Threaten to push and cut while further increasing my strength against the left side.

I think I'm free, or near enough to live. How much ground I need to make up in endgame depends on how much of this group he eats and/or how much of the left gets chewed up now.

Okay, let's begin. This sort of stuff is why this game has been so fun. I think that my best way to get a good portion of the center 'back' is to clamp at J12. However, this is bigger than that, I believe. It's quite sente and I think ignoring it would hurt my opponent more than continuing his reduction would reduce me. Needless to say, I hope to end in sente (don't you always?), and if I do, I want to go back to the middle. My opponent still has some weaknesses in the middle and right that I can hope to exploit later, at least for forcing moves. However, I just built a huge lever in the middle, so I'm going to see if I can't use it to push things around a bit. Simple machine metaphor go. By the way, later I'd appreciate it if someone could give me pointers on my past dozen moves or so. I'm not really sure the best way to respond to reductions, so I'm not sure how I could have handled this one better.

This is solid. I have ground to make up so don't have time to let him have any free forcing moves.

I think that this is pretty big, so I'm going to go ahead and take it now. It seems to aim at C11, and either connecting under or cutting and fighting. I'll have to read it, and look around for other good followups. I want to attack the middle stones, but I think my opponent played light enough so that I won't get as much as it looks like. So first, I'll take this move, which is huge, and then I'll see how my opponent responds.

I don't think my opponent's move was sente. C11 doesn't really work.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X X . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . |
$$ | . O X O . X . . . . . . . X . X O . . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . X O . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X O . X O X X O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . X X . X O . X O . |
$$ | . 8 7 . . X . . . W . . O O O . X . . |
$$ | . 6 5 O . X O . . O X . . . . O O X . |
$$ | . 4 1 2 . X . . . . X . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . 3 O O . X O . O , . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . B X . X . . . . O . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . O X X X X . |
$$ | . . . O . X . . . . . X . O O X O O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

My move protects against a a push and cut at e.g. K11, threatens to cut off two stones (well, sorta, it's messy and I haven't read it completely) and threatens to burrow deeper in to black's area.

I almost missed the fact that my opponent's move threatens to cut. Let's not be stupid, let's play it safe. Yeah, I had a feeling that my last move might not be sente, but as I said, it's huge so I wanted it. The bamboo joint here slightly reduces what white can get with this weak group. Very slightly.

Fwiffo: 15 for bottom left, 15 for bottom and middle right, 10 for top right, 15 for top left. Around 55.
Me: Fifteen (plus a little?) in the bottom middle, 15 for the right. If I get 25+komi from the top, I win. I think that's doable if I play solidly, so I will play safe and solid. Endgame could change these values a reasonable amount, but if I can gain (almost) as much as my opponent in endgame, hopefully it'll balance out.

REDUCE MY OPPONENT MOAR! Bwahahah, my opponent made an empty triangle; I'm sure to come back now. If he had connected solidly it would have reduced the liberties on those two stones. Then I couldn't play because cutting the knight's move would be too hard for me to handle. But with the extra liberty, it's fine. And hey, the aji of the L16 and M15 stones might come back to life.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

How much territory is enclosed by these stones? Granted, I have some inefficient floating groups myself, but I'd reckon that my reductions have more-or-less done their job.

My opponent's reductions have indeed done splendidly. I feel like I had control of the opening, which might have given me a small lead. When this whole reduction fight took off, I tenuki'ed and gave up sente twice. Once was to claim the top left corner, and the second was to reduce the left central. Given that I chose to take gote elsewhere twice, I knew I would get reduced severely. I think that my opponent has gained on me during this reduction, even considering my two gote tenukis. However, I think I am still ahead a little. For now. As far as the move I just played, it was that or connect, and I'm pretty sure I don't have to connect. This gives me more power to stop reductions, so I'll choose it. And there's still a fair chance that I'll kill at least a stone or two of the reduction, but I'll probably tenuki elsewhere instead, depending on how things go.

Let's see if I can reduce some more...

I don't like this move. Even if black doesn't have F5, he can now generally connect underneath easily. If white wants to do something nasty, it is rarely to force black into good shape in this way.

I think it is better, and bigger, to play E2. This would be even better if black answers submissively now, then white can get E2 in sente before pulling this stone out in good shape having forced on both sides.

I think it will be wrong for white to play any more stones on top, as this will encourage black to play the massive E2 miai point. I wonder if white underestimates E2, or I underestimate white's move, or I overestimate E2.


EDIT: Of course, it would also be good for white to play some destructive invasion in black's slightyl weak shape, but no point is obvious to me.

I also wonder if white is aiming at this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm81 Prisoners - W: 0, B: 0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X X . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . |
$$ | . O X O . X . . . . . . . X . X O . . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . X X O . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . O . X O . X O X X O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . X X . X O . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . O . . O O O . X . . |
$$ | . . . O . X O . . O X X . . . O O X . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . X . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . O O . X O . O , . . . . . O X . . |
$$ | . . X X 7 X . . . . O . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . 6 . O . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . 4 2 O . X . . . O X X X X . |
$$ | . . . O . X 3 1 . . . X . O O X O O . |
$$ | . . . 8 5 . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

This tries to get the best of both worlds in reduction, but I think moves like black x make the shape too poor. I do not think white's move is the best way to achieve his goal.

I'd love to attach on top, but I really don't think I can. This is a reduction because of that, but I don't know if it will get out in sente. There are several areas I'd like to play (the center, the bottom right, and a few other places that feel smaller). I'm walking a line between playing solidly and firmly and playing passively, and hoping I don't stray the wrong direction. I wonder if my opponent intends to tenuki and leave this as a forcing move...

I don't think I'm going to have enough here unless my opponent makes a grievous tactical error.

Observers: Prepare to be amazed by my upcoming grievous tactical error! Seriously though, whether or not I'm ahead, one misstep will give my opponent the game gift-wrapped, so I have to read and keep alert. I believe that this is the best response, locally. And I think tenuki invites too much chaos and murder.

Let's give a rough count. Being generous, and giving me a few points in the center, I see black about 10 ahead with this very rough count. If I do very well in endgame, maybe I can make some of that up... So I guess it's not resign yet...

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm91 Prisoners - W: 0, B: 0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . x x x x x x x x x x x x x . . . o o |
$$ | . X X X . x x x x x x x x x X O O o o |
$$ | . O X O . X x x x x x x x X . X O o o |
$$ | . . O O . . . . X X P x x . . X O o . |
$$ | . . o . . X . . O . X P . X O X X O . |
$$ | o o o O . . . . . . X X . X O . X O . |
$$ | o o o . . X . . . O . . O O O . X . . |
$$ | o o o O . X O . . O X X . . o O O X . |
$$ | o o o . . X . . . . X . . . O o O X . |
$$ | . . O O . X O o O , . . . . o O X x x |
$$ | . . X X . X . . o . O . . O . . X x x |
$$ | . . . . . . O o o . . . . . . X x x x |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x x x |
$$ | . . O . . . . O . . . . . . X X P x x |
$$ | o o . . . X . . . . . . . O . . x . . |
$$ | o o o O . . X O . X . . . O X X X X . |
$$ | o o o O . X x X . x x X . O O X O O . |
$$ | o o o . . . x x x x x . . . o O o o . |
$$ | o o o . . . x x x x x . . . o o o o o |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Not sure what to do...

Hey, I could tenuki to... no.

I can haz center territory?

Give it a shot?

Hey, maybe I can haz. My shape might even be acceptable.