i think he is trying to cover his weakness at "a" but...it really doesnt look good for black..
bamboo joint is a vital point many times but not in this situation.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm1 = tunuki
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O O X . a . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , O X 0 X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . O X 9 . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X O . 1 6 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O 2 X 4 O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3 O 5 O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . O . O X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . O . . . O . X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm1 Prisoner Count: B-0 W-1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O O X . a . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , O X X X . X 7 . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . O X O . 1 3 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X O . O X 2 4 6 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O X X X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O O O O O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . O . O X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . O . . . O . X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Day by day, game by game, move by move... I hope that I can get stronger. I hope that I learn from my mistakes. Sometimes my vision seems short-sighted. I will keep walking further into the darkness, though I do not see with precision.

As I write, I notice that the above can be solved by reading. It's easy to say - "Reading". "Read better". "Read further ahead".

But that's why I am weak. Because I stubbornly resist what I know is true, and what I know is correct... Sometimes I resist reading. Sometimes I resist refraining from playing a move that I have already read goes awry.

At least I'm having fun. I'm enjoying these games against Magicwand... Move by move, game by game, day by day.

play slow and solid went ahead

Bleh...

What's the point of cutting if you're not going to reinforce the cutting stone? Was there a reason Kirby couldn't play P16 several moves ago?

black seems to have more points now but white's thickness will speak later.
i will initiate the ko when the time is right..now is not right time.
it will only bother him if i leave it as is.
initiating ko now is like scratching his back and reliving his itches.

To be honest, I do not know where to play. This morning I played a game, and I thought I was winning, but I was 14 points behind. This means my positional judgement is not up to par at the moment.

I guess I can't say that I typically have great "positional judgement", because I don't often count. But I do go a lot by feeling these days. Typically at the end of the game, I have a feeling if I am ahead or behind. Today, that feeling failed me.

So I am not sure how I feel about the board position that Magicwand and I have created above. I'd guess he is ahead, since he has profited on the right both on the top and bottom.

I am playing a pincer because I think the top left stones are strong. I am playing high because I want to counter his global influence. I am playing a bit further back, because I want to lower the chance of being counter-pincered.

all i have to do is separate his group so he can not have big points on the board.
my thickness will play his parts and reward me with points later.

Trying to stay ahead of him here. I don't have a long-term plan behind this move.

Can you tell us more about ? Especially with respect to alternatives, white's thickness, your enclosure, white's weak group and your pincer.

If I answer all of your questions, I will probably have analyzed the situation more than I did when I played it.

These days I am playing more based on feeling than getting actual rationale for moves, which I express in my head.

For this game, I've been looking at Magicwand's move, not playing immediately, and just thinking about it lightly for a little while until I feel comfortable with a move that comes to my head. It's not a very systematic process, and it may not be that good of one. But I'm playing the move that I *think* I want to play, from my intuition, I guess.

Nonetheless, I guess I'll try to express the feelings I had behind playing the move.

1.) I feel concerned about white's influence in the center.

2.) I want to keep a step ahead of his (previously) two stone group. If that group does not get strong for a few moves, then that's a few moves that I can get in to alleviate the pain I will feel from his thickness later.

3.) I don't want to just grab territory. It just feels wrong.

4.) I want the L16 stones to have reduced effectiveness...

Hmm. I guess those are the only reasons that I can really express about why I played the move. But to be honest, I did not conceptualize these feelings to myself verbally or anything. It really was just a mixture of feelings that resulted in what I thought would be the best move.

It's probably not a good way to play go, but I'm experimenting with it...

Or maybe it's just that I'm lazy.

Despite Kirby's reasoning, I think I'd still rather just play this way instead:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm51 Prisoner Count: B-0 W-1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . O O X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , O X . X X X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . O X . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 2 . . . . . . . O X O . O X . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . O X X X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O O O O O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . O . O X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . O . . . O . X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I thought about it for awhile, and I can't think of a good place to play up there... So let's play down here.

Reduce!