines - that is okay. Defend those urgent spots and return to the focus on corner/side territory capture.

Finally, remember that as long as you win just over half the board, you win (aka don't get greedy).