This is the perfect opportunity to try the Kobayashi if white allows. This will be my first time using this opening, but I've familiarized myself with a lot of the opening situations. Following the fuseki, everything else should be pretty normal.

Actually, this is my first time thinking about Go in quite a few days since I've had the flu, so I hope I haven't gotten rusty.

The last time I played Sur, a bad move cost me a lot. Maybe I resigned a little too early, but I will not repeat that mistake. Now, I'll just see how this game proceeds. My strategy will hopefully be formed by move 5.

I'll probably go 2x 4-4, it pretty standard.

Keeping up with the plan. Of course, I have more options on this board than just the Kobayashi. Hm, but I think I'll stick with my original plan. Sur will probably think I'm going for the Chinese Opening here, which is of course an option.

I'm not afraid of chinese opening. I have faced it many times with no special strategy of mine and it worked most of the time. I would like him to chose chinese as I like to play it myself and it would be interesting to see it's strenghts and weaknesses in the malkovich game.

So the Kobayashi trap has officially been laid. If he takes C6, then this game will be fun.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c Captures:
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . 7 . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Of course, he may also play:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c Captures:
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . 0 . . 5 . 6 . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

And I am prepared for this. will determine everything.

Standard. He chose a very agressive opening (in my opinion). This is not hailthorn as I know him from our previous game. I don't think it will suite his style. But let's see.

Why do you think that black is playing an aggressive opening? Seems pretty normal to me.

The plan comes full circle. White has allowed me to play the opening I sought to play. Now I shall proceed as planned. I wonder how familiar Sur is with the Kobayashi opening. I have studied this quite a bit since it was used on me. I'm by no means an expert, but knowledge can give you an advantage.

Back around 12k, knowing the Sanrensei proved effective. Perhaps the Kobayashi fuseki can be my conduit to reaching 6k. This game will mostly be a test.

Time to learn this approach I feel like anything closer is too close to black's strength.

This move is standard.

This is my first thought process about how this could turn out. Looks fine to me.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$c Captures:
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 8 6 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 3 4 . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . . . , . 0 . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . X 7 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Joseki

Alright, this is the move I've been wanting to play for awhile now, and it follows the move procedure I displayed on my last move.

On another note, I had absolutely NO troubles with this post!

I don't have a choice, I need to get out and attack something from my weak position. I think I'm fine so far.

And it's full speed ahead, cap'n! So far, I love how the fuseki is going. But I better not get arrogant yet. Sur absolutely destroyed me the last time we played because of one move. I must make sure to keep my groove going.

I love this fuseki now. And I'll just take the time to thank Marcus for showing this to me. I'm sure I would have seen it at some point, but this truly opened a lot of doors for me. It really made me take a strong look at the fuseki. And I think my fuseki today is at least five times stronger than what it used to be. Again, that might sound like an arrogant statement, but I really believe my studying is paying off.

Now, if only the rest of my game could catch up....

Continuing the moveset. Exactly as I predicted. Nothing new to say here. Actually, I changed it up a little.

I still can't play anything but the joseki.