Changed my mind, I don't need to kill it, I can just take my points for now. I can always attack later. It's hard right now, because of the weakness between my H7 and tengen stones.

While I really want a big move at the top, or to support my reduction stone, I like the timing for this move here. Threatens to take quite a lot of points, threatens the stability of those stones. Of course, those stones are enough in the center that they won't be cut off and killed unless Shaddy decides (more than once) to let me, removing stability gives me threats and forcing moves for later.

Not much choice, is there? Ladder's good for me, so this is fine.. gotta watch that though.

This followup seems small, but the purpose (unstabilizing the group a bit) has been achieved. This gives me lots of options for later, like N6, Q8, or a more normal ladder breaker for a forcing move towards the middle. If Shaddy ends up fixing up his group again, I will get these handful of points in sente, which would be fine.

Ok, let's burn some kikashi and stabilize.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

My opponent burned his forcing moves to build up one side of this region in gote. This separates off his eastern star point. Additionally, it is fairly sente but a little hard to handle. Notably, the white tetris block below is down to three liberties. What I'm expecting is for my opponent to defend that region, while I weaken his star point further. As his stone is fourth-line, I don't expect to eat it or anything, but I reduce his potential in this area, get higher, and may even be able to extend south from my northeast star in semi-sente later, depending on how weak his star stone gets. Wishful thinking, I know.

Long story short: I think I get to make moves like this because my groups are stable. That is one huge benefit of taking the corners and sides first, is I was able to make my groups more stable. Anything I put in the middle would be risky, but coming up from the sides is rock-solid.

[Violence]Show me your eyes...[/Violence]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . X . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . X . O . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . O O X . |
$$ | . . O O . O . . X O . O O . . O X . . |
$$ | . . X O . X O O X , O X O . O X X X . |
$$ | . . X . . . O X X X X X X . O X O . . |
$$ | . . . . X W 4 O X . 2 9 1 O a 6 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . 3 . 8 7 . 5 . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

is sente because of "a" so the answer is ko.... group with that much of running space should have enough ko threat to live easily. there is the EYE.
if white try to capture such group he will lose many many points.....

I wonder if all participants are aware which group is now the target of "Die."

I was thinking the same thing myself