Mmm, he chose that way, ok. That sounds good to me.

Would you say was a kyu-ish move by Magicwand?

Saving the single stone is rather heavy/slow when White's group is already strong enough that a ponnuki there won't be so valuable - it's not like if I connect I can really threaten to cut very much.

As a result, I'll play to stay ahead along the 4th line along the top and leave open my development options.

My guess is he's going to extend from his wall now.

@Intrepid: Not that one just yet , but I'm sure there'll be some

While I can certainly see the value of this move, I wonder how things would have looked a bit later if B had played C7 instead. I think reducing the effectiveness of the wall might have been worth letting W get a free move on top.

That move simplifies the joseki, but it's still joseki. It's the continuation that was technically botched on Magicwand's part.

The joseki might be a local blunder for White (look at all that corner profit!), but in this position Black can't rest with this perfect wall facing his hoshi. I would have probably played C7 as Chew Terr suggested. An approach around R14 would probably be the right direction of play for White afterwards.

I was just giving topazg an opportunity to stick it to Magicwand ... opportunities that will simply keep coming up over, and over, and over again ...

I'd play C6, but yeah. Topazg move seems too close to his strong position and it has no merit in my opinion.

I am satisfied with current position

No sense in fancy. If he follows joseki I'm happy:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm21 Prisoners: none
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O X . . X . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . X O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X O X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O O O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . a . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . 1 X . X . . . , . . b . . , . . . |
$$ | . 4 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . b . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

There's no a lot of aji on the left side, making it less effective as a territory making area than it looks, and I have moves around "a" and the "b" points to follow with. My gut feeling is that White will take "a" first but knowing magicwand he may try to take hold of the initiative and approach in the top right.

he went high??? should have been low considering his advantage.
my optimal play should be protecting my left and give him bottom but..that only works in even game...
i will leave my weakness and attack to ride the wave.


my looks bad on below picture.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm21
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O X . . X . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . X O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X O X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O O O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . W . . . |
$$ | . . 1 X . X . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . 4 2 . . . . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Leaving that stone to give me this many points in the corner? What a kyu-ish move. I'm clearly ahead now.

In seriousness, my plans:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm21 Prisoners: none
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O X . . X . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . X O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X O X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O O O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 3 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . X . X . . . 8 . . 6 . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . 7 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I need to think if this is heinously unreasonable or not.

only move for me.... now the question is...can i tenuki???

Let's see how this goes. I predict a big fight on the bottom (can't but hope eh?)

i can not defend bottom with one move...so it is better left as is.
tenuki is not a good idea... but something everyone should think about before playing any move.

Going ahead with my plan. Playin the 3-4 in the corner allows him to make too valuable I think with an outside wall he can build. I am doing fine on corners now, I don't need a small last one to give him more outside thickness yet again, that's not the way of a nicely balanced game.

Did you look at the approach at the 5-3 point (P3) or 3-3 point (R3)?

3-3, yes, and rejected for the same reasons - I don't want to encourage White to build outside thickness.

I'll be honest, I didn't look at the 5-3. My gut feeling is that encourages the following:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm21 Prisoners: none
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O X . . X . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . X O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X O X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O O O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 3 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . X . X . . . , . . . . . , 7 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . 1 . . . 8 . . 6 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Which, whilst stable, doesn't put the pressure on I'm hoping to do. I haven't read the full continuations out in enough detail, but I'm happy with both:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm21 Prisoners: none
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O X . . X . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . X O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X O X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O O O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 3 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . X . X . . . 8 . . 6 . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . 7 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

This, creating a relatively hard to attack group whilst putting Black under a lot of pressure, and:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm21 Prisoners: none
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O X . . X . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . X O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X O X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O O O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 3 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . X . X . . . , 9 . 6 . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . 1 . . 7 8 . a . 0 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

This, allowing White some stability at the cost of giving me some reasonable play in the corner. I need to read the aji at "a" carefully before playing the kick though.

Will think about this. My gut feeling is that this just can't be sensible. Which normally means he has a trick up his sleeve.