Hello kibitzers and lurkers! I'm Dusk Eagle, a longtime lurker and recent poster to GoDiscussions. I have been playing Go since Christmas of 2008 and have worked my way up to 1k. When I play low- or no-handicap Go, I always like to start complicated josekis and fights to keep the game interesting. If neither player is winning, and I'm given a chance to complicate things, why not take it? Given that magicwand is definitely a stronger player than me, I must focus on sticking to my normal playing style and not let him intimidate me. I'll also have to see how this slower game style affects my play.

Four 4-4s make the game too boring - I always try to break it up with a 3-4 or 5-3. Because I like the joseki that develop from 5-3, I'll choose it this time.

Break it up, baby
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The 5-5 is a good alternative. Besides which, there are relatively few joseki.

The 5-4, 6-4, and tengen are good, too.

High approach
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I like the high approach. If B2, W3, of course.

White's particular approach is interesting. If I play a low keima, I envision him jumping to the point 'a' in my diagram below. To show a bunch of joseki that could develop would just bog this post down, but one of my original aims if he played there was to play the tight pincer of 'b'. However, none of the joseki that develop from that point (or any other point that I know of) would really feel appropriate with such a low keima stone.


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I also considered pincering his approach stone, but if we just take the simplest variation (shown below) it is a minor disaster for me: he can extend from his 4-4 stone and make me uncomfortable on the right, and if I form a normal shimari from my 5-3 stone, its extension may be somewhat compromised by the low marked white stone.



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Of course, there are other pincers, but they all seem to either end in gote for me or leave me with the same problem.

However, my high extension should serve me well in this case: if he slides into the corner, I can either keep it simple with the variation below or replace move 2 with a move at 'a': both seem to work well for me. Move 4 is a very helpful stone to have in conjunction with the josekis that might develop in the upper left, and also makes a shimari there ideal.


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He could also choose to play his next move in the upper left, in which case the high response to his last move appears to land in a much better spot afterward than the keima would have. There are too many possible joseki for me to demonstrate this, but based on what I know this appears to be the case.

Oh, and Bill: The reason I only considered 3-4 and 5-3 is because all the other moves you pointed out still have an open skirt even after another move is played in their area. I do not like this inflexibility. As for tengen - I just don't think I'll be able to utilize it all that well in for fighting, at least not to the same degree that an extra corner can benefit me.

Wedge
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Note that this sequence leaves a nice wedge for White at 5. Then "a" and "b" are miai. (Not that White should play there next.)

i remember this kind of play was played against me when i was about 1K.

When you play the high response to white's kakari, white's response is always one of the moves you must consider. Generally, the right move is to pincer this stone. Trying to defend the corner at present is out of the question - it is both passive and ineffective. This pincer does two things: one, it prepares for a shimari in the upper left, and two, when white runs out I will be able to wedge between his two sets of stones and hopefully create two weak groups for him to manage. I chose the two-space pincer because the one-space pincer could end up becoming too close to his group to be useful. My only problem is that he may be able to abandon his lone stone on the right and invade the corner, but if he does that I'll have a nice wall out of it at least.