From a professional game. Please guess black's next move.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . O . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . X . , O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

_________________
be immersed

Thank you for this type of post. It's good to have posts with content about actual go positions.

Posts about breathing, hours of study time, etc., are interesting, but more subject to bickering and less educational.

_________________
be immersed

This game is clearly about creating ko threats before starting a ko fight. Note that white needs to create at least two big threats because black has a local threat. logan has given the correct move.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm11 @ @
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . 7 X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . 5 O O X . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X O X 3 |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X @ 1 O 2 |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . X . , O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

As seen, black lost many points by starting and not winning the ko, but got good compensation by killing the two stones in ladder.

Kirby's answer is also reasonable. Breaking the corner at C4 and D4 is normally quite huge. However black needs two threats in this game. After C4/D4 exchange, the subsequent ko threats appear to be too small.

The complete game record is at http://www.go4go.net/go/games/sgfview/35783

Thanks, macelee.

Like Kirby, I too appreciate these sorts of posts. Even if I did start the "breathing" thread he mentioned.

_________________
- Brady
Want to see videos of low-dan mistakes and what to learn from them? Brady's Blunders

I will definitely post more like this one.