Move 4/5: This is quite playable by white. However, black can tenuki without any loss. If black takes the open corner, it is as if took that corner, was a 5-4 point in the lower right, and was a standard approach to it. This is fine by black, and puts the burden on white to show that he knows what to do with a 5-4 stone (which is something everyone should learn at some point anyways).

Move 13: Up to this point, everything seems fine. Black's move is a bit slow however. Black's corner group is already stable, so the biggest point on the board is probably to prevent some sort of enclosure of the top left by white.

Move 16: White could consider playing something like D6 instead.

Move 17: I don't like this move. By playing K17 and R10 on the third line, black is going for territory over influence, but now, black is playing a pure influence move. It's a bit farther from the supporting stones on the side than one would like. I think I would prefer something like C6, before white can make that side stronger, but I am not certain. Black feels a bit behind to me on account of .

Move 18: Black should be happy with this move, since white is developing this area on a smaller scale than black.

Move 19: Black can just make a one space jump, which is more secure and works better with the tengen and hoshi stones.

Move 20: Seems tough but okay.

Move 23: The kick is good, because it makes white heavier. Black should play this move one space closer though (a one space jump) to limit aji while maintaining the attack on white.

Move 24: M17 can be had in sente right now, since it threatens to connect under. White can also consider attaching at Q15 because black jumped too far.

Move 25: If white just connects, does this stone help black? Does it hurt black?

Move 26: By playing this before the side group is safe, white is saying he wants to sacrifice the side group.

Move 38: This is possible because black made the keima earlier.

Move 45: That peep earlier doesn't look so useful now, does it?

Move 60: I think white needs another move to live on the right. Apart from that, this move is good.

Move 61: Ignoring the unsettled group on the right, at this point, white will be quite ahead if he can consolidate a lot of the left half of the board with a few moves. This move by black helps him do that in exchange for a couple points. Doesn't something like E11 or D10 look so much bigger?

Move 65: Up to this point, black could sacrifice those two stones to expand his center and limit white's.

Move 67: It's dead, Jim.

Move 84 and around there: This looks like throwing good stones after bad. White's already dead and doesn't have that much aji at the moment. A push at M12 looks fun, though.

Move 115: This isn't sente.

Move 121: Black has enough solid points that he can win with modest reduction of white's potential. This move seems kind of slow, though. Black has a nice sequence starting with L5 atari, and he doesn't need to connect right away because white's more central stones can run short on liberties. Black can also jump to cap at E11 or shoulder hit at D10 still.

Move 127: Black should just capture and white can't prevent black from connecting.

Move 141: Penny wise and pound foolish. Black needs to live in the center somehow since he was cut off. This sequence is gote and not that big anyways. White should follow up by attacking the center strongly instead of responding. When black takes gote at move 145, white should again attack instead of capturing two stones that are already dead.

Move 147: Bad shape. Just descend.

Move 187: After all this wild fighting, black can just capture white with F8.

I played this because I know 5-4 josekis, actually. I feel very comfortable with them and typically like them for the one who gets the outside. I feel it would have been good for my hoshi stone to build the bottom of I got a nice result. (He saw this approach move in a pro game and is copying it... but yeah, he knows some 5-4 josekis)


I'm glad both our openings meet your approval. I felt really good about both of our plays to this point as well. (I could have done better. )


I thought the K17 stone was aiming at the top corner, so I played there. However, it was a low stone so I probably didn't need to worry.


This was my follow up to move 18. I wanted to attack the K17 stone and the corner at the same time. I felt the keima was loose enough to still allow it. (Or he was so stubborn that he didn't care if Vladimir had made his K17 stone stronger...)


I did this move because it is a ladder breaker for move 38. Does that make it any better? (So he tried to be clever and didn't see the obviously good moves...)


Yep. I've gone over that sequence over and over in my mind. It was always dead after that move... (Well said, skydyr! )


I just wanted to make a mess before pushing at M12. It ended up working, but I guess Vladimir could have tenukied from several of my moves. (moyoaji thinks he's good because he can get his opponents to give him free stones in their territory and then use it to break through their walls. You wouldn't fall for that, would you skydyr?)


It looked scary enough. I was worried about my group there running out of liberties after the cut. Yeah, I probably would have been fine, but in the heat of the match I didn't want to take any chances. (So he was too lazy to read the fight out and see that his group still had enough liberties.)


That L5 atari was freaking me out for a while. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I made that bamboo joint at 134. For a few points I should have fixed that. (He was on such a high that his cut had worked that he lost track of the rest of the board, clearly.)



I feared for my group on the top, but looking at it again after the game you are right. I had nothing to fear. (Why can't I be skydyr's internal critic? He actually knows what he's doing...)


Wow, I can't believe we didn't see that... ( You're a genius, skydyr.)