I don't give or take handicap stones often anymore. I had little choice when I first started playing go, since everyone was stronger than me, and even in the higher SDK range I took a handicap fairly often, but it seems harder to find players in the low SDK/Low Dan area that are willing to give stones, so nearly every game I play is even these days. I know a mistake I often make when I do give a handicap is to play thinly all over the board and hope my opponent gets confused and makes mistakes. I think this is probably in imitation of strong Dan players who are really good at seeing where a weakness in a formation is and exploiting them. The problem is, I can't read at their level, so I just end up with a bunch of weak groups. My plan here is to play like the game is even until I see a mistake I think I can exploit. I'll just try to play as solidly as possible.

I like sanrensei, and I'm most familiar with it, so I stick to it. Since my adversary chose hoshi, I'm in no hurry to approach, he most likely will not make a shimari (and if he will, I will make another sanrensei, and be very happy with it)

I wouldn't have expected that sanrensei makes my opponents life this difficult

I am aiming for a knights move response so I can then take the star point on the side. I like the two star point/low approach shape. If he pincers instead, that is fine too. I don't usually form any specific plans until the early opening is over. I guess because there are just so many variations it seems exhausting to try to predict everything my opponent might do. So I will try and be as flexible as possible.

With no stone around K4 pincer is not so appealing

What's the connection between having a stone around K4 and a pincer? Could you elaborate (maybe with a diagram or two) ?

One of the reason's I like the pincer is the possibility of a continuation like:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc Black: 0 , White: 0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 5 O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 3 X . . . . . a . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . 1 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Which is a lot more appealing to me, if there is a black stone around a)

Of course white can play e.g. something like this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc Black: 0 , White: 0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 5 , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . B . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 3 . X . 2 . . . a . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

but the white group is quite vulnerable, again a black stone around a) may help to attack it later

Thanks. Of course, if (a) is empty as above,
then is blocking at the wrong direction.
B should block at instead.

Black obviously has an advantage here, but he really should considering the stones he started with. I sometimes play too aggressively, so I need to be patient.

F17 or K16 were the other possibilities.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc Black: 0 , White: 0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . a . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . b . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , X . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I really don't want B to take "b", so I think I will need to play away from "a" and do something a bit more active. I am not very good at handling large moyos.

Instead of in the real game, I'm tempted to take 3-3 with -- it seems so big.
Let W double approach with, say, , and fight it out.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

Possible continuation:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wm1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . 0 . 8 4 Y . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . 9 5 3 6 . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . 1 . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , X . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ----------------------------------------[/go]

What made you decide on instead of another nearby point, like K4?

I am happy to give the corner away in exchange for influence. It should make any subsequent invasions or fighting in the center much easier.

I didn't put too much thought into it, I just chose the middle point between F3 and Q4. For some reason I like high better than low, therefore L4 and not L3. Nothing scientific, I'm afraid.

Joseki

I dont particularly like this variation, and since this is open book, I will spend some time studying the options