I'm running a gamble. Maybe I shouldn't, but I am. White connecting out is not worth enough points to catch up the deficit on the board right now, and this move is huge. Not only is both this point plus the hane at R1 sente for White, but I also greatly increase my aji on the right hand side this way, and pick up a few points in the process. The question is do I have two eyes with the group on the lower left. The answer is no, not yet. I have half an eye at the bottom due to F2, and another with G8. The fact I then also have moves like M7/M8 makes me willing to risk this. Time will tell

Glad you're enjoying it Do throw questions my way if you want!

Have you done a rough count yet? How many points ahead do you think you are?

About 15 or so right now, but the right side, middle, bottom, and top have quite a bit of swing left in them. It feels hard from my perspective for White to get 15 more points out of those areas than Black, so I consider myself ahead, but magicwand's good at pulling stuff out of nowhere. Either way, I consider myself solidly ahead still right now, pending magicwand being mean

I also have topazg leading by around 15 points in terms of solid territory. I wonder, though, if topazg's last move was unnecessarily risky. I would have played this instead:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X O O . O O X . . |
$$ | . . . X . X O . . . . X . O O X . . . |
$$ | . X O X . O X X . , . X O X O X . . . |
$$ | . X O X . . . . . . . . X X X X X . . |
$$ | . X X O X O . X . . . . . . . O . O . |
$$ | . O O O O . . O O . O . . . O O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X X X . O . O . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . b . . . . . O X X X . |
$$ | . . . , . . . X . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . O X . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . O O . . X . X . . 1 . . O . . O . |
$$ | . . X O . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . X O . . O O a . O O . . . |
$$ | . . . X . X . . . , . X X X X O . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . O . . . . . X O X O O . |
$$ | . O . O X . . . . . . . X O O X X . . |
$$ | . . O . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

This move would reinforce Black's dragon, give Black points in the center, and threaten the cut at "a." Absent this move, White may hope to exploit the aji of the cut at "b" in some way. I surmise that Magicwand is currently calculating how to best go about doing this.

this is the reason why I love him. Giving me a chance. Thank you

Time to test my reading. This could get ... icky if I'm wrong.

My oh my, the reading here is .... hard. Magicwand's having fun here

Is he this desperate? He's found some lovely moves, but the number of plates he's spinning ....

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm121 Prisoners:
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X O O . O O X . . |
$$ | . . . X . X O . . O X X . O O X . . . |
$$ | . X O X . O X X . e . X O X O X . . . |
$$ | . X O X . . . . . . . . X X X X X . . |
$$ | . X X O X O . X . . . . . . . O . O . |
$$ | . O O O O . . O O . O . . . O O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X X X . O . O . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . O X X X . |
$$ | . . . , . . . X . , f 3 . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . O X . O . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O X 4 2 X . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . O O . . X . X . 1 . . . O . . O . |
$$ | . . X O . O X . . . . . b . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . X O X . O O . . O O . d . |
$$ | . . . X . X . . . , . X X X X O . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . O a . . . . X O X O O . |
$$ | . O . O X . c . . . . . X O O X X X . |
$$ | . . O . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I have "a" threatening both "b" and "c", "d" is still sitting there, and "e" is waiting for him to follow up his earlier aji exploit. He's cutting my profits, but he can't avoid the fact I'll be able to pull the points back somewhere, and I'm surely not going to die now, with "a", "b" and "f" sitting there. Oh well, he's good at magicking something out of nothing, so we'll see.