Hm I thought I posted this, so a double-post may appear.



If you give yourself a mulligan whenever you misread, you'll never get burned for misreading; if you're never burned for misreading, why would you bother reading out a sequence? And the only way to get better at reading is to read out a lot of sequences. Of all the bad habits you could pick up, "I'll just play this to see what happens" is probably the worst.



Tension is your body's way of telling you that you're pushing your limits. Pushing limits is how you get better. A thousand leisurely walks will never get you closer to running a marathon. (Not to knock go-as-relaxation. But if you only want to play go to relax, then don't worry about bad habits.)

Bill, I am just learning to play and tend to do exactly this. I mark out territory and then try and add to it incrementally. I also try and decrease my opponents territory more or less incrementally.

Could you suggest a better style or approach if you think that this approach is slow or incorrect?

I would be keen to hear your opinion.

Cheers
Jim.

Jim, one way is for you to play better players and learn from their moves;
another way is to have your games reviewed by better players so they can point out better moves than yours --
this forum and KGS are both good venues for this.

If you are just beginning and have much fewer than 100 games,
I strongly recommend you finish 100 games as quickly as possible.

Yes, and as aggravating as it is to ALWAYS find out you're playing horribly, these guys give great advice.

It's too slow to *just* make territory. Your moves have to carry an additional threat, such as an invasion, or sometimes it's enough to threaten to make a *lot* of territory with another move. But the idea is that your moves have to have follow-ups; the true value of a move includes the value of the follow-ups. Finding dual-purpose moves is something that takes practice and experience, but you can attempt it at any level.

_________________
That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.
--
My (sadly neglected, but not forgotten) project: http://dailyjoseki.com

It would be easy to say, develop more rapidly, but I think that you want more than that. And that is a tall order.

OK, here goes. This is my opinion, but it is informed opinion.

Assuming correct komi, if you place your stones more effectively than your opponent does, you will win. You want your stones to work together efficiently. At the same time, you do not want them to be overcrowded, so that they duplicate each other's effects. (One word for the effect of a stone is its influence, but influence has other, related meanings.)

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$ Corner vs. Center
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

It is sometimes said that we start in the corners because it is easiest to make territory in the corner. That is not the best way to think about it. The corner stone is, IMO, more effective than the center stone. (During the New Fuseki era pros experimented with opening in the center, and there are still some players who can do so effectively, but the stats are against it. White wins about 2/3 of the time.)

We can estimate the influence of the corner stone at around 14 points. My guess is that the influence of the center stone is around 9 points (with less certainty). Why is that?

The corner stone is stronger than the center stone. Why is that?

The corner stone has greater eye potential. In fact, we can pretty much regard it as having an eye, because, even though Black has not formed an eye yet, if White approaches Black can easily do so. By contrast, the stone in the center has nothing resembling an eye.

Yes, it is easier to form territory in the corner, but the point is that the corner stone is stronger, and therefore more effective.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$ Corner vs. Center, II
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . X , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . X , X . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

This diamond shape is strong, and is sometimes said to be worth 30 points. (Actually, I think that it has more influence than that.) My estimate is that the diamond shape in the corner has an influence of around 35 points, while the diamond shape in the center has an influence of more than 40 points. The corner shape is a little bit stronger, but it is overconcentrated. Its influence extends only a few spaces to the top and right edges. (Note that the center shape, although strong, is still worth less than four stones, one in each corner.)

You can see how, once you have made territory, your group is strong, and so you do not want to play to close to it, to avoid overconcentration.

More later. Maybe not today.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

As EdLee said, I think it helps a lot to see how stronger players play. Playing against them is good of course, I'm also a fan of playing over pro games. I really like getting the feeling of "Wow, I never would have looked at that move, but now that it's on the board it seems so good!"

A stronger player reviewed one of my games when I was about 18kyu and said: "You're biggest problem is that you play moves that have no effect on your opponent."

That's probably the best advice I've had in Go. Instead of playing moves that increase your territory a little, play moves that affect your opponent. Each time you consider a move, ask yourself: "Does this move cause my opponent a problem, or at least ask her a question?"

Of course, sometimes you have to spend time answering your opponent's questions instead of asking your own - but as soon as you get a chance, play a move that affects him in some way. Attack his group, take away a base, limit a framework, cut, occupy key points.

Those moves aren't always right, of course, but as a beginner, you will learn more playing in an active way. You might win more, too, but that's another matter.