Decided on a new rule for my hidden comments: a maximum of 3 diagrams to keep things from growing too large.
More for my own sanity than anything. There might still be walls of text (I promised myself I'd ask why I was playing each move), but I'm trying to minimize that as well. Questions are always welcome.
Yes, I did suspect that Kirby would take the empty corner. Nothing wrong with that. I now need to think a bit. It will take at least two more moves to swallow Kirby's pincered white stone, and I'm already a stone ahead in that corner.
Currently, I'm examining the board and deciding on my options:
$$Bcm1 Prisoner Count: B-0 W-0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . c . . . . . . X . Q . . . . |
$$ | . . . @ . . . . . , . . . . a , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . e e . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . @ . . . . . d . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . b . . . d . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bcm1 Prisoner Count: B-0 W-0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . c . . . . . . X . Q . . . . |
$$ | . . . @ . . . . . , . . . . a , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . e e . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . @ . . . . . d . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . b . . . d . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
What kind of game do I want to play? Gonna talk a bit about the different areas of the board I'm thinking about.
a) I've already mentioned that it will take two more moves to swallow
completely ... a move in the area is still reasonable, but I'm leaning away from playing there right now, just because the board is so open.
b) Approaching this stone might make sense. It puts some pressure in a new area of the board. It's unlikely that my opponent will tenuki. However, since the
stones are both 4-4 stones, both this area and a move around c allow my opponent a choice of easily taking sente to go take the next big move.
c) Like the b area mentioned above, putting pressure on this stone makes sense. I want to keep my opponent answering my moves for as often as I can. Like b, however, playing an approach at c gives my opponent the easy option to take sente and play big elsewhere.
The next two areas are big points. I give up sente completely to play in either area ...
d) This area is a point on the edge of both players' reach from the bottom corners. It's a big point for either player.
e) This area is an area that would support both left-hand corners for White. It's a good place for White to play. Black might want to disrupt that side before White begins to build a moyo, if Black doesn't want to fight against a White moyo.
===================================
So, what's my overall plan? I think the game will be more fun for me if I turn it into a whole bunch of fights. Is that overly combative of me?
Anyways, if I were planning on playing a moyo game myself, I would probably play in the d area directly, likely on the star point at K4. Since that's not my plan this game (for now), I'll strike that area off my list of candidates.
Similarly, the style I think I want to play in this game is a more active style. The e area doesn't feel active enough (to me; stronger players may disagree).
I want a more complicated game, so I want to make more areas of the board active at the same time. For this reason, I'm going to take the a area off the list.
This leaves me with approaching one of the corners. If I approach the upper left, I would likely approach from the left side (C14/D14/C13), as it feels too cramped to approach from the top side, and the top isn't really an area where White can easily expand yet.
The bottom left corner gives a few more choices, as I wouldn't mind playing on either side of the 4-4.
Unless I have some specific strategic reason (which I don't have here), I will always approach low with the standard Knight's approach.
I now have 3 candidate moves:
$$Bcm1 Prisoner Count: B-0 W-0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . Q . . . . |
$$ | . . . @ . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . @ . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . b . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bcm1 Prisoner Count: B-0 W-0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . Q . . . . |
$$ | . . . @ . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . @ . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . b . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
Of these three moves, b feels most natural to me. If my opponent pincers it, I can make a double approach and take c (or D6). If my opponent plays c or D16 himself, I'll likely play K4, as it works well with my 4-4 in the bottom right.
Playing at a is interesting, but I'll leave that for later, maybe. It's close to the fight in the upper right already. Depending on the result of that fight, I might not want to play at a anyways, but the option, the potential, of playing up there is something to keep in mind.
Sorry for the long ramble, folks. I always get really involved in my opening choices ...
is still not completely dead.
.
to help support well with black's pincer stone.