This is the wrong way to cut. First of all, Black should start at 'a' directly, for a much better shape. Note that the ladder is good for Black. Second, if he does cut this way (which he should only after reading out that the other cut does not work), he should cut through directly instead of playing 'b'.

Lot of people are mentioning psychological aspects. But I think this is overrated. There is a nice quote from Kageyama's book: "Recall the words of Yukichi Fukuzawa: 'Confidence is born of strength, and strength of confidence.'" Well, Magicwand has both and you are - in comparison to him - kind of missing both. I hope that this does not sound offending. You are a nice person, which makes people think you are easily attacked psychologically. But I think the reason for you losing these games - well, not this one, I'm confident - is plainly that he is the far more experienced and complete player. (I wonder why he is only KGS 3d - seems stronger to me ... but what can a 4 kyu tell ) Surely, you feel frightened by the white stones - but who wouldn't, given what he can do with them. I think you have to plainly learn from your mistakes. I would not think too much about that psychological thing. Again: Confidence is born of strength, and strength of confidence.

I'd like to see if it really is doubt which is causing you trouble.. How do you think about what to play? I want to see if you like this idea I'm thinking of. It might be a bit hard to explain what I mean, but here goes:

You should take the first intuitive response, and compare it only to your last "best" response you get after hours/minutes/seconds? of reading. I'd wonder if sometimes, some moves get discarded too early, and so never get a second look. To me, it feels like you are trying very hard not to play the intuitive moves, and so you throw them away too early(maybe). So, I'd like to see if going back to the first move helps with your issue.

Well ofcourse confidence is born of strength, and strength of confidence but i think your missing a point. A point i tried to say but topazg more eloquently stated, namely hunger. If think of two choices, A is good but safe while B is probably better but riskier. Choosing B over A because you have confidence in your reading is different by choosing B over A because you think you can pull it off and want it.

Spongebob,
Yes, I think I am weaker and it is not just a feeling. Why else would I keep losing? My question was mainly that I was curious if there were areas other than reading that I could fix. Because I do not feel like I have read bad, as much as having done bad in other areas. A lot of times in previous games, people have disagreed with comments that I wrote. These kinds of things are interesting to me.

On the other hand, maybe it is still just reading - which surprises me in a Malkovich game, which is why I was asking

OTOH, I probably don't read that well on a larger scale (when it involves stones jumping out). It is definitely a weak point of mine.

he might be in deep trouble depends on who he answer.

I thought briefly about doing a tenuki, but I don't think that I can let him push my stone around so easily. I should respond normally... I can't justify to myself ignoring his move.

I thought about this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm1 Prisoners: W=0, B=0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O . X . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , O . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . X . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . X O . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . X . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . X O . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . X . . O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . X X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . X . O X O O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

but it doesn't seem to make much sense since it is so easy on white.

He is trying to attack my pincer stone. I could tenuki, but I should not, because I would lose too much in the local area.

This way, if he attacks my pincer stone, at least I get decent local profit.

If I played as follows, I would not necessarily:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm1 Prisoners: W=0, B=0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . B X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O . X . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , O . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . X . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . X O . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . X . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . X O . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . X . . O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . X X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . X . O X O O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I think that this is the best move.

I don't want to get sealed in. Of course, he is attacking my stone. I'm OK with that, because he tenuki-ed the atari.

Sigh...

I have confidence that I can live in the bottom right. I must jump out with my stone, because I cannot let him have all of this side as his territory. It is a bit dangerous because my group in the center may become weak. But his group is not that strong on the left, either.

I don't see another option, because I cannot deal with this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm1 Prisoners: W=0, B=0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O . X . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , O . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . X . . . . . O . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . X O . . . X O . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . X . . . X . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . X O . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . X . . O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . X X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . X . O X O O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]