I'll be a little embarassed if I die here, but it's certainly not decided yet. It helps that my opponent is attacking me with at least one group that's not yet really safe. Obviously he's safer than I am, though.

The bottom left corner group is not yet alive, nor is this group on the side. Even if he saves this side group, it will most likely be in gote, and I will kill the corner. I would kill the corner now, but letting this group off easy would be silly

Well, hopefully SOME of my stones live.

Thank you!

Here's the gote followup to the previous move that I knew I had to follow up with. I'm concerned about white's next move, but maybe I can threaten to cut something white off. Also, I'm trying to see if the clamp kills in the bottom left.

Feel like letting me live in gote, or shallw e start the fight in earnest? I'm playing this move to prevent L1 in sente.

When you tease the bull, you get the horns.

my feeling is that black will not die if played optimally.

Okay. This move threatens finishes what the previous one started: making an eye in sente. My opponent had an opportunity to remove all eyes, previously, so I needed to get one, at least. Obviously, if my opponent ignores, I capture and live. I'm working on trying to do the reading to see the best way to follow up. Unless my opponent stops to defend enough to let me live (not going to happen) it looks like somebody's going to die, inside of 20 moves or so. Odds are it's going to me. However, though I'm the underdog here, I feel like I have a shot. I'm not sure who would win if both players played flawlessly, but we won't. If I make less mistakes than my opponent somehow, I may kill this group and win.

Oh, Shaddy: in response to your Breakfast Club misquote, pretend I made a joke about Barry Manilow's wardrobe. =D

Also, sorry I've had a negative attitude occasionally during the game. I'm trying to work on it! This game is JUST a learning opportunity, so I should not get frustrated if I make mistakes.

Okay, I think that this is my best chance. It's obvious what I'm going for, but I'm feeling iffy about getting it, of course. Let's do this.

Good move, I don't think I can kill it without adding this move. But that still leaves the bottom left..

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Captures: B1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . X . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . X . O . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O . . . . X . e O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X X d . . . O O X . |
$$ | . . O O . O . . X O O O O . . O X . . |
$$ | . . X O . X O O X , O X O c O X X X . |
$$ | . . X . . . O X X X X X X X O X O W . |
$$ | . . . . X O . O X . O . X O O O . a . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . . b . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

a

b

If I can reduce white in the corner to one eye:

c-e: If I can't kill, I should start from one of these. 'c' is mostly only good in conjunction with 'a' or 'b' (or as a ko threat). 'd' protects that connection. 'e' helps the other connection while threatening stones. There are other places I'm considering also, but first I'm going

I like "e" best

Okay, I can't read deeply enough to be certain that I can kill. But if I let him live, Shaddy has too many ways to cut, or threaten to. This is my line in the stand, and here is my fighting spirit.

Here is what I feel like:

The reason I decided to play here instead is I was concerned that with 'e', I feared that I would capture those four stones while Shaddy made two eyes in the corner, then would have my largest group cut off and surrounded by Shaddy's now-living group.