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The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Oh, right :p

Note that 'a' does not cut due to the presence of 7. White just pushes through the gap. This looks too easy on White.

But overall we should think of the atari at 7 as more of a trick play than a joseki. The pro game database in Smartgo Kifu has 729 examples of the cut at 6. Of these White continues with C15 next 725 times and plays the atari at 7 only twice.

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Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

Getting back in the swing of things, though slowly. My most recent game is below. I took a look through it and added some comments of my own. Please, anyone who would like to comment, don't hesitate! All are welcome, from 30k to 9p (I'll take what advice I can get. )

I really do need to remember to try and count during a game ... I'm sure it would make some of the hurdles I'm facing right now a lot easier.

Any amateur game can get loads of comments, but for me move is the highlight. Indeed, your move is big but there is another, much more interesting area screaming for attention. White has left a weak group. I believe this group should be attacked, not for killing, but in order to develop the area next to it. In the game, instead, White developed that area, simultaneously making the group safe.

The difference between attacking a weak group and making potential territory OR allow that group to become part of a big potential territory is huge.

I'm sure you know which area I'm talking about. Which move would you choose?

Quite right, I did leave White to settle his weak group up there. Should probably have made an approach of some sort, or at least developed the top.

IMO, by move 32 Black is significantly behind. By move 46 the game is almost hopeless. (Black engineered a big gain in the endgame, but still lost big.)

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

I continue to trod along, enjoying my games. Many of my wins feel a bit hollow lately, though. Take my most recent game, for instance. I've played a pretty poor opening, and put together a drastic, hopeless plan that should easily be foiled ... and my opponent makes a mistake.

To be fair, I suppose a lot of my own losses come because I make some horrid mistakes, so I should expect that others fall into the same traps on occasion. That being said, I need better fundamentals.

A couple of comments on the opening.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Thanks for the comments, Bill, especially the last one ... I did look at that point, but for some reason I kept thinking I couldn't cut.

Gotta fix those reading blind spots.

Hi folks! Felt like sharing another of my games. As usual, it's not stellar, but I was happy to come out of it with a win while allowing my opponent to live small in my framework (though I did try to kill, and missed). I've put some comments in the game, as a general guide to what I might have been thinking.

Some thoughts:

At I think one space higher is fairly standard.

At did you consider pincering black's lower side stone? If black takes F3 and makes a base it's hard to say what white's right side wall is doing.

At perhaps white should lean on the lower group to ensure that the two cutting stones die on a large scale?

At :w60, I'm tempted to play H4 or maybe something like K13. Black has 2-3 weak groups while white has one, so why not pick on them?

At , what about B7 or B8 to steal the base and push black into the center? If black runs, white's left side group will follow, and the black group around H13 will be damaged naturally.

At 116, does white need to protect there? I want to play F14 or the placement to kill.

At 124, don't do this unless it kills. Extending from K14 should be sente and helpful.