mic wrote:Ah, thanks. For some reason I missed it.
- Mic
I'm not saying you should cut mind you, it looks like a very complicated read to me and I've genuinely no idea if it is overplay or not, but it's a common crosscut shape and a useful general principle
Okay, to be honest, I hadn't really considered this move by black very much. My instinct with cross-cuts is either ataris or pinwheels, which is a blind spot I need to work on. I had expected black to pressure my stones to the left, but this move is sharp, with its pressure on my top stones. The worst part (from my perspective) is that I don't have a move to spare for those stones, without giving up the fight in the corner. If I let black have sente once, he will play somewhere (anywhere) around B17, which will either give him life outright or will give him enough liberties to fight handily.
So, let's consider how to attack, and see if I CAN win the fight here. If not, I'll try to find the most beneficial way to give it up.
Okay, obviously the weak spot that I have right now is those two top stones, because that's what black chose to pressure. Any fight here will be dependent on the liberties of those two stones. Let's look at the move I was considering before, B17. It doesn't reduce black's liberties, but it blocks black off while giving stability to my left stones.
Okay, this is looking awfully tight. Again we're in a position where we have to play on the left or let black get life. Let's see what happens if we keep the pressure on and do that. Our top group is gasping, so it's certainly looking scary.
First, if black plays 8 at 9 , I think I can squeeze out and be okay. Either I'll activate a ladder to kill G16 or I'll get in a play at to kill the corner. Okay, from here black would have two options. First, he could connect, let me run along the second line, and fight it out. Second, I'm seeing a threat that he would let me capture, connect underneath, and squeeze me into bad shape. Check it out.
From here, I was surprised to see that things don't look horrible. Black will either pay on the left or the right. It looks to me that I will either be able to play on the right to kill the top group, or I can play a nose tesuji at b. The nose tesuji will kill 20, either in a ladder if black plays F13 or will crush it against the western wall if not. This wouldn't be amazing for white, because black's thickness faces its corner as a good extension and white's thickness could be mostly neutralized by black C9. However, it seems playable enough if necessary. This whole sequence likely wouldn't come off exactly as shown. Take it with a lot of Morton's: I'm just not good enough to read that accurately. However, I intend it as a study of the liberties of these groups versus the amount of pressure they can exert. If both sides push as hard as they can, my stones at F16 can probably live long enough to let me get something out of it.
Okay, I know I've put a million diagrams and been super-wordy, but I'm trying to put a lot of thought into this so I'm just trying to show my work.
One last thing I want to look at: I'm not sure I buy mic's diagram for C17 (He ignores an atari), so I want to check it out.
Nah, this doesn't go anywhere. It's a shame, when I looked at his move, that was my first instinct.
Okay, so my decision. Since the first hidden section shows I CAN keep fighting (unless I'm missing a brilliant move that kills me), so let's keep fighting. While my reading's unreliable, I feel like I'll get SOMETHING out of it, so it's better than just sacrificing one of my groups or letting black make me into two running weak groups, which is what playing on the outside would do. I looked at other local moves, like hitting the nose of his top group (stupid Anakin's voice is stuck in my head now), but I think my groups are too weak to pull it off. Every move I come back to seems just a little less safe than C17. Let's fight. If worst comes to worst, I'll lose both groups somehow, resign, and we can start fresh. The lesson I learned from Ogre Battle: "FIGHT IT OUT".
Thanks, by the way, to all observers who have commented. The comments are helpful, and hopefully I can train myself to see that sort of thing after seeing it in my game here. Speak up with any questions, or tell me to show less diagrams and such, as you prefer.
Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].
Just because "a" cuts off that last move doesn't mean that you should automatically play it. Black can do better than "a" for 15, such as the following:
mic wrote:@Chew: Your thorough analysis scared me I had to really think about my next move, so I hope it's ok when I response tomorrow. - mic
Of course, no problem. And don't let it intimidate you, I just KNOW it's riddled with flaws. If I figure out any horrible things that I missed, I'll let you know.
Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].
Quite a short analysis: Black must play at , since all other variations leave the two-stone group with too few liberties. And I really hope I didn't messed up
And here, black doesn't have a local threat that works, so white wins the ko. Even so, the result is not great. My corner is large but enclosed, and black has tons of thickness. At least, even with this ko, I feel like I won't lose everything, so it's worth fighting. There are a million other ways that this can play out, but I don't see anything too much worse than what I've already shown. Even the best results seem only okay for me, but there's not a lot of option at this point. Onwards!
I recommend that Black does not read this, but White and observers can.
Classic tesuji is classic. Black to kill the White stones. I'm not going to outright mention the tesuji for two reasons:
Those who have already seen it or recognize the tesuji at first glance will, of course, already know it so I don't need to show them.
Those who have not already seen it or can't see it at first glance, it's one of those exceptional tesuji problems that is doable for a wide range of levels.
Araban:...yeah. I've done those problems plenty of times, but somehow in this game it just fell inot a gaping blind spot. Well, that's the purpose of games like this. Mistake become really obvious if they're not pointed out before you make them, and next time I will NOT miss the tesuji. If mic catches it, I'll resign and challenge him again. This was fun, if a bit embarassing =D Obviously the corner became unwinnable at one point or another, so I'm working on reading what I could/should have done instead. Not at all good at 3-4 joseki... yet.
Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].
Araban:...yeah. I've done those problems plenty of times, but somehow in this game it just fell inot a gaping blind spot. Well, that's the purpose of games like this. Mistake become really obvious if they're not pointed out before you make them, and next time I will NOT miss the tesuji. If mic catches it, I'll resign and challenge him again. This was fun, if a bit embarassing =D Obviously the corner became unwinnable at one point or another, so I'm working on reading what I could/should have done instead. Not at all good at 3-4 joseki... yet.
Still not for mic I suppose:
Even if mic finds the tesuji, White is not completely crushed in the corner, it can be salvaged to an inferior but not terrible result. You can do what you want of course, but it's still anyone's game at our level.