I pick 7

I pick 2 a even number

So, I considered doing some kind of crazy opening, just to experiment, but for now I'll just play the 4-4 as it's easily the opening I'm most comfortable with. It's flexible, and still gives me options to try something strange a bit later if I want to. Although I probably won't, as I expect this to be a tough game for me, and my opening isn't particularly strong (not that any other part of my game is ), so right now I'm tempted to keep things in territory where I'm comfortable for as long as possible.

i like the star points when i'm white

OK, as I suggested in my last comments, safe and steady it is. I thought about playing the Chinese, but I know very little about this opening, while my opponent might. I'm just going to stick to what I know and try to gradually gain some kind of advantage through (hopefully) superior reading and/or overall strategy. If he plays another 4-4 I suppose I might try sanrensei (which I haven't done since I was ~18k), but I'm more likely to just approach one of his corners, especially if he plays an asymmetrical one.

of course I'm taking the last corner

In part I hate myself for this - at some point I do want to try some different openings that I'm less familiar with. But, precisely because I don't feel too comfortable with my go at the moment, I'm going to stick with the one I understand best. I'm sure that very soon I will have interesting decisions to make

You had an extra [ go ] tag for your , which messed up your diagram.

i like to keep simple, its kinda hard explaining why i pick a move
well... the 4-4 is flexible but its definitely not for securing corner territory its for development on the sides & this is a basic response to a approach a lot of fun variations and joseki to choose from but i rather see the rest of the board develop before i focus too much one section, so ill hold on variations, not much more to say there.
id be happy to answer any question if you have any

I prefer to delay the decision of whether to invade the corner or slide into it on the second line, so I'll just sketch out some moyo on the top. (I have sometimes played the simple 2-space extension here, but it feels a little unambitious to me now.) Of course, my move leaves a weakness at H17, but I don't need to worry about that yet.

Good morning obs, lets see I'm taking sente here
some people might be worried about my corner but like i said before the star points focus on the sides,
let me show u if he takes the corner i do this..

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm8 Prisoner Count: B-0 W-0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 4 . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 3 O . . . . . X . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

the star point is flexible so that corner is OK FOR NOW, so back to business as usual and i went with the approach the top right corner i was thinking about playing at the middle star on the right side but eh' its a good move and all, its a big point, but i much rather pick a joseki and go from from there

OK, having stayed in my comfort zone so far, I think it's now time to fight, as he's played a move in my area of strength (I'd expected an approach on the lower side, or perhaps a wedge on the right.) Given that this is "my" side of the board (it's not necessarily going to end up as my territory, but it's definitely my "sphere of influence" as Kageyama calls it), my instinct is to pincer it, so that's what I'm going to do.

I usually play the 1-space low pincer when I do so, but I haven't been too happy with the results in general - firstly, if he invades at the 3-3 then the pincer stone ends up too close to the wall (assuming I build one going E/W, which feels like the natural choice in this position), and secondly, after we both make a 1-space jump, he has the press at Q11, and I don't like the prospect of being kept low on this side of the board. I don't actually know any joseki from this particular pincer (I keep meaning to learn some more joseki and never seem to get round to it ), but I feel I won't be too far out of my depth. (Well, no further than I always am when playing Go )

OK, i seen this move a lot online usually i just hit the corner
i can jump out but eh, its not so cool to me because he gets the corner territory
and his top right doesn't look so bad

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm10 Prisoner Count: B-0 W-0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . 2 . X . 3 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . 5 . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

i thought about O17 but its not even my style i rather play R17 or jump out

Possible:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$ -----------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . B O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . . . X 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3 . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 6 5 9 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 8 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |[/go]

OK, he chose the 3-3 invasion. That's fine by me

After this sequence, W has sente and the stones seem not a good combo relative to :

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . B . . . . . . . 7 . 1 O 5 . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . B . . . . 2 X X 3 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4 . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |[/go]

Compare:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$ -----------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . B O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . . . X 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3 . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 6 5 9 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 8 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |[/go]

i choose this is move because its joseki, its the only move i see really....
i actually wasn't expecting him to block on that side though,

right now i don't have any big plans sorry for the short comments; everything is pretty straightforward its still peaceful, one thing i am trying to do is whole board thinking w/ joseki i have been studying it and watching lectures on joseki so hopefully some of that will show through

We're presumably going to get the following joseki:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm13 Prisoner Count: B-0 W-0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . 6 . O O 4 . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . . 1 X X 2 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . a . . . 5 3 . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . b O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

- I haven't yet decided whether I'm going to play a or b afterwards (or perhaps even tenuki). At the moment I'm leaning towards a to help my other stones on the upper side, and keep white sealed in.

standard joseki here

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