In the game Black pincered White with 23 below. You answered with 24 and commented, "seems funny... but I don't really have a solid plan". When Black played 25, you slid to 26 with the comment, "I feel this stone is the weaker one and so the first I should help". The comments reveal that White is not grasping the overall or the local situation. The overall situation is that White has a position in the upper left that should be developed if possible. Locally, Black has a pincer stone that has no surrounding help. As a result White wants to counter attack the pincer and further develop the top. One of these aims would be nice, managing to do both would be even better.
$$Bcm23
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[go]$$Bcm23
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One typical idea would be to play 2 below, pressing Black down in the corner. White continues lightly with 4 and 6. If Black jumps out to 7, White can cap the pincer stone with 8. If Black switches 7 to 8, White blocks the side with 8 at "a". Black will invade the upper position somehow but White can have fun attacking Whatever stones are played.
$$Bc
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[go]$$Bc
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The actual play at 24 in the game would not have been bad if White had been able to come up with an appropriate plan. When Black played 1 below, White decided that there were already two weak White groups. This was wrong on two counts: the White stones were not yet separated, and they were not weak!. The appropriate answer was the jump to 2 below. Again this is looking toward attacking the pincer stone. It expects something like 3, which is answered with 4. White happily gives up the marked stone in order to close off the top in good shape, ending with Black drawing back at 'a' and White making the hanging connection at 'b'. Next White is going to attack the pincer or further build up the top.
Note that if Black ever plays something like 'c', White can just answer at 'd', starting to close off the corner while preventing Black from settling himself. Black has not made any shape yet, White can slide in from the left and prevent Black from making eyes.
$$Bc
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[go]$$Bc
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$$ | . 9 6 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 7 5 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
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