The one point jump. My opponent probably never saw this coming.

Two reasons for this move:

1. I want to keep up with my opponent in getting out toward the center.
2. I want my options for exploiting weaknesses to stay open on both sides.

For this reason I did not want to poke, attach, kick or otherwise harass my opponent on either side. Let's see what he does, then I'll take advantage of weaknesses on the side he did not help.

The question I have now is this: can I be satisfied by taking white's corner away?

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 Not sure if white would make the , for exchange...
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . . X . O . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . X . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . O . . . . . . O X . |
$$ | . . X X O . . . . . . . . . . X X O O |
$$ | . . O X . . . X . O . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . O 3 2 O . . . , . . . O . X O . . |
$$ | . . 5 O 1 4 . X . O . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . 7 6 8 . . . . . . . . . . X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

This result looks good, but it leaves my two stones very weak and it seems easy, if white steals sente, for him to connect his stones back.

For now, I'll call this Plan B. Let's see if I can find something better.

I have found nothing better for the first move, but I am now looking at this...

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 Marked stones are 11 and 12.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . . X . O . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . X . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . O . . . . . . O X . |
$$ | . . X X O . W . . . . . . . . X X O O |
$$ | . . O X . . . X O O . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . O 7 2 O 4 6 9 , . . . O . X O . . |
$$ | . . . O 1 3 5 X B O . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Not sure how sound this is, but it might be another option. Were white to connect at , I would connect my stones up and use the strength against the right side stones.

I may go back to Plan B, but this was the best "Plan A" I could find...

I like .

I'm pretty sure I've messed up more than a few times. I'll keep going though and see where this goes. Probably nowhere good, though.

I did not consider this move by white, but I don't think it's that great. After blocking me, I can cut on either side and his position will not be very good.

I feel his move is violating the principle that you should keep your stones connected and your opponent's stones disconnected. He is forcing me to put him in broken shape, while allowing me to connect back.

Maybe my move isn't the strongest there is here, but I think it's pretty good.

Actually white can just manage to keep everything connected as d4 is atari, but black can get strong around and nice b5 yose in sente.