I've been playing Go for a few years now, mostly learning and playing on 9x9 and 13x13 boards. I've gotten to about 10 kyu on OGS playing these boards, and favoring this size due to the shorter amount of time to get through a game. I've only played a handful of 19x19 games this whole time. I've also dropped off a little in playing the past year or so after platueing for a long time, only playing a couple games a month or so, just enough to maintain but not improve.

Recently, I tried a 19x19 game, and lost pretty handedly to a slightly lower rated opponent (2-3 kyu). Then I started focusing on 19x19 games and lost the next few games, including slightly lower ranked opponents. I realized that I found a major hole in my game by neglecting the full size board, coming in at least 2-3 kyu weaker than I am on my favored board size.

So over the past few weeks, I've found the motivation to improve again by only been playing 19x19 games! I've been studying on concepts that I've noticed aren't as relevant on small boards, such as reading thickness and influence, big vs urgent moves, etc.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this epiphany with you guys. Has anyone else noticed something like this happen to them, or found some other major blind spot in your development? Do you have any tips for growing into the full sized board?

The auto-scoring system said white won by 8.5 points. There was a .5 Komi. I was playing black and I kept passing as white continued to play in the bottom right. I could have eaten the white stones down there earlier and clearly won, but I was positive white couldn’t live and that this wasn’t a seiki situation. Am overlooking something or was this auto-scoring issue? Not a big deal, just slightly irritated and curious.

My opponent has invaded, do I defend by playing more black stones in my half, or do I invade into his territory ?

We're excited to invite you to the first Go Game Meet up at the Board To Bits Game Cafe next Tuesday April 15th at 6pm. Beginners welcome!!

See BoardToBitsGameCafe.ca