Park Junghwan, 9p - Lee Jihyun, 9p

[Gomoto]

$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . O O O . . |
$$ | . . X X O O O . X X . . O O X O X . . |
$$ | . . . O X X O O O , . . O X X X . X . |
$$ | . . O O O X X X a . X . X b . . . . . |
$$ | . O X X O . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . X X O . O O O . . c . O . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . O O . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O O . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . X . O X . . . . . X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . O X . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . O O O X . . X X . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | X O X X X O O O . . . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . X . X . X X . . . . . . O X O . O . |
$$ | X . X . . . . . . . . . . . O . O . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . O O O . . |
$$ | . . X X O O O . X X . . O O X O X . . |
$$ | . . . O X X O O O , . . O X X X . X . |
$$ | . . O O O X X X a . X . X b . . . . . |
$$ | . O X X O . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . X X O . O O O . . c . O . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X X . . . . . . . . O O . . |
$$ | . . X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O O . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . X . O X . . . . . X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . O X . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . O O O X . . X X . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | X O X X X O O O . . . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . X . X . X X . . . . . . O X O . O . |
$$ | X . X . . . . . . . . . . . O . O . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Park Junghwan, 9p - Lee Jihyun (m), 9p, W+R (Komi 6.5)
21st Nongshim Cup, Korean preliminary, 2019-07-26

White to play. What is your choice?

Park's move:

Park went with move c. Move b is a good option. Move a would be a simple good option.

Did he perhaps not want to play at a because it looks so vulgar?

[Kirby]

c has the benefit of helping the right white group, which could be attacked.

[Gomoto]

Yes, this was probably his motivation. But is there really a good way to attack the right white group? Especially as there is still the possibility of white b.

[Joaz Banbeck]

I like 'c'. It follows the proverb of 'make fist before striking". It strengthens white's weak group and makes both 'a' and 'b' stronger. It also creates a third cutting point at M15.

Move 'a' is tempting. But black could sacrifice that group, and attack white's right side group, killing it on a large scale and ultimately netting more profit than white.

[Hades12]

My initial though is b. My reasoning is to make the stakes of the fight larger.

edit: C seems the most logical for keeping both groups connected and still continue to fight.