8

And so another battle begins upon the Go board. Another year, another board, perhaps another win or (more than likely) loss. Either way, it's great to be playing Go for another year.

My Plan For This Game:
1. KEEP IT SIMPLE! So often I go into games with this very goal only to complicate it for myself end up losing as a result. My goal will be to keep things simple and efficient.

2. Do my best. Whether I win or lose, I'm going to put forth my best effort in this game. No blind playing from me this time.

3. Stick to what I know. Instead of going for a bunch of unknown ideas, I'm going to stick with sound strategies that I feel comfortable with.

4. Avoid a big capture. I'm going to try my best to make sure none of my essential groups die.

5. Know When to sacrifice. But on the flipside, I also need to know when it's just better to sacrifice and move on.

So hopefully I learn from this game, and hopefully I can keep it exciting!

This isn't a move I normally use, but recently I've been experimenting alot with different moves and styles of play. I used to be hell-bent on grabbing territory and just ignore influence as if it didn't exist. Now after playing on tygem I am trying to change my style to be more fighting oriented. I hope I will have a good game with Hailthorn and learn something. (something to note, I seriously considered starting on 5-5 as I've been doing this alot recently, but I haven't used takamoku much at all so I decided to try it)

I haven't considered where to go from here, I am thinking maybe 3-4 or star point, even 5-5:) We'll see what I come up with

Interesting move by . It's things like that that really throw me off, but I'll try to maintain my composure here and play sound moves. has a lot of choices after :White: makes his move.

I'm considering using the Sanrensei in this game because I feel that is an adequate response to , but we'll see.

I didn't play this move because I underestimate my opponent. I have been experimenting alot with different things recently and this move is one of those that I have been using. It will be interesting to see how black will respond.

I considered playing 3-4, but it isn't consistent with the strategy of the 5-4 which aims at obtaining influence. 4-4 would be a fine, balanced option and one of the candidates I considered. I also thought about playing a well known opening, using two 5-4's but I decided to experiment

I hate when plays like this. It feels really outside the norm, risky, and rather pretentious in a way. I'm only 8k so it's hard for me to judge things like that, I guess, but I just hate openings like this.

So, as a result of 's play, I'm going to scrap my original plan of playing the Sanrensei in favor of . My idea is to undermine the goals of here.

I would be tempted play the following ...

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c Captures:
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , O . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Of course, I haven't thought much about the position ... it's just a move that jumps out at me.

I don't like the timing of this black move. I would never play it now if faced with this position. Finding the follow-up move was easy for me. I want to get some yummy influence and black has allowed me to take control of the game with this move. Atleast I think so:)

So far this is going along with my plan. I don't know too much about this situation, honestly, but I'm going to just go with my gut feeling here and see where it gets me.

I think it's a bit presumptuous to call white's choice of corner stones pretentious. Though, I think it is generally good that you took your opponent's stones into consideration for your fuseki decisions.

I used to play 5-5+5-4 quite a lot, though mostly as black. The challenge is that finishing good thickness is often gote, so your opponent can then take that thickness into account.

Conversely, having to "take thickness into account" is something of a compromise in and of itself. I'm not sure whom I prefer with the following:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$cm7 Captures:
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 5 3 4 . . . . . . . 9 . . . . . |
$$ | . . X , O . 6 . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 1 O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 7 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . 0 . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Albeit, white "suffers an initial loss".

Maybe, but I just spoke my opinion there. But you're right, perhaps that wasn't the right thing to say.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c Captures:
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X , O . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Black might play here, it's a common mistake I see alot when I play this move on KGS. But if he doesn't make this mistake, I am envisioning following joseki and building thickness unless ofc hailthorn has other plans for me:)
If he plays a, I will play b.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

Not much to say here. This is what I wanted to do. Time to see how it goes.

Keeping up with what I wanted to do.

So far so good, I think. This was what I wanted all along, so it's going pretty good thus far.