If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again!

Just take it one move at a time. Remember, nothing is on the line here. I get really frustrated at my own moves when I play sometimes, so I'll suggest something I've been working on: trust your reading. Even if it will lose you the game if you've misread, be willing to sacrifice the game to trust your reading. That sort of thing can build confidence, and seems to help me a bit. I really have no right to offer you advice, but you're friendly, so I don't want to see you get frustrated at your go, especially when I think you're a very competent go player. Good luck, and enjoy the game!

Lately, I've been enjoying your comments more and more. You've always had an entertaining play style, but you've been filling a lot of details, answering questions before I could ask them. Keep it up, I'm eager to see this game and I'm cheering for you.

believe in yourself, i am sure 3 stones are enough to set the odds in your favour. just don't panic

i am sure he has strength to beat me in 3 stone.

but i am pretty sure i will beat him in 3 stone.
reasone for that is professionals will beat me in 3 stone every game.
it is alot but managable handycap in my opinion.

Instead of jumping in and approaching immediately, I will setup a bigger framework. This is symmetrical... Doesn't seem like it can be bad.

He will approach left or bottom next (probably), and the tengen will give me support to pincer.

No matter what happens in this game, unless there's a clear, straightforward blowout of over 30 points difference, I want you to try and not resign this game. If you do end up resigning, I'd like to see a diagram with your count and why you think there's a solid, unchangable 30 point lead in Magicwand's favor. I want you to be resolute in saying to yourself that no matter how awful or frustrating a position seems, that you won't give up unless there's that clear 30 point difference, and instead look straight toward trying to win.

Don't lose hope. Stay tenacious. Stay positive.

I apologize for disrespecting your playstyle in the past. I think I've come to respect it.

I think 3 stones is too little for Kirby, personally. The main problem is not Kirby's raw strength, that is definitely good enough to beat Magicwand with 3 stones. It's the fact that Kirby is more psychologically unstable, which causes his play to get disordered. If Kirby wants to win this, I think he really needs to focus.

I'm all in favor of the tengen. It makes the two sanrenseis miai with the tengen forming the top of the pyramid. Good style!

i have whole lots of respect for your reading skills too.

So, I was leaning toward this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . 4 . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . 8 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 9 . . . 7 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Seems OK for black, right? My high pincer works fine on the right, and I get the initiative to approach the bottom left...

But my archnemesis won't play that way, will he? He wants the flow of the game. He wants control. He wants to be better at the art of moving horses...

So I think he would try to foil my plans like this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . 4 . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Then I can either punish his tenuki or respond to his approach in the top left.

Responding gives him what he wants. Then he can play the bottom right joseki:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

And this must be better for him than my plan... So I don't really like it. So alternatively, if he approaches the top left, I could ignore and try to punish the bottom right... But it's hard to find much to punish there... The stone still has aji...

So why not tenuki his approach and get mine in first?

Why not indeed? I think it's the best choice!

oh my God i hate that tengent stone!!!!

anyway..i can only win when he makes mistakes.
sofar he hasnt

i will try to win by not playing any overplay this game.
from my experience that usually gives you highest winning percentage.

Magicwand may be sincere in meaning this right now, but I have strong doubts that he will stick with this plan.

I realize that you left me a comment. Thanks for the advice. I will plan on not resigning unless there is a difference of more than 30 points, which I cannot recover from.

Maybe I am inconsistent without knowing it. I didn't really think about being inconsistent at this point in the game, but maybe I am.

I kind of wanted to play "a", below.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

But I don't like it that much. Sure, I get a few stones in on the left side... But, it seems kind of over-concentrated, almost, with the tengen there:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

Maybe not over-concentrated... Imbalanced, I feel. If I play on the left, as is shown in the last diagram... Well, I feel like I'm neglecting the right.

I think that I've served my purpose in approaching on the bottom left. I think that the exchange was good for me:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

So I will now respond to his original approach.

I just mean he did what you predicted, but then you didn't pincer as planned. It's the opening so really you can do almost anything but still its strange to say you will pincer and then not do it the very next move.

sofar he is solid. i will have to wait until the board get complicated. no other choice but to wait.

Stay focussed! Be aggressive!
I think you are easily strong enough to beat MW with 3 stones, but too often when the going gets rough you back down and let him have the unearned result. You have already made one timid move at R6, totally inconsistent with the tengen.

Write more! You tend to write what you are thinking after you have made your move. We want to know what you were thinking before you made your move.

i will try.
but i really dont think much in the beginning other than little comment i put.
i will promise i will be detailed when things get complicated.