A full game of Go with beginner-friendly commentary

[Goodspeed]

Game position:


(For clarity, I've decided to switch to the teal board for updates on the actual game, and brown for showing variations and such).

So the game progressed as expected up until (9), which is a move I find myself disagreeing with. It expands black's corner, but is placed too high I think. White will have an easy time reducing black's potential there later, because he has friends near. A move like M3 threatens to move into black's corner, and is hard to attack because it would have some white friends to the left. That's a nice move for later, but there are bigger moves right now.

One of them is (10). "When in doubt, play in the biggest open space". We're playing this stone "low", meaning on the third line (R) rather than the fourth (Q) because we want territory, not influence (we have enough of that). We don't want black to approach our stone from below and take away our space that we need to "make life". Our plan is to play a 2-space extension towards black's lower right corner if black approaches from the top, or to play a 3-space extension towards the top if he approaches from the bottom. So either this:


pic 1

Or this:


pic 2

The 2-space extension in pic 1 is a classic Go shape known as a "base". It's 2 stones on the third line, separated by 2 spaces. The reason this is a strong and often used shape is that black can't separate these stones. If he moves at either R9 or R8, his stone will get surrounded and killed.

The 3-space extension in pic 2 on the other hand can be separated rather easily. In fact it invites the move at A, which black would likely go for in this scenario. We are prepared to give up one of our stones if that happens, because we think we will get enough compensation. For example, if we end up giving up our stone at R10 (pic 2), we will gain strength around R14 and can likely put some significant pressure on black's top right corner, if not take it for ourselves. We do of course have to be careful black's lower right doesn't get too big. M3 to reduce it is still up our sleeve.

We also really like D10, if we come out of this exchange with sente.

New Go terms in this post
Make life: To make a shape that is impossible to surround and kill. If you're interested in how that works, (the beginning of) this video might clarify.

[Goodspeed]

Black approached from the bottom then took the opportunity to separate our stones. With (4) we are putting severe pressure on black (3). He will get away, but whichever way he runs, we will get compensation on the other side. In fact, due to the nature of this variation, we can choose which way we want him to run. Our plan is to put pressure on black's corner while sacrificing our R10 stone. This will make black stronger in the bottom right, but we are not particularly worried about that. We still have a good reduction move in Q7, I think. But to be honest, our judgment here might very well be wrong. We do suck at the game, after all.

[Goodspeed]

Well here we Go

Is that an app that lets you play against AI?
That's a good way to start, I guess. But also @[TLDT]Amsterda or @Jam might be up for a game https://online-go.com/ is a great place to play.

[Goodspeed]

It looks like we'll get our wish. Our R10 stone is going to be sacrificed and as compensation we get pressure on the top right corner and a good bit of influence towards the center. Black now has to defend at A or he will lose the marked stone. We will then take a moment to capture (1) to keep our stones connected. Black will then have to defend his corner, after which we can push around P11. Black will have to respond, or we can revive the stone we just sacrificed. This way, we are still getting some use out of it.

Something like this might happen:



We're yet unsure about (8) but it feels necessary. We need only imagine the board if black got to move at (8) to see why it might be trouble. His corner would become very big and hard to invade, and we might have trouble coming up with enough points to match him. He has 2 more corners of solid territory, after all.
The status of the top right corner is still uncertain after this, and would probably be the next point of contention. For us, R17 might be good. For black, blocking our entry at S16.

We still like D10, and hope we will get to play the first move in that area. It's starting to look like black will come out of this with sente, and if he plays at S16 we will probably take D10.

[edeholland]

I'm up for playing a game online.

[Jam]

Well here we Go

Is that an app that lets you play against AI?
That's a good way to start, I guess. But also @[TLDT]Amsterda or @Jam might be up for a game https://online-go.com/ is a great place to play.

I made an account but was too afraid to play. Don't have time to study strategy right now though.

[fightinfrenchman]

It's too hard for me to play against real people yet

[occamslightsaber]

I played Go when I was in elementary school, but there wasn’t any strategy involved. It was mostly just encircling the opponent’s stones to take them away. Of course this made no sense, since there is practically endless supply of stones in Go.

[fightinfrenchman]

@Goodspeed @occamslightsaber Thinks you have the intelligence of an elementary school child

[occamslightsaber]

Wat

[Goodspeed]

I played Go when I was in elementary school, but there wasn’t any strategy involved. It was mostly just encircling the opponent’s stones to take them away. Of course this made no sense, since there is practically endless supply of stones in Go.

As a beginner it's mostly about winning fights, yes. The better you get at the game, the less it becomes about actually surrounding your opponent's stones. After all, a fight is almost always going to end poorly for one of the players so if both players play well, they rarely happen.

[occamslightsaber]

Also, Go is a more progressive game than chess because the black player goes first. Or is that just reverse racism? IDK.

[Goodspeed]

Black does go first but white typically gets 6.5 bonus points as compensation (the .5 is to prevent ties). And the AIs actually prefer white, so...

[occamslightsaber]

AlphaGo is clearly a Trump supporter then.

Anyway, that’s an interesting point since in chess, many say white has a first-move advantage. I’m no expert in either game and I’m sure there’s a good reason for the difference between the two, but still it’s something.

Also thanks for this thread @Goodspeed. I doubt I’ll ever be good enough to play with you but at least I’m learning something new.

[Goodspeed]

In chess there is definitely a first move advantage since black doesn't get compensated at all for moving second. At the pro level, black is often happy with a draw.
It would be the same in go if not for the 6.5 bonus points

[Goodspeed]

We expected black to defend his corner with a move like A, but he pushed at (1) instead. We should've expected this move. It threatens to save his Q13 stone and cut off our Q12 group from the other white stones, so it's painful if we don't respond to it. However, we judge that something has to be done about black's corner first. If we let him push us around while growing his bottom right AND keep his top right corner too, we're probably losing. So we invaded black's corner at R17.

Black will probably defend his corner, because if he saves his Q13 stone now, we will simply give up our 2 stones and take a huge corner like so:



In this variation, our stones that used to be at X died, but black's marked stone is also dead in the water. We traded a couple of stones and influence for a very large corner territory. We're okay with that result.

[Goodspeed]

Black indeed came back to defend his Q16 stone, and we played at (2) to connect our stones. We now have one corner, at least. Black's Q16 group is still quite weak after that, so he played at (3) to create some more space for himself. We played at (4) to secure our own top territory and threaten to take away black's base along the edge of the board. He will very likely defend at A, at which point we will take a moment to defend the weakness at B. With all of our groups in the area relatively strong, we still have some hope of attacking black's Q16/M16 group at some point. Perhaps after we get a chance to block his path to the center of the board.

[Goodspeed]

As expected, black defended his base. We then extended at (2) to make sure the Q13 stone remains dead and our stones connected. Black A seems likely now, since it would be painful for us not to respond to it (black would come around at N12), and it expands black's bottom right potential.

After black A and white N12, it feels like white is behind. Black has a lot more territory than us, and he has the next move. It seems likely he will be able to reduce our potential territories enough to secure the victory. We may have to take some risks. Perhaps ignoring his move at A and playing D10 would be an option.

[Goodspeed]

Interestingly, black played at (1) instead of A. He sees our top potential and wastes no time reducing it. We aren't happy about this, although we are wondering what black will do after our move at (2). We kept our top left group strong this way, and black can't attack our L17 group without risking his own weak group to its right. After (2), (1) feels quite lonely. If black runs away, it's likely we can use the attack on his group to strengthen our potential elsewhere. This may be a win condition for us.

We should remember that A is still open. This is a strong move for white as well, because it forces a response out of black. White A followed by white P10 would be unacceptable, after all.

[Goodspeed]

At this point, our opponent plays at (1). We hate this, because we've been wanting to play there for a while now, but we are not convinced the timing is good. Black is leaving some moves unplayed that we think should be played, though we may be wrong. It's important in Go to know when you still need a move to settle an area versus when you can leave it alone. Perhaps A is not as good as we think, but we will be playing it as soon as we can.

On top of leaving A open, black is also leaving his G15 stone very weak. It's looking even more lonely after the exchange he just played. If he tries to save it, we will probably be able to put severe pressure on it while building territory elsewhere. Often, giving up a stone or two can save you a lot of trouble in the long run. This may be one of those cases for black.

[Goodspeed]

Black turns at (1). We are okay with this, because it allows us to block at (2) which does 2 things:
- Blocks black's entry to the center of the board.
- Puts pressure on black's lonely G15 stone.

It's likely black is giving up the G15 stone at this point. If he isn't careful, we will end up with a very big center territory.

A and B are both big moves now. Both, I think, will require a response from us. Since black didn't care about B the last few moves it's unlikely that he will now, so I'm expecting him to play at A. We will probably respond by blocking again like so:



This does leave a weakness behind at F10/E11, but we are okay with that. Since black is also weak in the area, we can strengthen our own position while pressuring him. This will prevent him from effectively taking advantage of our weakness.

[Goodspeed]

Okay, here we go...
Black is running. He is not quite ready to let go of his G15 stone, and by playing at (1) he is saying "come at me". Where are his friends though? The M16 group? No, it's very easy for us to keep the two groups split, and if we get some moves in around L14 we can even start thinking of attacking the M16/Q16 group as well. An important rule in Go is that you never want 2 weak groups split off from each other, because your opponent can attack them simultaneously. Therefore, pushing him towards that group with C might be good.

However, as black gets stronger around his G15 group, our weakness at E11 might become an issue. If that cut becomes strong, black may find a way to connect to his left side group through the hole in our wall. We could protect it with D.

A would also protect that cut, though less directly. However, it also has the advantage of building our lower center potential, and threatens to make some solid territory on the left with a move like C8.

B is still strong because it prevents black from ever connecting his G15 group to his right side group, and it very likely would still force a response out of black. White B followed by P10 is still very painful for black, after all.

At this point, I feel like we should be able to get enough profit from our attack (if not kill black outright) to win the game. Again though, we could very well be wrong.

[Goodspeed]

We went with B. Now, we'll see if black spends another move trying to save his G15 group or protects the weakness we just poked at. In the former case, we will probably play at P10 and do serious damage to black's lower right corner. In the latter case, we'll attack the G15 group more severely. With (1), we've made it impossible for black to connect the G15 group to his P11 group, effectively cutting off one of his escape routes.

[Goodspeed]

Black made an unexpected move at (1). It's big, to be sure, but it gave us the opportunity to significantly reduce black's lower right territory while building our own center potential with (2) through (7). Now, we attack the black G15 group with (8). I hope we can either kill that group or the group on the upper right. If we can't kill either, there is still some hope we can at least use the attack to build a large center territory. It's notoriously hard to build large center territories though, because there are so many paths of entry to invade them, so I'm not counting on that one.
The reality seems to be that if we can't kill either group, we probably lose. If we can, we probably win.

[Goodspeed]

Black poked at our weakness at A, we protected it with (2). With forcing moves like this, black is trying to build strength for his G15 group. We have to carefully keep cutting off his escape routes and make sure he doesn't make life locally. Carefully, because we don't want to leave too many weaknesses behind for him to exploit.