I feel like the shoulder hit was a waste and black has a decent advantage now.

Again as expected. Seems like we have similar judgements

Right now I am not really concerned about reading exact variations. It just feels like jumping out is important, and I don't see any immediate local refutations to this (though later there's some annoying cut aji). Running out puts some pressure on his two stones below. I feel like ignore his response (if he strengthens those two stones) to play something around top.

I wonder what you want. Is it sente to reduce, or do you want to attack me?

I'm torn between responding and not responding. I ended up deciding to respond because if I were to hane and black extends, then I leave a better local result before I tenuki. So therefore if I am sure that black will respond to the hane then responding is strictly better than not responding (alpha-beta pruning? :p).

Then it's a question of whether I want to hane or extend. Normally extend is better, but since I want to tenuki after I don't want to leave more options for black (O3 aji annoying). So I will hane.

Black will either extend or tenuki. It feels to me that allowing me to atari at Q7 is too much, so I expect the extension.

illluck doesn't seem to be playing well at all, I think he has played better against me on OGS.

Ok.

Mmm, I keep contradicting my previous posts by not playing tenuki. This indecisiveness is probably not a good sign :p

I want to consider this is a sort of a probe - if black plays a bamboo joint I'll play from the bottom and try to force black to run out (strengths my weak group in the process). If black plays the tiger's mouth I will tenuki and leave the second-line hane in reserve.

Edit: Actually, perhaps if he plays bamboo I should not play from the bottom, but rather from the right-side. Playing from bottom feels a bit risky as he can attack my weak group on a large scale.

Good shape never did no one no good.

I hope to strengthen the group in sente so that I can play on the top. I am not sure how to deal with the top yet, so I'll see if I can push black's group around a bit (probably not much because it's actually quite strong) and if I can strengthen my weak group by enough so I can play more deeply on the top (at c, for example, rather than a/b).

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm31 Prisoners:
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . O . X . . . . . X c . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . a b X X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . O X . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . O . X . . . . . X . O . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . X . O . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Not much to be said, I'd rather keep the two stones. Black can cut my right side group off from the bottom, but then my bottom becomes rather stronger.

Try as I might, I can't read a way to survive if I tenuki to the top (where I'd like to fix some weaknesses). So I have to play this.

the weakness in my lower right is a bit worrisome, but I think I need to continue strengthening my group and see if I can play K3 in sente in a bit (but top seems more urgent).

Blank.

My shape on the right has some flexibility, I think. So I'll try to reduce top first.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm41 Prisoners:
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . d . . X . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . O . X . . . . . X 4 . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X O . . |
$$ | . . . g . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . f . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . e . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . X O . . |
$$ | . O X . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . O . X . . . . . X . O . . c O X O . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . X . O . a . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . b . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I think I have an annoying weakness around "a", but can handle it with "b" since "c" is not really sente for black. "D" and "e" seem to be somewhat miai in terms of points after, but I'm a bit concerned about the possibility of black attacking my group on the right from the direction of "f" because then there is some potential in the centre. So I will try to get sente to remove that possibility, but since I do have a lot of weaknesses remaining it probably won't be easy/possible.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm41
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . O . X . . . . . X 4 . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . 6 . X . . X O . . |
$$ | . O X . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . O . X . . . . . X . O . . . O X O . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . X . O . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I feel like is strongest for black and for this reason was probably a mistake. I might try and concentrate on being very lucky.

Attachment is kind of annoying to respond to.. I want to split off his two stones on the bottom after this, and I want to wedge in to his 1-space jump on the right to spoil his shape.

I expect the below because I think any other sequence will give me relatively comfortable life (though, a wall facing middle for black is probably not bad even if I do live). Then I think black will connect because even though I am weak in a lot of places the ko is so gigantic that black can't afford to lose it. Then I'll probably connect at "a" and black probably will sansan and I'll play on the bottom.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm41 Prisoners:
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . 6 7 . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . O . X . . . . 8 X O 9 . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . a 0 X . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X O X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . X O . . |
$$ | . O X . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . O . X . . . . . X . O . . . O X O . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . X . O . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Surely white must extend from atari rather than give black a ponnuki.