Playing black, I ended up with the following board. Seems like approaching the bottom right corner is the right way to go, but what is a good "human" way to do it? It's the Kobayashi. So, my normal inclination would be B. However, the K4 stone cramps the extension. A just gets pincered as usual. I ended up going with C, and expected to get pincered, but my opponent showed me mercy and let me get a base.
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$c
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . O . . . . a , O . . |
$$ | . . . O . O . . . . . . . b c . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]
Once the corner sequence was done, I then faced the following board. I spent a long time thinking about this move because it seemed like, more than just a move, I needed general strategy for the early middle game. I considered A-E. E felt too passive. and white now has a lot of influence that is begging to get used. C seemed like it would just strengthen white's center. D seemed playable, but didn't seem like it worked very well with my enclosure in the upper left. B does work with that enclosure, but it doesn't really do anything to mitigate all of this influence white has build up by enclosing me. I ended up going for A because I figured that if white wanted to build a wall in the middle, I'd then benefit as much as he would. Did this make sense?
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$c
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . e . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d c . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . a . . . . . O . . . . |
$$ | . . X X . . b . . O . O O . X O . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . O X X X . O . . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . O X . . . X , O . . |
$$ | . . . O . O . . . O X . . . X O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O X X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]