No orthodox for him.

Hmmm, sounds like he wasn't listening. I really want to approach the top right instead of playing in the top left, but I can't really justify it. I just hate playing against the orthodox. Oh well, I guess I should practice it some more.

Standard orthodox stuff.

It's not wrong to play the wedge at R10, but it's also fairly common to play one closer to the shimari, as the extension from the shimari is typically larger than the extension from the solitary corner stone. As a result, playing closer restricts the size of the possible extension, and still leaves White the two point extension on each side. On the other hand, White ends up closer to Black's thickness after the following relatively common continuation, which is one of the reason I dislike playing against the orthodox:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 Prisoners: none
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . , . . . . . , 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

And this sort of thing is why I don't like playing against the orthodox - Black ends up with the position I like.

EDIT: I could also approach with "a" which seems particularly common these days in pro games, but I really don't understand well enough how to deal with the position after Black pincers, so I'm trying to play something simple.

For beginners.
Not sure what topazg meant by that.
A database search of 50,744 pro games returned 718 for R10(a), and 33 for R11(d).

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

Going to take the time to settle my group a bit first ... aiming at the following if Black doesn't pincer:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm7 Prisoners: none
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . 1 , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . 2 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . 4 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Maybe at "a", I don't know, but this is all part of my anti-orthodox policy, regardless of whether it's strictly "good" or not

Interesting move, I've not seen that one before. I was half tempted to go for territory:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm10 Prisoners: none
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . X , . . . . . , . . . . . , 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 O . . |
$$ | . . . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . 9 . . . . . . X . 7 . |
$$ | . . . . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

But I think that wall is just too big and could come under serious pressure. I think the push and cut will give a similar result, but with more aji for me to abuse on the lower side as Black will hopefully be less thick.

Maybe something like this perhaps?

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm10 Prisoners: none
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . X , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3 X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . 9 , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Following the plan

I always find it interesting how both players will be following the same plan and both feel ok. Is this typical? I always feel (not necessarily correctly) like one side is getting a better deal.

In this case, I like the deal that topazg is getting here. The shimari is facing an increasingly strong white group. It looks like skydyr will have to effectively use the wall he's just created ... something I'm terrible at doing, so I can't see what kind of plan he could or should make here.

I guess I am really weak in the opening, so take my comments with a grain of salt.

A few possibilities:
- both sides are correct (the situation is equal; for example, local joseki, or globally early in the opening);
- one side is 100% correct (the situation is a disaster for one side; so the other person must be completely wrong);
- the situation is slightly better for one side, but it's still too early or too close to call, so both sides are still correct;
- the situation is super messy and unclear (so maybe both sides are correct or wrong in thinking they're doing OK, depending on how you look at it);