This move is pretty much forced. Well, not really, but it's the reason I played the prior move. It makes a bunch of points and keeps MHO's group on the run. His group will probably run west. I'll chase it from above and below as far as I can, button up my points on top, and hopefully build enough wall to do some things down south.

I'm playing on no sleep again, but hey, it's just a game. My biggest barrier to improvement has been not playing enough. So I'm not going to make excuses to not play.

With this move I'm trying to force black to capture those loose stones on the inside to get breathing room on the outside. Then I'll lean on the right side stones a little bit before deciding what's next.

I'm fairly certain black can't immediately push and cut at O13; he's going to have a liberties issue.

The D3 (or D2) is big because it threatens a stronger invasion of that bottom side black group making it almost sente. I think it's probably premature for black to take that 3-3, however. I'd seal black in and take the outside, which would devastate the value of those two black stones.

F11 is big too, and there may still be opportunities to reduce that middle some more.

The upper left 3-3 is less important. It would be gote for black to invade and it would settle my fourth line territory on the left side. It's basically big endgame.

Actually analyzing the position, I'm much less pessimistic than I was. I actually think the game is about even, though black maybe has more opportunities for reducing. Out of curiosity, I check in with Score Esteban, and he also thinks it's close.

That was an interesting forcing move that I didn't really expect. I'll take my cash now, and worry about my right group later. It looks like he's going to try to cut at P17. Still looking at responses, but even if he cuts, I'd rather kill those stones than let them out. Even if he got the cut, his group is weaker than my side group. <-- Famous last words.

Yes, the cut at P17 is part of the shortage of liberties issue I was talking about. I'm not 100% sure it immediately would have worked if he tried to push and cut, but it was dangerous. Black's last move is what I expected and mostly cleans up his aji there. I'm going to lean a little bit more before deciding if I need to take gote to secure this group.

I think this is the best way for me to cover. It feels like I have an acceptable answer to everything he could play from here. I am willing to sacrifice this stone if needed, to connect and maybe even start an attack. I think Fwiffo can make an eye in gote in the area if he chooses, but that would let me find the biggest area of the board and start sente-ing.

This is the natural follow-up to my previous move.

This is a little bit harsher than I had thought at first, but I think I'll be okay... I can't just let him cut off those stones below. This way, he can cut, but my two stones keep him separated and give me a start at a base.

This protects a couple different cuts. I'm not 100% certain it's sente, but there is a lot of aji left at the very least.

Okay, I think it's time for this corner. I thought about just approaching the corner from the bottom, but it's just too gote. It doesn't threaten much extra in the way of activating this corner stone. I'm looking to get a (slightly uneven in my opponent's favor) cross-cut here to try and build some shape towards the center. I would kill something over on this side if I'm forced, but the direction of play seems to be the center and left, so I'm going to try to offer Fwiffo a largish corner. It seems like there are a couple of things my opponent can do to resist, like stretching his stones westward. In that case, I'll probably make a base on the bottom towards it, preventing my opponent from going further in that direction. I thought about other things to do in this corner (like attaching to the stone at R6 from the top) but most of those options either don't buy me much or would be better saved for after this hane. As for my opponent's most recent move, it seems to be a good and thick defensive move, but I don't see much sente in it. I think that I can successfully defend my groups, so I want to start moving around to these hot-spot areas. This move is sente enough that I expect my opponent to respond. I hope to end in sente, if only because I had little enough in this corner that I am willing to suffer a loss here if need be. If I do get sente, I can consider this area's affect on the running group, and whether or not I can leave that be to focus on the other hot areas. Instead of killing that group, my intent is to let my opponent defend it in gote a few times, while I take the points I need. Also, I would love to push it in the right direction to make points, but I have to push on this side first to see which direction is more important at the moment.

I think this gives black the fewest forcing moves. I still have miai to go over or under the original 3-4 stone. True, black could play this sequence (or similar) to take the corner back:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

I am OK with this though. Reading out variations here and elsewhere on the board, I was annoyed that all the ladders were working for him everwhere, which is part of the failure of my opening. I would be very happy taking the outside right now.

If black insists on keeping the outside for himself, well, this move just makes my corner bigger. My plan for the rest of the game would give me three, possibly four corners. I can avoid the middle getting too big because my middle group is solid, and I can play subway go to keep him from getting much territory on the bottom.

Okay, so I'm not getting a WHOLE lot out of this corner. However, it's induced this move to stabilize my bottom more, and I'm hoping to get some central thickness as well. The thickness will work well with my attack on the group in the center, so hopefully I'll be getting my money's worth out of it.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm Prisoners - W: 0, B: 0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . X . X O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X O . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X O . X O X X O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . X X . X O . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . O O O . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . b O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a 2 . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . 4 X 1 3 . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . X . O O X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . c . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I expect something like this. Again, it may be a mistake, but it seems like I want to keep taking thickness, to keep with the plan. Just hesitant if I'm giving too much away or am missing giant flaws. If MHO cuts at a, I can stretch to b. 'c' also gives me some interesting opportunities for later, such as sealing the bottom stones in sente. Mostly, I'm prioritizing the bottom/center over the corner, and trying to do it in something like sente.

Um, how about no. Q4 now would be incredibly supine.

Time to think of something good out of my supine brain. That comment amuses me, it reminds me of an older gentleman at club who often talks of looking for aggressive plays with his 'reptilian eyes,' or something like that.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc If he forces me to take the corner, I can.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . X . X O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X O . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X O . X O X X O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . X X . X O . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . O O O . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . O X 3 1 9 . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . X . O O X O 5 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 6 8 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc This looks doable, but scary. Fwiffo reads better than I do... eep
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . X . X O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X O . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X O . X O X X O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . X X . X O . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . O O O . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . 7 . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . O X 3 1 6 . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . X . O O X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 4 8 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Even this looks possible
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . X . X O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X O . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X O . X O X X O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . X X . X O . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . O O O . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . O X 3 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . X . O O X O 6 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

This seems contrary to my prior plan, but we can only plan for 50% of the moves in the game. Fwiffo played something from my blind spot, so I have to roll witht he punches. If I can live in the corner, I can try to cut his stones on the outside. If he gets cut, he has WAY too many weak groups, and will likely lose one. So not only am I hoping to live in the corner after this, I hope to live in sente if he stops to patch the cutting points. Aren't I optimistic? =D

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm51 Prisoners - W: 0, B: 0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . X . X O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X O . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X O . X O X X O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . X X . X O . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . O O O . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . O X 1 X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . X . O O X O 2 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I hate to mess with MHO's plans again, but... Wait, no, I don't hate that at all. Now that I've poked out my head I am more than happy to take the corner territory.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . b . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . O X 1 X a . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . X . O O X O 2 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I get the corner territory, and I have miai (sorta) of a and b to pull out my side stone, which means white can't get much territory there. And black shape feels bad too.

Obviously I'm not very happy with how I've treated this corner. Of course, Topazg's suggestion for how to treat the bottom right would have been better, but Fwiffo's suggestion probably would have, also. I need to practice reading, perhaps.

Also, I just made a huge analysis on where to play until I realized: I had accidentally deleted my opponent's move. Ugh, deleted it all, because it was all therefore wrong. Regretfully, I think my group is probably too heavy to drop easily. Though I almost did. I think, however, I'm better off shaking my head, getting my group out, and playing as calmly and reasonably as I can. This at least starts sente, because it threatens to eat his stone.

I think my opponent is being overly pessimistic. Given that had given me an extra move here, this outcome is not that unreasonable. My center group is still a target too; a move like is dual purpose.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . X . X O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X O . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X O . X O X X O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . X X . X O . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . O O O . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . . B . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . B d W . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . c . . . a . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . O X X X b . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . X . O O X O O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Of course, I want to pull out the marked stone with a or b; if I let black block at b, that's a pretty nice sized chunk of territory. But I really want to play c. If black were to get that move, he'd make some nice shape for himself and my access to the center will be much more limited. Black will have to defend against me pushing through, and it becomes difficult because of the marked knight's moves. However, black may have a move that both captures the marked white stone and defends against the push. I'd have to do some reading. may have been better at d (reducing my liberties), though that shape is also not without problems.

I may still sacrifice that stone to get sente. Something like this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc D-Fens
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . X . X O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X O . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X O . X O X X O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . X X . X O . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . O O O . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X 2 W . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . O X X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . X . O O X O O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

And while rescuing that stone is big (a lot more than 2 points because of the black territory it nullifies), is it worth giving up sente and letting my center be hassled? Black would have to take gote to capture it anyway. Like the 3-3 points on the left side, it really amounts to large endgame, and we're not at that point yet.

The more I look at it, the more - looks more urgent than saving . That is what I'll do.

I am often too pessimistic in go. I have too often resigned, only to have observers and questions express shock. This is a bad habit that I want to work on stopping, and am open to suggestions for. A lot of Malkovich games lately have shown players go on tilt in similar ways, so it's clearly not a problem unique to me. Counting is one obvious start, so that I can tell whether I am actually behind or not. In this case, it was more a matter of side-by-side comparison, and seeing my instability next to white's solid corner. So I'll try to snap out of it and play calmly.

My opponent has a good point that I probably would have overlooked in a fast game: I do urgently need to prevent him from pushing through to separate my groups. I considered connecting solidly to apply more pressure to white's outside groups that are attempting to connect, but I decided I would rather prioritize my own connection, and just try to stay slightly more stable than my competition. So the monkey jump is the proper connection, locally.

With regard to the attachment my opponent mentioned, I almost played it. I chose the play I did because it threatened to play the hanging connection that my opponent just blocked.

Whole-board wise: As long as this corner doesn't become too much of a compost heap, I think I'm doing okay. Nothing has solidified the west, so it's likely that my opponent won't get /all/ of it. Fwiffo mentioned letting me kill his stone on the right in order to play some moves to connect his weak group with his solid corner. This is more than fine with me. It is essentially what I intended when I said that I didn't expect to kill his weak group, but wanted points when attacking it. Additionally, the groups would probably not be flawlessly connected, so I should get either sente or aji. If I get sente here or in the near future, I am going to look at invading one of the western corners or massively reducing the west from the center. Ideally I would prefer to do the former and then the latter, but I expect something like this, if for example I invade the top.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 My opponent sacrifices a little for sente
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 5 7 3 . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . |
$$ | . 6 1 2 . X . . . . . . . X . X O . . |
$$ | . . 4 O . . . . . X O . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X O . X O X X O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . X X . X O . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . O O O . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . . X . . |[/go]

As a result, I imagine that I will get at least one corner, but that whoever gets to play first in the west will get two of: the corners and a play in the middle. That is, unless my opponent tries to defend his bottom corner in sente with something like a kick. The kick would force me to build up my territory a bit, which is not horrible as compensation.

So if my opponent sacrifices his one stone to save his weak group, the game is certainly playable for me. If he does the opposite and saves his stone in gote, I will probably do my best to profit from attacking his group more directly. Now is the best chance I intend to give my opponent to connect out, so hopefully I can make some points against it. Regardless, if my opponent decides to save his group, I will look at my options when it comes to it.
edit: In this strategy section, I mostly just assessed the overall board position to show myself that this isn't horrible, so as to smack some sense into myself. I would rather give myself a false sense of confidence than justified pessimism, because pessimism causes more mistakes.

Are there preferences on my comments? I have recently been leaving walls of text in a kind of stream of consciousness when I feel that either I need them or my readers might want to see a sequence. If I went too heavily in one way or the other, I can add or remove diagrams or text. Just let me know if anything needs explaining or if ya'all prefer more or less of anything.

Like I said, I'm going to come out and defend here. I chose this particular move because it feels right. I didn't want to attach to black's right side group because I didn't see any benefit to it.

My position is much stronger without having to deal with a severe attack. I haven't counted, but I think it's still a close game. Future targets include securing the corners, invading the bottom, expanding the left side and maybe a light reduction of the left hand part of right's top.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc Crazy cut aji.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . X 1 X O . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X O . 3 2 W X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X O . X O X X O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . X X . X O . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . O O O . X 4 . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . |[/go]

As an aside... one minor thing that this buys me is defensive options in the east. I had been eyeing black's push on the top right. If something like this happened, my eastern stones would be floating. I'm not sure this would be exactly the way things would go (I had read everything more completely in my head but there were too many variations to post. In essence however, buying stability for the east reduces the aji up top a bit further because I need not fear white 4.