Interesting moments from a game I played recently against a strong player. It shows the importance and difficulty in positional judgements, especially when you have to make important judgements one after another.
My black is in trouble and it seems black has to choose between 1 (the game) or A. Since A is inviting white's obvious followup at B, I played 1 in the game. But still black's shapes look so weak...
White peeps at 1. White's plan is: if b answers at 2, white 3 will secure the centre. Black is not strong enough to capture 5 white stones on upper-right, and white has a clear lead.
In the game I answer white's peep at 1 instead. White should still turn at A, and that way it will still be white's winning game. But even strong players will fall trap to the temptation of eating lots of stones. So my opponent plays at 2. Black pushes at 3...
After the net move black 4, black's sacrifice trap/plan is clear as daylight.
This is the scene after the big trade. Quite a view indeed! It is almost an equal trade. But black successfully gets rid of the baggage, in sente.
At this point, an enclosure move in upper-left corner is the biggest. As my opponent points out later, black should either go straight at 5, or after the exchange 1 through 4. Note that even after white A, black can still make a ko in lower-left via B-C-D. This way black is completely back in game.
Regrettably, in the game I thought it is bigger to live in lower-left corner. After the success in previous battle, my confidence is soaring and I have the unrealistic illusion that, if black lives in that corner, white's bottom will become a target So after 1 through 4 exchange, I spend another move in that corner. White gets to invade upper-left corner and resumes the lead.
I find it especially hard to make a calm judgement call right after an exciting battle. Is it just in the game of Go or a human weakness in general, in real life?
