The upper left corner is the current focus, but I want to consider the rest of the board, too, in order to decide how to proceed. keeps Black from gaining influence, while beginning to build some influence for White instead. It is a very center-oriented move (which isn't a bad thing).
Looking at the board as a whole, White is slowly building up an advantage in central influence. If White gets to use that influence efficiently, it will be hard to keep up in central points.
It's now time to break out the toolbox.
My current set of Go Studies revolves around Shape and Haengma. Haengma, in particular, fascinates me because it fits so naturally with how I understand the game.
For those who don't know much about Haengma, see the following mini-primer:
Haengma is a Korean term, that apparently translates roughly as "the way the stones move". This fits very well with my current drive to find the flow in each game I play.
The basics of Haengma seem (to me) to be the relationship of a move to all other local stones. There are 7 moves listed: two contact moves (diagonal play and stretch), two "walking" moves (one space jump and knight's move), and three "running moves" (two space jump, elephant jump, and large knight's move).
Haengma can be complex to apply, and is tightly tied to the concept of Shape.
First thing I want to do is try to apply Haengma concepts to the upper left corner:
I've drastically reduced the options based on a couple other ideas.
1) Most moves I've selected to consider are on the 3rd or 4th line. These are the two important lines in the opening, and I think most non-combative moves should be on these lines in the opening.
2) I am not considering extensions or diagonal plays. They feel too slow for the current board.
Let's look at the local moves I narrowed down to:
a) One Space Jump to 3-3. This is completely solid. It just takes corner cash, and leaves very few avenues of attack for my opponent to use. is left as a lone stone, and can be attacked later if my opponent does not reinforce it. However, it's only a small amount of points. I don't believe it is nearly enough to offset the thickness towards the center that White is building up. Something like this could occur:
The three moves at x, y, and z all feel a tad urgent to me. As indicated earlier, I would probably omit playing x in order to play y and prevent White's moyo from becoming huge ... of course, White is going to pincer a stone at y, so maybe I'll make a long knight's approach instead. Something to consider.
c) The fighting move! This could turn into a mess very quickly. I got carried away in looking at this move. Here's the SGF of my thoughts. In the end, I don't think I'll make this move, but I found studying the consequences interesting.
[sgf-full](;GM[1]FF[4]AP[Drago:3.17]SZ[19]CA[UTF-8]AB[ec][qd][pe][qe][of][og][pg][po]AW[oc][pc][nd][pd][de][oe][nf][pf][dp]PL[B]C[This SGF shows just how crazy I can get when analyzing a single move in one of these games. I find the opening a fascinating portion of the game and, given the chance, I like to examine possible lines of play.
The lines of play here seem interesting to me, which is why I included them.];B[ee]C[I'm pretty sure the best moves here for White are A and B. A emphasizes the left side (which does seem to be the more interesting side). B starts a large-scale fight.]LB[ef:A][ed:B] (;W[ef];B[fe];W[dd] ;B[dc]LB[di:A][dj:B][cc:C]C[This is a familiar continuation, though in this case White has a lot of 4th line stones. A and B are moves that build up central influence, but Black is no longer pressed down on the upper side, and can play elsewhere.
C starts the fight.] (;W[di]LB[fq:A]C[White's move at D11 is safer than playing D10, but isn't close enough to D4 to offer much support. I can approach at A and can switch to C6 or D6 if my stone is pincered.];B[fq];W[hq] ;B[cn]TR[dj]C[I think this is only reasonable since White's stone is at D11 and not D10.];W[fp]LB[cq:A][gp:B]C[Normally, I'd jump right in at A. However, as can be seen in that branch, White can make the outcome difficult for Black.
Instead, I think I want to play B.] (;B[cq]LB[eq:A][cp:B]C[Typical responses here are A and B. A seems wrong here. B makes a fairly nice moyo, though the C6 stone needs to be watched.] (;W[eq] ;B[cp]C[This makes a nice corner, I think. White's thickness is still nice, but Black is making a lot of cash.]) (;W[cp];B[dq];W[eq];B[er];W[ep] ;B[fr]TR[di]C[It doesn't feel like the triangled stone puts as much pressure on C6 as it could. While Black won't try to use the C6 stone immediately, the aji in the stone needs to be monitored carefully.
Still, White's moyo is impressive, and Black will need to reduce it very soon. This doesn't feel like a very good outcome for Black.])) (;B[gp]LB[gq:A]C[I don't think White should give Black the move at A. Perhaps I'm wrong, but it seems important for White to cut Black here.];W[gq] ;B[cp]TR[gp][gq]LB[cq:A][eq:B]C[This is one shape I love to play. Thanks to the triangled exchange, White playing at A doesn't work out so well, in my opinion ... though it's not really a huge blunder, as far as I can see.
White should play at B, I think.] (;W[cq]C[Black build strength now.];B[ep] ;W[fo]C[Initially, I was thinking about taking a nice big corner with A, but the best line I could come up with gives White a huge (and useful) wall.
I decided B would be better in this case.]LB[dq:A][do:B] (;B[do];W[dq] ;B[eo]LB[eq:A][fn:B][bp:C]C[E5 threatens to strengthen Black's wall by attacking at B while also threatening to cut off the corner with a connection at A.
C is also an important point, which could either strengthen White's corner or provide eye space for Black's wall.
White can play at any of these 3 points.] (;W[eq];B[fn];W
[go];B[gn];W[ho] ;B[bp]C[Black's wall is strong, but White has a huge corner. However, B2 is still open, and White still has to deal with Black's right side moyo. I think this could be considered even, but I'm sure stronger players may feel differently.]) (;W[fn] ;B[bp]LB[eq:A]C[Black's move at B4 threatens to kill the corner if White does not connect at A.
B4 provides some eye space for Black's group, which is now cut off from the center.];W[eq] ;B[dk]C[Black shouldn't have any trouble living, I don't think. White's potential moyo on the left is all broken up. Black still has a lot of potential on the right, and the center becomes the battlefield of choice.
Black gave up a huge corner, though ... it's really hard to judge if this is ok for Black. It seems like an equal amount of territory for each (in my estimation, which could be wrong) and the fight in the center promises about equal possibilities for each player.]) (;W[bp];B[fn];W[go];B[gn];W[ho];B[eq];W[co] ;B[dm]C[Another difficult position to assess. This time, White is separated. This may give Black a few forcing moves on the bottom side.])) (;B[dq];W[do];B[cr];W[bq];B[br];W[dr];B[eq];W[co];B[bp];W[bo] ;B[aq];W[eo])) (;W[eq] ;B[cq]C[Black can be satisfied with this result, I think.]))) (;W[dj]C[What a difference one space more makes.
While I think there's more weakness here (at A and B), D10 provides more support to the D6 stone, and threatens to make a huge moyo for White.]LB[dh:A][ff:B] (;B[fq]C[Now Black's plan to switch to C6 if pincered is more difficult, in my opinion. If pincered, as Black I would likely jump upwards.] (;W[hq]C[This pincer feels too low, and possibly too close. The game is turning into a fight over the center. Black can make a central-facing wall, or build a moyo in the lower right.];B[fo] ;W[dn]LB[ip:A][jq:B]C[Black can try for a fight in the center with A or play for a lower right moyo with B. Either move could be profitable for Black.]) (;W[jp]C[This pincer feels more difficult to handle for Black. It's aimed at central influence, and limits Black's expansion from the lower right.
I don't know how I would deal with this.])) (;B[gq]C[Perhaps I would try this approach. It's harder to pincer. I don't know how I would follow up, though, either as White or as Black.])) (;W[cc] ;B[df]C[This is apparently how the fight starts. I haven't done much reading, but it's a complicated fight on par with some Taisha and Avalanche variations, I think.])) (;W[ed]LB[dd:A][fd:B]C[Black can play A or B. It looks like there's a ladder involved with A, and the ladder favors Black here.] (;B[dd];W[fd] ;B[dc]LB[ef:A][ce:B]C[White can't take the easy variation at A, since the ladder doesn't work. White is forced to play at B.];W[ce] ;B[ef]C[I haven't thought about the continuation from here, but it looks messy.]) (;B[fd]C[This seems like a peaceful variation. Black can split the corner and face the upper side, while White takes some of the corner and faces the left side.
It's better for White, I think.];W[dd];B[dc];W[cc];B[gc];W[ef];B[fe] ;W[bd]C[This particular sequence I looked up in Kogo's. It is interesting, but I think it might be a bit slack in this case.])))[/sgf-full][/go]
Thoughts continued:
d) The knight's move along the side. I like this move. It's on the 4th line, aiming towards the center. It threatens to live easily on the upper side, right in the shadow of White's wall. Most importantly, it doesn't directly strengthen White along the left side. White is given the choice of taking the corner directly, or making the left side moyo anyways.
The marked points x, y, and z are all possible follow ups by White, or perhaps a tenuki will occur. It's a lot harder to predict what White will do here, because, unlike move c, this move doesn't immediately ask for a fight.
e) Two space jump on the 3rd line. This is like the knight's move, offering peaceful variations. However, it feels too flat. The real fight in this game is going to be in the center. I want to make sure I keep up with the influence game.
f) The only pincer I can think of ... but it doesn't seem very good. Black gets split into two weak groups. Now what?
In the end, I'll go with move d. It seems to fit the style of game I want to play here. I want to set up nice, solid groups with access to the center for the coming fight. I want to avoid both giving White too much influence and getting pressed down and sealed into the corners and sides.
So, I considered a few moves, but I kept coming back to this one. I considered two things most here: group safety and sente. Of course, the two are strongly related. If your groups aren't safe and you have sente, you don't really have sente, because you are almost forced to defend them or suffer. Unless, of course, you can defend your group in sente, often a hard trick. So, let's look at groups. While the bottom two stones can't be said to be alive on their own, they have so much room on both sides that they are flexible, and won't die on accident. Both top-right groups are alive, of course. We both have enough strength to nearly-certainly grab a second eye if necessary. In the top left, both groups are weak. Unless I can find something amazingly urgent or decide to sacrifice my top-left stone/use it as forcing, I'm going to want to play a move locally there.
Looking at a variant of Marcus's last diagram, we see options for both sides. Black can treat something like x and z as miai. White has things like x and something like y or w as miai for safety, plus the option of taking somewhere around z first, as well. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with x (I lokoed at this for a bit before typing, in addition to tending towards intuition in this sort of situation). So let's look at x last. That leaves my options at w, y, or z.
The most obvious responses seem to go like this: I framework it up, black takes the corner. However, black settling in the corner removes one of my miai, and I have to give up sente to defend the stone if I still want it. Assuming that, that gives black options, like capping 5 at will. In addition to whatever he uses the sente for first. Despite the large size of the framework, this means that the whole gambit comes back to bite more more than I'd like. While 5 is big for points, it does nothing for group safety. This reminds me of what Bill Spight has been showing lately, about how walls with eye potential don't need an extension. So let's look at options that work from the other side.
Option w is similar to y, but it tries to compromise between helping the top and bottom. Let's look at the simpler y first.
This, while stable, is clearly gote. It leaves black both of his miai options, which I'm not happy with. He can take his choice of whichever seems larger, or wait until the surrounding game affects one or the other before deciding. Option w would do the same, for the same reason. While settling on the left makes it start to look like a framework, the framework is much-limited if black gets sente to approach the bottom left. It makes the difference between a one-wall framework to a two-wall/massive corner framework.
For this reason, I'm going to go ahead and look at the final option, x:
This move actually affects black's miai options. Seemingly he must take 'z', or be pincered and chased while I seal the top. This move, unlike the others discussed, settles me in one play. Additionally, though it's only a handful of points that I nab, it makes me fairly hard to attack. That means that this is the only way to emerge with (as far as I can see) both safety and sente. While it pains me to give black the big move on top, I can hope to get something like L17 or M17 later, two or three lines shorter than the option at 'z' I considered.
Assuming the logical continuation by black at z, I have tons of options.
The top side is uninteresting, I think. Pushing on my opponent's moyo potential on the left seems essential here.
Unlike my opponent, I don't think his upper left group is completely settled. He could potentially tenuki here, but that leaves me with a lot of possible moves to ruin the left side.
Granted, White does not need to play and , but it does make a large gain on the let side. In exchange, I'm building up central influence, which was the point of my ... White has been reduced to making territory directly using his wall in the upper right, and the peep at x is becoming more interesting ...
The second local move I wanted to look at was the simple extension (b above).
looks slow, but it feels very useful to me. Separating the black stones looks pretty difficult. My access to the center remains strong, and approaching this group from the top right doesn't seem as urgent as some other points on the board, especially playing under my 5-4 stone at y.
It's quite possible that White feels like his group is fine. in that case he'll play something like at Q3. I can't say this is wrong, as it is an important point to attack. However, the points at w and z can be exploited later by Black to reduce the left. The important thing will be to try and wrest sente back to take advantage of it later.
It feels like there are two aspects to this battle over the board: central control, and maintaining sente. It's an interesting fight. That being said, this move is likely going to get a bunch of criticism from observers, I bet. It's definitely not a joseki move in any sense.
My opponent's move is surprising to me. It is forcing, sure, but I think it may be better for me than my opponent. I had shown the expected K17, to make a base, right? After my opponent's last move, he still has no base, so will have to keep running or get a base, eventually. Let's change the order of moves. If he made a base, would he still exchange 21 for 22?
After B makes a base with 6 here, I think that he's more likely to break up the left side with C9 later. If I were on the third line, I could see pushing on me to keep me low, but here I'll be happy to jump along the fourth line, and aim to cut away black's base, later.
Don't get me wrong, the last move isn't horrible or anything. It just seems like a slightly unfavorable exchange, or aji-keshi, or something.
As far as my move, I'm treating it as forced. Don't want to get sealed in, which would make my opponent's kind of weak group strong. My opponent has sente, but I still expect him to make a base on top. If he does not, I can theoretically get big points on top in sente, which seems unreasonable. The other two options my opponent has are approaching the bottom left or enclosing the bottom right. I just think the top is currently biggest.
_________________ Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].
Well, looking at the position now that I've had some more sleep, K17 does look very big. Now, to see how my opponent reacts to having sente.
This is usually how my games get out of hand. I out-think myself and play a move that doesn't quite look right, but that I'm convinced gives me an advantage.
Sorry for the delay. Busy weekend with family in town.
This move is pretty hard to resist. As far as why to play locally here, every other area is more or less settled, so this area has the highest returns for investment at the moment. If black gets to play again here, he gets a perfect enclosure. Now, if black takes an enclosure, I get a stable shape (or at least a forcing move) facing my own growing framework. As far as why I choose this specific play, my opponent and I are both doing our best to build up and out. As a result, I want a move that will be high (for thickness) and towards the left, to work with my own framework. My opponent has an awful lot of potential territory, so I have to be careful. However, if I can limit what he gets on the right and get something reasonable below myself, everything still looks okay. What ends up happening here is dependent at the moment on my opponent, but as I play, I intend to keep in mind that I want both thickness and framework in the south. Choices that I make locally will try to work well with that. I do not expect a pincer, because that would let me do stuff like claiming the corner or double-approaching the 4-5 in his precious moyo. At the moment, I'm not sure who will end up with sente from this region. However, I'll start looking at nonlocal moves I hope to get in.
a: This is huge. it's not a safe way to build on the left, but it's so fast and large-scale that it's worth the looseness. b: Starts to make the top left look like territory, and supports the bottom. c: Starts to defend the corner, while working on preparing the left. Whether this is important depends on how big the 3-3 invasion is after the bottom right is resolved. If my group reaches the star point or so, the invasion gets big, so this move is also bigger. Obviously, this knight's move can be in the other direction, depending on which side needs more support. d: Risky. It's too early to invade deeply, though there's the option. The slide at S13 is sente because it threatens to save my dead stone, but that's obviously insufficient to live on its own. The right location to invade also depends on how the bottom right resolves. If the bottom right is super-strong, I may not invade low, I may reduce from high. Or I may keep putting it off, and not get the chance. e: Points, and extra stability. Don't need it yet, but it's fairly large if I get it eventually. f: Small at the moment, but good for thickness and preventing my opponent from ever getting much more here. 'a' is unquestionably better, though. g: We'll have to come back to this fight eventually, but we can't yet. I think we would both tenuki it if played, so it'll have to wait.
_________________ Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].
Well, it feels like, if I turn this game into a full-blown moyo game, White will edge me out slightly. White has too much moyo potential for me to continually protect what's turning into a very small moyo. I spent a long time debating this move, because making a local move is still a very big move (and maybe urgent, I don't know). However, I think it's important to make sure my opponent doesn't feel too comfortable over there on his side of the board.
Consider this move a probe to see what my opponent decides to do. The game is now going to enter a more complicated fight, I think.
Obviously, these are only a few of the possibilities, but it gives me a reasonable idea of what to expect. Okay, I was torn between 'a' and 'b' for a while, but I think both are probably fine. However, I kind of like the look of 'a', though it kind of offers up my corner, if my opponent wants it. It pressures well and makes the double-approach hard, so most of the possibilities seem fine for me. Let's see what happens! Also, when it comes down to it... if my opponent is afraid of my moyo, perhaps that's the best sign that I should expand it.
_________________ Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].
Time to switch gears. White is combating Black's moyo ... let's turn the game into a fight instead.
I'll admit, this is the point where a lot of my games go sour for me. Theory is all great in the opening, but I like a bit of spice in a game.
I haven't seen very often. The corner remains open, so White needs to be aware of that. In addition, if I can use the aji well enough, I don't need to save ... it can sit there as a thorn in my opponent's side.
I guess I'm currently in an experimental phase for my Go. I chose to play because it hits an important shape point, it's close enough to be severe on White's corner stones to try and invoke a local response.
The downside: It's already split from ... in order to make the most of these last two plays, I'm going to have to sacrifice one or both. I haven't quite figured out what I can get out of that, yet. Your move, Chew.
Basically, black is threatening to cut. I could take F4, my second-favorite option here, to prevent the cut and lean on one side to attack the other. However, if I attack the other, black can still take my 3-3. This gives me one solid group splitting two weak groups, with solid moyo potential on both sides. While black can cut, it doesn't help much, because I still end up with one group in the middle to his two. Since both sides are favorable to me, I can settle in the corner and treat the sides as miai for now.
_________________ Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].
What Chew says is true, he's now solid. However, I don't consider there to be very much moyo potential on the bottom yet. He'll have to invest another move. I'll strengthen my left side stone.
Here's what we're looking at. I had said that the two sides would be miai, which implies that I would respond on the bottom if the left was taken. However, this move here is big-time sente for both sides. If black tenukis, I can punish with something like the cap below. If black jumps out or plays to settle locally, I can then attack on the bottom, with cash in hand.
Options like the two above let me turn this into a fight on a massive scale. If I were to kill the two stones on the left without massive compensation for black, I would win. If black plays for safety on the left, I will be ahead on territory, with black ahead on influence. If black plays the more complicated way, by defending below, I will have to investigate for a while to plan my attack specifically. I just feel like I have enough strength in the area to pressure fairly strongly, especially with tower peeps and such if black tries to escape. This is a fight that I have not read out more deeply than shown, but feel comfortable enough in to play for.
As far as the game goes so far, let's compare groups. My groups are all stable, except for the one stone in the bottom right, which is fairly flexible. Black has two weak groups in the bottom left at the moment, so that will hopefully be a slight burden to him. Point-wise: My top left group is fairly stable and fairly large. It is about as big as black's top group plus the 10 points likely to be made by the weak groups in the bottom left. That leaves the other side of the board. To equal his moyo, I need to either reduce it to manageable or make an equivalent framework in the bottom while capturing that lone stone. Capturing the stone by itself is not a sufficient framework, but it is a strong step in the right direction. Either option seems possible at this point, so I think neither side's position is unreasonable right now. I have been playing a lot of thickness games lately, so I am enjoying playing a game where I have more investment in territory, like I used to.
_________________ Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].
All right, it's time for step 3... profit. This deals fairly solidly with the lone black stone on the bottom. Now things like pincers of my stone to the right are a bit harder, which makes me happy. I hope later to get in a splitting attack on the left groups (or to slide on the left for points while forcing black to connect to get more points in sente). However, for the meantime, this handles most things that could be worrisome, and gives me more solid cash. Metaphorically, this is building a moat around my domaine, making me really hard to attack anywhere, and trapping the cut off soldier inside. While solid and so on, there is one downside to this move: gote. Short of trying to exploit any local aji, my opponent now has global sente to use as he pleases. My concern is that he will spend it on his moyo on the right, finally getting around to turn some of his framework into points. That, or if he's feeling particularly pessimistic, O6 to further up the ante or a pincer to try to start a fight are both options.
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Marcus
keeps Black from gaining influence, while beginning to build some influence for White instead. It is a very center-oriented move (which isn't a bad thing).
and 
, but it does make a large gain on the let side. In exchange, I'm building up central influence, which was the point of my 
... White has been reduced to making territory directly using his wall in the upper right, and the peep at x is becoming more interesting ...
looks slow, but it feels very useful to me. Separating the black stones looks pretty difficult. My access to the center remains strong, and approaching this group from the top right doesn't seem as urgent as some other points on the board, especially playing under my 5-4 stone at y.
at Q3. I can't say this is wrong, as it is an important point to attack. However, the points at w and z can be exploited later by Black to reduce the left. The important thing will be to try and wrest sente back to take advantage of it later.
At the moment, I'm not sure who will end up with sente from this region. However, I'll start looking at nonlocal moves I hope to get in.
is not kosher: 
very often. The corner remains open, so White needs to be aware of that. In addition, if I can use the aji well enough, I don't need to save 
... it can sit there as a thorn in my opponent's side.
because it hits an important shape point, it's close enough to be severe on White's corner stones to try and invoke a local response.
should allow me some breathing room.