Hmmm, if predicting things can make my opponent follow them, perhaps I can influence him (evil laugh). In all seriousness, I'm still expecting what I predicted a few moves ago. Shaddy will complete his thickness, I will stabilize my stones in every corner, unless I'm mistaken. Needless to say, that doesn't mean I'm proof against invasions or anything, it just means if my opponent invades, I will be more likely to have options.

Ok, time to make the moyo. I anticipate this.

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[go]$$W
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . O . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . , . . . . . , X 7 . |
$$ | . . X . . 3 . . . . . . . . 6 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Oh, by the way, I did say 3 was not joseki. I plan to play it in this case because I'm worried approximately zero about black cutting me, because of my center influence.

Thanks for clearing that up. I'm working on reading out possible alternatives for the next move in the sequence, but I may as well submit this move before I go back to reading, since I need this, regardless.

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[go]$$B
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . O . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | 7 4 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 3 2 O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 6 X O W . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . 8 X . B O . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

What I am considering is this: If I exchange the marked black stone for the marked white one, it would let me play 1 high, as pictured, instead of low. The additional support seems to make the push and cut not work. Actually, on second thought, I need to read to see if the push and cut works in the first time, I may be chasing a red herring. Regardless, this raises the question of whether or not the left side is important enough for me to want to play high to shrink/threaten it. Time for continued reading. Yeah, I think the push and cut may not work, regardless... more to come later.

Indecision! I changed my mind, because I think this move takes advantage of the star point I played earlier, where the other one really didn't. It's always better to make your stones work together in the opening, I suppose, hence this. It might also be sente.

Ah ha, finally I remember something from 28 basic joseki! If white turns the corner, as he did, I get this move as miai. Of course there are some downsides to it (not the least of which that white likely got cash and can approach my bottom right stone, but this does a ton for helping me against white in the middle. It gets me out (white still alive, I think), and if white does approach, this move makes pincers look good. I know white can try to cut here and get a weak group on bottom, but I think that will let me attack it with extension-enclosure... I think? I'm not confident that I can come out ahead, but I have to play as though my opponent is no stronger than I am. If I don't trust my reading, I will fall into bad habits, or at least not learn.

Ok, I considered the high approach, the far low approach, the far high approach, and peeking at the weaknesses of the bottom left shape, and disliked this one the least. High approach will probably get 2-space high pincered and that ends up badly for me, since I can't do much against the corner and the pincer stone counters my influence nicely. Far low approach gets pincered, black gets influence, white gets a thick group, which I don't need because influence. Ditto for far high approach. Poking at the weaknesses of the bottom left gets real complicated real fast and black gets influence which I'd really rather not allow. If black pincers my stone now, I'll shoulder hit, make a wall, and counterpincer. That'll get nasty for black. Dunno what I'd do here as black, maybe kosumi.

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[go]$$W
$$ | . . . O . . . . . O . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . X . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . B . . . O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I wanted to play here, but it seems too invadable, with white's center stones. Instead, I think I should do exactly what my opponent suggests: pincer, take points on the right, and just plan for after the counter-pincer.

I WARNED YOU. ON YOUR HEAD BE IT

On my head? Like a hat? In seriousness, I'm considering some unusual possibilities for variations to this joseki, though I'm not done reading yet. Specifically, I'm considering sacrifices, ways to cut, and attachments. Perhaps not good moves, certainly not NORMAL moves. However, I think that this situation is unusual enough that the 'usual' followup may not be optimal.

On with joseki we go. I also considered the one-space jump, but thought the shape was weaker.

Continuing with Shaddy's plan. At the moment, I'm considering letting him counter-pincer, then doing a checking extension to pincer THAT, then perhaps trying to link back to that 'sacrificed' stone later.

I have a sente on the left to seal Black in, so I'm first taking that and then attacking to prevent counterpincer. W could also play one space below this point, but Black's followup would be better.

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

2 will help 4 escape.

White's play here really surprised me. While I get threatening to seal my corner, if I manage to stabilize this group in the middle, white's wall has a lot harder time doing anything. This may be a huge mistake, but this seems like an important direction of play to take. I just need to be sure I don't give white too much in the middle while I'm doing this.

*shrug* if my opponent is willing to let me seal him in, so much the better for me. I still have forcing moves against the black group in the middle, so the center is about to grow quite large.

Yeah, I feel like this last move may be too generous, as white can push me down? Shaddy (or anyone else), where would you have recommended my last move be? Regardless, this should give stability to all of my groups. I think?

I'd have recommended moving out with a kosumi, the one-point jump can be separated here. This seems to end up ok though black is flat.

Now is my shot to go up, and get into the center. Aphelion, while your words seem harsh, I think perhaps I deserved it. I need to zoom out and look at the big picture. I strongly considered resigning last night, but I think I was in too self-critical a mood. If you guys think I should resign, please let me know. Otherwise, I'm going to try to build my confidence so that I don't play passively, and play as though I ate a lion. I feel like I haven't gotten enough cash to compensate for the thickness my opponent has, but perhaps I'm not as badly off as it looks. I have a fair amount of stability and flexibility in all of my groups, and that means that I may be able to reduce/attack with relative safety. I just need to make sure that my reductions don't stabilize more points than I have.

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[go]$$W
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . O . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . 6 . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . O O . O . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . X O . X 5 O 2 , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . 1 X 4 X . . X . O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . O . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . b . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . O O . O . 3 . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . X O . X a O 2 , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . X . . . 1 X . X . . X . O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]