I'm thinking of using the sanrensei for this game.

I have no idea what I'm doing in the opening.
As white, I simply pick between 3-4, 4-4, 4-5 and 3-3 and whether I want to play a cross-opening game or not.
It's the best knowledge I have, so I'll just go with it. I have no real idea what thoughts go on in the mind of a player who spends more than a picosecond thinking about their first move. As far as I'm concerned, that's just wasting clock time, or worse, if there's no timer, those thoughts must be completely irrelevant.

In general, I don't actually feel like I'm making real choices until the first 20 or so moves have been played.

What I do know, is that if I veer off the path with a limited set of essentially random moves I end up with a much more difficult game.

I'm actually ceding 100% of the initiative to my opponent. This is okay, though. I tend to win 55% of my games as white. I'm slightly better at ruining other people's initiatives than I am at devising my own. I only win about 48% of my games as black.

My main curiosity is to see how well (or badly) I play when hasty, hot-headed mistakes are cut out of the equation. I'm used to having 25 minutes on the clock, and that forces me to decide the vast bulk of my moves on instinct. I can only sit back and consider a few moves, the rest needs to be done within seconds.

Now, the official guidelines tell me it's fine to play only once every other day. If I can spend an hour on EACH MOVE, I could consider all non-insane moves, and eliminate them one by one until I'm left with only one. This seems an enormous luxury. Can I leverage this paradigm into new synergies, however? I'll find out as the game continues.

I changed my mind. I'm gonna use the kobayahshi fuseki if possible!

Hm. Nothing happening yet. High chinese opening?
We shall see!
Nirensei always seemed like the thing to do as white. But why be so predictable? I hope to throw in a bit of excitement into this game.

Interesting move. I didn't see that one coming. I'm not sure what to do now. Do I respond to that move or play out the kobayashi opening? I know C16 would be fairly big, but I suppose I could simply interject with G17 if necessary.

Regardless, I'm definitely going to make more of an effort to read in this game than I have in previous games. Can't promise what I'll read out will be correct (let's face it, it'll be wrong) but I'll try!

Okay, there's some things to choose, here.
F5, to push black along the bottom side towards Q3
E3, the infamous kick, to push myself up to E16.
C6, C7, D6 or D7, to run directly towards E16.
H3 or H4, the near pincer in order to interrupt the link to Q3
J3 or J4, the medium pincer with roughly the same plan, but a little fuzzier.
K3 or K4, the far pincer which is really fuzzy. Does it even put pressure on F3?
Q5, bold and combative tenuki. Very often leads to a slightly more complex exchange which results in something suspiciously normal anyway
R10, peaceful tenuki which is as gote as can be
C16, a shimari up top, taking territory with some decent follow-up to each side. Much gote.
F4, to push black down and to Q3

There are more possibilities, certainly a LOT more legal moves, but I will consider only a subset.

For the sake of this game, let's pretend these are my options, then:

C16, R10, Q10, Q6, Q5, R6, R5, K3, K4, J3, J4, H3, H4, F4, F5, E3, D6, D7, C6, C7

C16 is too passive. I don't want to do that now.
R10 and Q10 are also too passive.
R6 and Q6 feel too loose.
K3 and K4 feel too loose, too.
I've played the kick at E3 too often lately.
F4 and F5 aren't how I want to play this time, either.
R5 seems a little helpful to black.
C6, C7, D6 and D7 would be too peaceful for my taste.
I don't want J3 and H4 either.
Q5 doesn't really appeal to me this time around.
Last to be voted off the island is H3.

J4 it is then!

Here's all my rejected choices plus the one I did choose, in handy visual format:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c J4 for great victory!
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . M , 4 . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . M M . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . M M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . M M . . . . . . . . . . . M M . . |
$$ | . . . . . M . . . . . . . . . M M . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . M . M C M . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . M 5 . M M M . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I probably did offend sensible knowledge with the above process, but you have to understand that this is really the best I can do.
I'll try to work on it, but after years of trying, it should be obvious how little effect that has had so far.

In a timed game, I run through these options much faster, since I see no sense in considering carefully what I understand only a little bit.
I'm hopeful someday statistical analysis will kick in and I will remember which choices turned out to be bad.

And interesting. I guess I should have seen a move like this coming, but now it forces me to rethink my entire fuseki. It also just so happens that I don't have a lot of experience dealing with a move like this which is funny considering I'm around 5k on KGS. I suppose I'll treat this as a learning experience and think on it a bit.

Why is it funny ?

You'd think I'd have more experience with this sort of pincer by now. I've seen it a lot in other games, but I don't recall seeing it very often in my own games.

Around these levels, I think we have practically zero experience with pretty much everything, in the big scheme of things.

But I know what you mean, too.

So I extend out as I would with a the regular 8-3 pincer? Although this pincer is interesting because I can't go to a common sequence I'm familiar with:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Captures-
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , 4 . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . 9 , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 5 . 6 . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Either way, I'll figure it out. At least this will give me something to study!

There is really no choice here. I couldn't damage either of black's corner stones as much in two moves as black at D6 would damage my D4.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$cm5 White takes damage.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , O . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . 2 . . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . X 6 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I've been thinking about this move all day and I figure I might as well just extend like this. I'm pretty sure I've seen this done before. This will also allow me to potentially target a little later on.

Additionally, I suppose this is also great for central influence. isn't settled on the bottom left hand corner after all, so anything can happen there.

I want to play at N3, but now is not the time.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$cm5 White takes damage.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . C , O . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . 2 . . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 1 . . . . . . 6 . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

C16 is starting to rise up the list of priorities, but it doesn't feel as urgent as D8.
D2 would be nice to have, but it's just wrong because of black answering that at D8.
If black answers at J6, I might just go for N3.
There's also a case for Q5 I suppose.
What if black plays at F9, though? I might ignore that completely. Or not.
Around this stage is always where I'm the most clueless, and where I make the mistakes for which I must compensate later.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$cm5 White dreams about possibilities.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . C , O . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . A . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . A . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . C . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . 2 . . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 1 . . . . . . C . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]