And we still have the aji in the corner. It takes at least one more move to shut it down. That might not be a bad exchange even if we don't follow it up immediately.

It's not bad, it's awful!

Wow, skydyr's move took guts. I really want to read Joaz's hidden comment right now.

Prior to Joaz's intervention I would have invaded the top here because right now I'm still guaranteed a comfortable 2 space group, but the truth is I was never happy with the idea. It seems to me that I'd just be solidifying his corner territories and then giving him sente to take something else. Instead, I decided to try and find out what Joaz was worried about when he played C3. His move is still a bit of a mystery to me but that just makes this more fun, and if it weren't for the aforementioned miai element I would be happy that this is a move that makes lots of territory while promising to attack black's stones on the bottom. (Though I'm not really sure how to do that.)

The top still worries me, but I don't think one more move would make an invasion impossible and I'm actually more worried about him extending along the right and left sides.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 White has 3 prisoners
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . X , X . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . 2 , O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . X O . X . . . X . . . X . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

That would be one hell of a corner, but at least I'll also have something comparable in the bottom right.

Despite an obvious misunderstanding, younger brother and I will be compelled by the flow of the game to be back together on the same path, I think.

Younger brother has to play this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

This is probably safest for both sides:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . X , X . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . . , O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . 4 X O . X . . . X . 6 . X . O . . . |
$$ | . 3 5 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

However, white may want to try to do more with his Q3 stone:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . X , X . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . . , O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 6 8 O b . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . 5 7 9 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . a O . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . X O 4 X . . . X . . . X . O . . . |
$$ | . . 3 1 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I said I thought of the corners as miai before... If white walls off the corner at e2, I can use the aji of f3 to get the other stones settled and can invade at c8 or so later. This isn't much different from a transposition of my original plan.

I was seriously considering playing C4 here but I don'tthink that's enough; I need to attack the bottom somehow.

If younger brother played this, I approve. All other moves I may have to reconsider.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

Shouldn't it also be after Splatted plays?

Um...no...he already did play: viewtopic.php?p=137775#p137775

Splatted has played.
IFF DragonPie approves that,
Then if Skydyr plays C2,
I approve.

oh sorry missed that.

There are still two obvious invasion points in the bottom. With the other move, black takes more points in the corner but then also has a clamp that helps strengthen his bottom group.

It's still tricky to decide whether a move is worth the cost of changing or not. But, I think this one is. We'll see.

I don't understand this change either. Separating would be my first instinct when the bottom three stones are not settled.

Ditto, aren't the big brothers supposed to be stronger?

I'm actually relieved that he corrected that, which tells me I should have known better than to play it in the first place. I can't see any way of attacking the bottom group that is severe enough to justify my move because it's large enough that an attack on one part would just allow skydyr to fix the rest.

I think I'll probably secure something on top after we've played out the corner. Black can't be allowed to take all that so it makes sense to invade now while I can still make a reasonably comfortable group. (despite what I said eralier)

Joaz's correction still makes no sense to me... [

IMHO, the hane works because B has Q3. I think that they gave us 3 stones for making an inferior move.
The whole point of my correction was to avoid a situation like this by playing C3 early while we still had Q2 available.

I think it's hard for this to be controversial.

To make B4 gote for black.