I'm aiming at this joseki, which either gives me a small advantage, or starts a big fight. 7 at a is considered too slow nowadays (according to Hwang In-seong [probably didn't spell his name right])

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a . 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 4 . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . 3 . , 6 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I'm going to approach the bottom left if she plays there.

C4 or D3 doesn't seem to have too many difference for me.

I like this approach. It's light, and I'm just using this stone to break up the framework. Depending on black's reaction, I might tenuki. It's also a little unusual, but not full-out weird. I'm not of the school that thinks that one must make giant overplays in handicap games, but I still like to shake things up a bit.

Oh, this is far. Move at 1 is the only joseki I know... And as White's far, I don't think pincer is a good idea. I think black can also choose to play something between D6 and D8? But then White should be able to settle pretty quickly.

Playing lightly. I can come back and settle there later. That's the whole point of the distant high approach. Even if black plays again there, she'll get a bunch of points, but I think I'll have the better tempo.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm4
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X , X O . . . , O . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

The left side may end up with something like this. He may end with a stone on line L

First, facing his influnce, high is not a good idea. It should be either a knight's move or large knight's move. I would not consider pincer's good in this case, considering he's stronger than i am.

My last move was a probe ... I think. I'm coming back to play here now. with the 3-3 open in the bottom right, there isn't much black can do against my approach.

I may be failing at it, but I want to play lightly. It may not be a large handicap, but I prefer to keep things unsettled with any handi.

Do you have an opinion on ? I'm sure I've read it's often to be avoided in handicap games because of mad complications. Do you know any of those?

*NB seems like a fine fuseki move

We never discussed joseki dictionaries, but I've grown accustomed to using them during all turn based games.

As for , I'm not a huge fan, but it's a perfectly valid move. I don't want to jump into the corner right away, though, as I don't want to give up influence. I'm not afraid of any of the complications with .

So back to Joseki, if he descends?

For reference: Out of 50,744 games, (a) 225; (b) 127; (c) 94:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ | . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . X b O O . .
$$ | . . . c X a . .
$$ | . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . .
$$ -----------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm8
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . B . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X 1 O O . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . . . . . . B . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

This would be my choice, because the marked stones tell me the left is likely to become more valuable than the bottom for further development.

I expected black to play one higher. This transposes into something I like. I expect this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm8
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X , O O . . . , . . . . . X . 5 . |
$$ | . . . X X 2 . . . 4 . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

This is the same as the result of a common probe sequence, except that I didn't have the ability to choose whether F4 was at its current location or making the tiger's mouth.

Joseki, joseki. Does he think N3 being a bad move after this joseki finishes? I feel it's ok.

I would be very suprised if white will tenuki here

I took a little bit time to think about this position...

Nobi at R4 is said to be a 25 points move. White will either make a two spaces jump or a 3 spaces high extension which may coordinate better with his upper right stone. This makes White settle easily and hard for black to invade on the right side.

So i played kosumi-tsuke, which is really rare in my games in the hoshi-large knight extension situation. This left lots of aji at 3.3.

I really wants to play Q15 first to see what he wants to do on the top and then decide what i should play in the lower part. But if he tenukis, I know no follow up. So maybe I just play on the lower right first.

I prefer the nobi, as it's fairly likely to be sente (although, I probably would have approached the top right instead of either). However, if this kick is to be played, it should probably follow with this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm12
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 O 3 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 . |
$$ | . . X , O O . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X X O . . . O . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Otherwise you leave the 3-3 aji for no real purpose. The followup psychee isn't comfortable with is a "basic" instinct that everyone should learn quickly:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm12
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . |
$$ | . . X , O O . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X X O . . . O . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

This is just huge. It presses White low, secures some the 3-3 aji, starts to make White's lower middle group more pokable, and gains good access to the middle.

I prefer simply taking the corner as black, with either the one space jump or iron pillar. This way leaves such delicious aji there ...

As for my actual move, it's the only move in this position.

Pincer, but where?...

Without support of R11, Q8 is kinda overplay. But as I have left (3.3) open...