I will be very impressed if White gets 100 more than Black does out of this position.

I think that for a sufficiently large komi, the game is somewhat disrupted because black can play very solidly and inefficiently and still turn out ahead. The real question will be if black can A) count and B) restrain himself and accept lots of sacrifices. If white can create a weak group to attack, and black keeps defending it, white may be able to make something of the game.

Of course, it also bears noting that all handicap games look horrible for white at the start.

It's not that I consider his moves to have been ideal, but he's playing pretty solid and taking territory. It's about time that I pull out a ridiculous overplay. Now that I've played it, I must be flexible with how I handle it.

I want to cut or do something else, but I know that I have to connect my groups and keep them strong enough. I have to be patient. If he captures my stone, I should be able to handle it the cut that ensues and he'll have to make sure he lives on the edge. I need him to make some weak groups for me to have a chance. So far, this game looks grim to me. Hard to overcome such a large reverse komi. Impossible if the opponent doesn't make some major mistakes.

I'm going on with the saying: strike the horse on it's belly
Don't know if it'll work, also preparing for an invasion in the lower right corner
Hope it works...

This is an interesting probe. I almost feel like I'm being sandbagged. Sure a few moves have been a bit slow, but overall, he's played well and very solid. I'm much better at beating weaker players who leave weaknesses to exploit or who play very passively. If they are only a little passive, but solid, it's hard to overcome a huge deficit.

The hane on top feels like an overplay:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm1 Dragon Pie (1D Kgs) vs. bgrieco (16k IGS).
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O O O O X X . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . O X . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . O 9 . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 7 6 4 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O . X 5 X O 0 |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 3 2 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

The hane underneath feels too passive.

If I extend upwards, the for exchange feels great for black, so maybe I have to do something else.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm1 Dragon Pie (1D Kgs) vs. bgrieco (16k IGS).
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O O O O X X . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . O X . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . O . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O . X . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 O 2 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X 4 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

So, I chose my move to strengthen my stone and my connection.

This game is still very hard for me. If I keep my stones solid, I should get a chance to counter attack. Hopefully he does some overplays and let's me kill something big. Unfortunately, he seems to be too careful to hope for that.

I'm not very interested in the corner, as I am in the lower side.
I still have the corner as an option, and I want to protect from that N9 dropping over the lower side

Still a hard game. The idea here is to make him at least play passively to settle. But, still, it's hard to foresee overcoming the komi. My opponent has played well.