argh, picnic ko. this game is just not going my way. ok, let's do it.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

Shaddy, you can treat the above as a trigger, since this seems like what we're both aiming for. If you 2, I will 3. And... now I'm trying to weigh ko threats.

this is kind of stuff differentiate dan and kyu player.
at this stage black should not use this ko threat because he can not win this ko.
his only chance of winning is use two moves to expand his territory.

strong players calculate the result and look for a way to win.
what he played is simply giving up his chance to win.

i hope it helps kyu players to see how to fight ko.

In an attempt to make something that's better than an empty threat, this move threatens to connect to part of what we're ko-ing for.

Okay, that last one was a bad threat. I thougth that it gave me several followu-p ko threats, but they don't seem to quite work. I might be able to get a ko from it, but it's not as big a ko, so it's not worth the trade. I'm going to push through now, because it gets me where I need to be, threatens to capture stones, and weakens both sides. If I end up capturing those stones, his group will be running with one eye, which is how I can make points in followup. More than a ko threat, this is a big sente move that I would want, anyways.

Ko fights are fun, ko fights are great. But as MW said a while ago, don't fight it if you're not going to get anything for it. This seems small at first blush, but this buys me something that I like. Now that my stones are safe, I can peep at the hanging connection, then either play to separate white's groups or connect my peeping stone, most likely in sente. If I connect the peeping stone, that gives me a wall facing my top right corner stone, which I quite like the idea of. Additionally, though I seem to have lost everything on the left, I have more forcing moves against the left center now that my group is iron-clad. White has something like 70 points (loose estimate). That puts me behind on the board for cash, but after this sequence, I will be far stronger on the top, the only remaining interesting area.
Thoughts? Was this a bad time to give up the ko?

I really want to fix the peep, but I can't keep fighting this ko.

Here's the peep I was talking about. How this goes depends on my opponent's response.

Ah, I had expected my opponent would try something more complicated. Not sure if that would have been better or worse. Well, let's make our defective wall to claim some defective territory. One nice thing is, those white stones in the bottom right still aren't <quite> alive, so I may get a few more forcing moves against them later. Since my opponent has so many points in the bottom left, I'm trying to get to a situation where 'I' have the majority of the thickness and opportunity for growth.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

etc.