Day 4 - 3 games (13), 24 kyu

One 9x9 game is not going to get me very far, so I made an effort to get a few more in even though I was pressed for time. I won the first game quite easily despite failing to notice two ataris in a row during the opening. As with the previous game though, I wonder if this mistake actually worked out in my favour, because my opponent had to spend (or even waste) two moves reinforcing his group, which let me get a better position on the board.

The second game, which I lost, was a little bit more interesting.

 

At this point in the game I (black) thought that I can't be cut at B5 - it would be a ladder! Not noticing that the cut would put my stones into atari from which I wouldn't be able to escape. This was a serious mistake, but at least it was a somewhat new one. Move #19 at A4 was also a big mistake, and I should have connected my stones at C4 instead. At this point I figured I had lost the game, but I kept playing and was pleased to at least keep some of my stones alive. The thought behind move #63 was that if white didn't play H7 I could capture J7 and connect back to my main group, and since I had lost anyway I thought why not try it. It would have worked, but then I messed it up.

Today's takeaway:

-Don't blindly accept something as a ladder! Look at the details of it.