Sounds funny, so I liked your comment, but I'm not so sure what this means.

i will make sure his group become heavy before the foreplay of setting up for attack.

I thought for a bit about responding in a different way to the peep, but none seemed beneficial. Here are the options that I considered:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

but all of them seemed silly compared to simply connecting. I should just connect this peep.

I have no choice but to connect.

i changed my mind. no foreplay and gofor attack now. i might lose the rhythm and flow.

I feel like something has gone wrong for Black. He started with a group between two White groups in a running battle, which should be a great position to be in from a sector-line standpoint:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

but somehow that group ended up being the weakest of the three.

The peeps Magicwand just played seem ok. Can someone enumerate the reasons why they're not so bad? Is it because the white stick is two spaces away?

It means that magicwand want to utterly destroy you. While you are contempt with just not loosing.

I think I have a good move, but I am calculating a bit.

Not? I would love my opponent to play that ! You play the kosumi and White has no real response.

The further I have watched magicwand, the more I entirely endorse the spirit in which he plays. Even though I think his moves are overplayish a lot of the time, and his confidence a bit too unreasonably high, the truth is that playing because you believe you can win the game with every stone you play is vital in Go.

My game improved enormously when I started treating even games against the local 4 dan as games I could win. Regardless of my actual play, move 2 started with the attitude "I will win this game, or lose it because my moves today just weren't good enough. I'm not going to lose because I don't think I can win". If I played Lee Sedol, I would play to win from the very beginning. Sure, I most likely wouldn't, but I'd play as if I could, and keep going until resigning was the correct choice. Never would I play just to minimise my loss and keep face, nor would I play a high handicap stone in the hope to just hold on to them. If I had a 9 stone handicap stone game against a top pro, I'd cut, surround, divide, fight, and try to play as if it was a 20 kyu. I think magicwand would too, and I want to say that I see it as a very positive characteristic.

As an aside, if Kirby did too, I think he'd gain 2 stones of strength. He needs to stop looking after his groups all the time, and start making magicwand look after his groups. Even if it is overplay, steal eye-shape, chase groups, make them run, make them quake in their boots, kick them in the teeth, die a glorious way knowing that you threw your kitchen sink, carpet, household pets and front door at the fight. That, or you suddenly find out just how strong you are and win - but at least find out

White has now played two peeps and one extension from his strongest side. All black has to do is jump with his weakest group, and then either split up the right side or cut on the left. He may even just play a big move on the top side, staring violently on the white weaknesses.

I have some plans, but first I want to jump out with my group. This is mostly so that white doesn't seal me in.

White can't make a ton of points on the right side anyway.

Well, I want to attack one his stones so that I can get the initiative. By the way, it was kind of sloppy, but I was planning on cutting here if black played elsewhere for the last move:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

and if white played "a", I could play "b". There is still some aji left in his group, but I won't deal with it yet. It might be helpful if my center group comes under a more serious attack.