Obvious move is obvious.

Continuing with my plan.

And now for something ... completely different.

Black is doing his best to remove all my right-hand "territory". Of course, having left so much weakness on that side of the board, I wasn't counting on much territory there. This cut keeps my group from becoming too weak, and puts a larger hold on the bottom side.

Hmmm ... HIS group on the bottom is looking a little weak. Might be time to harass it a little bit.

He can have that stone. My group is fine, so I'll tenuki. I'm going to see what he had in mind when he played this elephant jump. I would give variations, but I have no idea what the original purpose of the move was. It just seems odd.

Time to solidify my lower left. Here's what I expect:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm58 Move 58 - Prisoners: B=0, W=0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . X O O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . X . O . . O . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . X . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . X . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O O X |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O O X |
$$ | . . . W . . . . . , . . . . . O . X . |
$$ | . a X 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O 1 X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 5 . . . . . . . . O . . . . O . |
$$ | . . . . . . X O . . O . . . . . O X . |
$$ | . . O O X X . X . X O X . . O O . X . |
$$ | . . . . O X . . . c X O . O . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . O b . . . . . O . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Black is undercut at 'a' and at 'b', plus there's the stone capture at 'c' for later. Not to mention, D10 isn't dead yet.

Don't let your stones get cut. It's fundamental.

Continuing on ...

This move is simple, it protects my side territory, and minimizes the agi of the white stone. I can also aim to cut him at c7 for some endgame.

Interesting ... I was sure he wouldn't let me out so easily.

He's making it very hard to predict where he'll move next. As such, I'm having trouble making plans. However, anything that lest me further isolate his lower group makes me happy.

I feel like this is the correct shape here. This is preventing any shenanigans with my four stones here, and building the top left.

I also need to be very conscious of my lower group here. White is pretty close to sealing me in.

It's time for this game to be made or broken.

I'm gonna go with mutual damage for 500. I could defend my points, but he'd just keep staking out half the board. I need to reduce his moyo. If he plays to defend his points, I will defend mine on the left.

Ok, that all-or-nothing fight I was looking for ... it's probably about to start. I don't think I can simply defend without making sure I gain more than he does. I'll post variations when I figure them out.

I examined playing defensively, but I'm still behind and letting Black gain solit territory at the same time leads to failure. The only option I have is to jump into his territory and see if I can make things complicated.

Hopefully, I can find a way to cut off his bottom group from the rest of his stones. That group looks very weak to me, but I have to be careful.

There is a proverb to not attach to weak stones. In this case, I'm attaching to strengthen both sides. I'll end up stronger so that I can wreak havok in his area. He'll get stronger so that he can try to to do the same to my area. However, I'm very strong in this area. The only agi I can see him possibly using is at f18.

This move also has the merit of cutting him off. However, he might be able to make sabaki here.

BAM! Right in the (elephant's) eye!

I can't pass up this move. I have D10 over there calling to my stones, and if I get deep enough the game becomes chaos. First, though, I need to wait and see how he responds.

I'll let him push through here. It solidifies me a humongous corner, and he still hasn't prevented me from reducing the right from the outside, or from s10. I don't think I'll have to sacrifice my five stones, but it is definitely an option.

The hane here is more interesting for white as a response. I cannot just cut, or my two stones get captured.

Let's see where this goes. Black is going to reduce my center ... but he's giving me an angle to use to reduce his upper left ... and I'm still not convinced his bottom group is secure.

Solidifies the top. I need to watch out. This damages my five stones.