At this point, I can think of a bunch of good things to say about B5. It follows the principle of extending from a cross-cut, and it takes what is a vital point in Black's shape in the original variations I expected. To me, it feels like the only real move from a shape perspective. On the other hand, this is a move that starts to signal a shift towards taking the corner instead of playing on the outside.
If I saw a trap coming and a way for Black to capture the two white stones or seal White in, playing at C (and then A) would probably be my escape path. I could build a reasonably strong group on the left, and then hope to keep the bottom side too weak (D2 and M3 feel miai-ish). Playing at A directly would be another option. This would give Black a bit more strength to the middle, but give me a bit more option to help the bottom.
Playing at B feels like a way to revert this situation to something much more closely approximating my originally rejected play of at C4. After Black connects (at C), then White C4 and Black D4 looks like the old joseki shape.
Hopefully after Black's next move, I'll know whether I've made a mistake. I feel like I have good responses to C4 (C5) and D4 (D2), but a Black play at C5 still seems a bit tricky to me. Time to learn something...
I've been thinking about a Black play at C5 a bit more, and I'm now less concerned about it. Instead, I think it gives me a chance to continue with my plan of playing on both sides.
If Black plays 17 at A, I can extend to M3. I would judge this to be a reasonably good result for White. Although the bottom-side group is bit weak near all that Black thickness, there is also a ton of aji left in D3 that I think make things fine for me. If Black plays 17 at B, a White move at C leaves the Black group floating, and I think that I would be able to get enough profit from pressuring these (fairly heavy) stones that I would also consider this a reasonably good result for White. Because a White play at C removes so much of Black's eye-space, I kept trying to figure out ways to play this before coming back to capture with (at B8). However, the results I came up with after Black took B8 tended to leave White very low and Black with good thickness.
I also looked a bit more at the other Black plays I mentioned before (C4 and D4). I didn't find anything new for D4, but for C4:
I had originally looked at playing A, but now I'm leaning more towards B. A leaves the left side rock solid, white Black gets a more stable group (after Black E3) and White extends to M3. B leaves the Black group floating a bit more, but he can build more thickness by pressing on the left side. There are also ways to get to this line if Black begins with D4. (If Black plays 3 at A, White seems to get excellent outside thickness.)
This is what I get for playing a joseki I don't know. I think what he played is supposed to be a mistake, but I don't know how to get a great result - maybe I'm remembering incorrectly.
Anyway, I'm not familiar with this variation, so I'm in unfamiliar territory.
I know this was one of the variations that we talked about at US Go Congress:
Which certainly seems nice for black to me. And if I recall, some pros played this way as white. So if he deviated from this, I should be able to find a result that I like at least as good as this for black.
I'm not quite finding it.
Since he didn't atari, I'm inclined to play on that side myself:
I've already analyzed this response from Black pretty extensively. To be sure, I re-examined those lines and still couldn't find any way that Black can capture the B5/B6 stones. What seems more likely at this point, though, is that Black will succeed in establishing a reasonably strong group on the left side, as opposed to my plan to play on both sides. I see a couple of possible continuations from here:
Continuations A and B are similar, but Continuation B seems somewhat better for Black and if I had to guess, this will be where Kirby is heading. Unlike in A, Continuation B ends with Black having sente. The price for this is that, unlike in A, there is still tons of aji left in the White C7 stone. However, with an approach in the shaded area, Black may be able to neutralize some of this aji. (I also need to be careful to remember that a White ladder breaker around K16 might be ignored. If I try to move out the C7 stone, Black could simply play D9 and squeeze White while building his wall.)
Continuation C is still possible, and seems to be the only way I still get to play on both sides. I don't know whether Black would play 5 or something else, but he seems to need to do something to help out the heavy group he has created in this line. Even then, a simple White response at G5 looks powerful. That's why I think Continuation B is the most likely.
I also briefly reconsidered play at B8, but still have decided I don't like this result:
The Black stone at O5 just works too well, pressing White into Black's thickness in a textbook attack. So, D2 it is! Hopefully I'm not missing some tesuji somewhere to capture the B5/B6 stones...
I get two stones, which is nice influence. The bad part, is that he gets sente, and can play ladder breaker. If I answer to take the two stones, he gets *another* move. For example:
This move is also pretty much the only option. If I don't play here, a Black play captures the three stones, which also eliminates most of the aji in C7.
For what it's worth, I think Black should have exchanged B3 for B4 before playing D7. The difference is minor, but after the B3/B4 exchange, Black has sente endgame at A6, while here, it's gote.
The bigger question for me is how to evaluate this result. White gets a 17 point corner, while Black gets some thickness (which can grow with a later play around F4). Black gets sente, at the price of the C7 aji. It strikes me as fairly even, but I'd be curious to see what others think after the game.
Black's next move is where things start to get interesting. Now that there are more stones on the board, play is becoming less a matter of style and more about correct direction, balance, etc. I would guess Black plays at D15, attempting to indirectly remove the aji from the C7 stone. I've only spent a bit of time thinking about that, but my current inclination is to respond at F16.
I'd much rather approach the corner and try to take care of the side through the natural flow from that. Doing it directly feels a bit slow, but capturing the white stone is arguably honte.
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@amatterof:
amatterof wrote:
For what it's worth, I think Black should have exchanged B3 for B4 before playing D7. The difference is minor, but after the B3/B4 exchange, Black has sente endgame at A6, while here, it's gote.
So you would have obediently answered b3 at b4? This resistance looks tricky.
Hmm, I probably would have just responded, but your variations show I should have looked harder before making that decision. I'd also be a bit concerned about something like this as White:
(I looked at ways White could try to delay playing , but couldn't find anything that worked.) After a Black play at A (or maybe B?) both sides now have heavy groups and it looks to me like a complicated running fight. I suspect Black can get build a nice wall facing the D17 stone and approach there next.
Seems like a natural way to make use of the influence I have on the left side. If he plays around here instead, my influence on the left isn't that useful, and he got a lot of corner territory.
OK, so I guessed right. But I'm now having second thoughts about the F16 response. This strikes me as a pivotal move, so bear with me as I work through this.
First, now that the bottom left is done, I need a new goal/plan. (I notably failed to achieve my first plan, but I don't think the result was terrible.) In the opening, there's very rarely a chance to kill something or make an otherwise game-winning move. Instead, the best I can usually hope for is to find a way to make a few of my opponent's stones look awkward or inefficient. The exact gains from doing so I find are nearly impossible to calculate, but they have a noticeable impact on the middle game. So, that will be my new plan for this corner: try to make at least a few Black stones look heavy, thin, or otherwise awkward.
My first thought in response to the high approach is always to attach underneath. It's a natural way to take some good points, but here, it seems like exactly the wrong idea.
There are at least two problems I see with this position. First, is too good. Black gets to naturally eliminate the C7 aji. All of his stones are working well together, and I've failed in my plan. Second, White has played 12 stones, and every single one is on the third or second line. This type of low position would make it hard for White to fight in the middle game.
The next idea was to try to exploit the C7 aji directly with a pincer. Since continuing to play low seems like a bad idea, it should probably be a high pincer:
I'm not crazy about this either. Black will get to harass and and can likely get some nice profit from that. Also, again naturally eliminates the C7 aji. This result also fails my original plan - there's nothing awkward or inefficient about any of Black's stones. In general, a pincer here feels like White is being jealous of Black's territory and an overplay.
I liked this originally, thinking that Black would need to play somewhere in the shaded area, but each option feels somewhat awkward. C11 is the natural way to extend from the upper left, but it's a low stone in the middle of a framework, which is generally bad. D12 is also a natural extension, but it leaves C7 still causing problems. C10, D10, and D11 each feel thin in relation to the upper left. D11 is probably the closest compromise available for Black, but weaknesses will remain at D13 and C9. In addition, White now has a natural direction in which to use his sente, by approaching the top right (with, e.g. a-c).
However, after thinking about it more, Black might simply play at the square instead and try to build a significant moyo. I'll need to invade, and C7 will help with that, but it still feels like trouble to be creating an obvious target for attack so early in the game. Besides, if I'm going to play on the left side anyway, why would I want to make Black stronger with 1-5 first?
So, now I'm on to thinking about two similar moves, D10 and D11. If I can prompt Black to capture the C7 stone first, then my job becomes easier.
This looks much better than my original pincer diagram. Of course, Black might ignore and instead move to seal in the corner, so I want to look at this more.
Phew, this was a complicated one, but I think D10 does the trick. Here are the Black responses I examined, ranked in order of my belief about their likelihood:
After White A, Black can exchange B for C. Then he's left with a difficult question. He can either try to build a framework with something like K16, but then his lower left wall still looks silly, or he can try to continue building the wall with E10, but I don't think that works, as I just barely have the ladder I need to respond to d at e. Regardless, both are gote plays, leaving me a chance to try to counter any plans he might have. I also looked briefly at what happens if is the capture instead of connecting. In that case, I think it's enough for White to play at and capture either C14 or D15. (I'm also considering playing at F17 here, and will look at that more if/when the time comes. Other options include D13 and simply C8.)
Next, the counter-attack at B. If Black plays here, then I can't move C7 out directly, or else this happens:
Sadly, is sente, so not only does Black get an even bigger wall, but now he can make me capture the B7 stones, which makes White look over-concentrated. And with that sente, Black can cruise to victory using his magnificent wall. So, instead, I need to jump in response to D12:
Now A and B feel miai-ish. If Black plays B, I can play A and continue with the normal corner joseki. The key difference is that now I have a reduction already in place if Black were to try to build a moyo. It's as though Black played the F16 diagram in my previous post, and actually did play in the shaded area. If Black plays A, then moving C7 out puts the Black 4 stones under severe attack.
For C, if Black captures, I can simply play D13 and feel happy.
Black can continue jumping, but neither white group is really in trouble, and Black's thickness seems ineffective. (If was the looser capture at C9, it puts slightly more pressure on White's side group, but not enough to worry me.) He can also play C17, but that means I'll get H16.
Finally, if Black attaches to the corner underneath, I'm thinking about this idea:
Here, Black has spent 4 moves to capture the one White stone, so I could see be played elsewhere, but then Black has even less to show for his investment on the left. More importantly, Black's 6 stones in the bottom left look silly. It's a wall that does nothing. For this reason, might be the capture at , but then I can just play the normal joseki in the corner and Black's upper left stones are floating:
There are so many variations that it's tough to be confident. I would guess that Kirby looked at D10 before playing his move, so let's see what he has up his sleeve.
His move is annoying. I guess that means it's a good move.
If I just answer and take the stone, I feel like he has the flow of this game. I'm not doing much with my influence, not making points, nothing. He's winning. Plus, the marked stone, below, is inefficient (though, that might already be the case).
So I feel like I'm in a sticky situation, now. Must be because I screwed up something in the bottom left - what I played must not be joseki. I am still thinking of how I could have done that better.
So maybe I can do some sort of move to try to save the stone in sente, like this:
White seems flexible - with more points, and black seems inefficient.
So what do I do?
I don't know yet. I can't think of something that gives a good result, but I will keep trying. It's possible I'll have to settle for not a good result, but an "OK" result. But this requires more thinking.
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Kirby
at C4. After Black connects (at C), then White C4 and Black D4 looks like the old joseki shape.
(at B8). However, the results I came up with after Black took B8 tended to leave White very low and Black with good thickness.
, and black got corner. With his moves, he is taking corner, so I can try to get ponnuki on outside, too:
to add a move in the vicinity of the shaded area ?
is too good. Black gets to naturally eliminate the C7 aji. All of his stones are working well together, and I've failed in my plan. Second, White has played 12 stones, and every single one is on the third or second line. This type of low position would make it hard for White to fight in the middle game.
and 
and can likely get some nice profit from that. Also, 
again naturally eliminates the C7 aji. This result also fails my original plan - there's nothing awkward or inefficient about any of Black's stones. In general, a pincer here feels like White is being jealous of Black's territory and an overplay.
is the capture instead of connecting. In that case, I think it's enough for White to play at 
is sente, so not only does Black get an even bigger wall, but now he can make me capture the B7 stones, which makes White look over-concentrated. And with that sente, Black can cruise to victory using his magnificent wall. So, instead, I need to jump in response to D12:
was the looser capture at C9, it puts slightly more pressure on White's side group, but not enough to worry me.) He can also play C17, but that means I'll get H16.
might be the capture at 
, but then I can just play the normal joseki in the corner and Black's upper left stones are floating: