:white:

I have a few interesting 4-4 sequences I saw a few days back and would like a chance to try them (mostly stemming from one-space low pincer and then jump with the pincer stone rather than the hoshi stone if opponent jumps out).

I'm not going to pretend that anything but nervous to play a game with a bunch of players watching, and having to explain my moves.

I'm pretty sure this one isn't a mistake yet.

Diagonal, I like diagonal :p

I'm not in love with diagonal openings. Perhaps I should play in the opposite corner to prevent them. A long time ago, I played parallel, and had an anti-chinese fuseki strategy. Since then, I've become comfortable playing against the Chinese, and I don't feel the need to "counter" it.

I played around with each of the 3-3, 3-4, 4-5 and 3-5 moves here, but everything felt awkward. Not wrong necessarily, but never anything I could look at and say "I know what my stones are doing and what they want."

If I'm here to learn from what others have to say, I should pick the best move I can think of. But if I can't decide, I should pick the move that would be my most normal response. Then I get feedback on my ordinary thought processes.

Hehe, looks like ancient Chinese game. Will white play 6 as below? :p

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
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$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . 6 . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Recently some thread on the board had me thinking about my strengths and weaknesses as a go player. I tend to play in a territorial way, almost passively even, and when I try to combat that, I just end up playing unreasonable attacks.

In particular, I'm bad at the kind of attack where you profit by steadily putting pressure on an opponent, but there's no way to kill immediately. I struggle to read past the initial move and its response. I'm also weak at tsumego and tesuji problems. I don't think my opening is particularly good, either. I think I often make up points in the endgame, but only because I try half the time and the average kyu player tries one time in ten. Oh, I don't count much either, which is crazy, because I have exactly the kind of style where I should constantly be counting.

You can't be bad at everything, at least compared to people your rank, there has to be something that balances out your weaknesses. I think I can often play patiently and carefully. Yeah, sometimes I play blitz and play every cut in sight, but more often, I play steadily. And if I have a lead, I'm pretty good at preserving it, I think (but see the point about counting).

Not much to be said here. I briefly considered an extension on the bottom, but I don't think either is wrong and I prefer this one. I have a variation here that I want to experiment with, but Hyperpape probably won't play the contact.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . O 9 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Today is actually my first day using kombilo. It seems we're in relatively rare territory already. Assuming a, the conventional wisdom is b, and I don't know that I have reason to doubt it.

Still the same joseki.

Does anyone have thoughts about iLLLuck's joseki choice? I'm never quite satisfied with the relationship between D4 and L3. In this position, I prefer when W goes high and I can play K4,for example.

If Black pincers, then things are straightforward for awhile.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
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$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 2 . X . 1 . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . 3 . . . . . b . X . . X . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

If a, then Black is has a wider gap at b than he might like. Perhaps that's why I haven't seen in the database.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bm11
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . b . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 0 a . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
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$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . X . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

"a": plan to double hane if white plays hane. "Dayaliang" - ancient Chinese joseki (mostly for 3 stone games).
"b": drooping lotus, also ancient Chinese joseki.
"c": plan jump up from pincer stone if white jumps up. "Jinjinglan" - another ancient Chinese joseki.
"d": the typical 4 space low pincer commonly seen in ancient Chinese games :p

Note that I have never studied them in detail (and only used "b" a few times in games), so it should be pretty interesting/hilarious to watch any of them.

'A' is a favorite of mine, and probably very different for somebody who likes opening with 3-3s.