White has kept his distance, pending black's using, or not using, his turn-order prerogative. You don't want to be surprised by a tactical attack by growth and a single placement in the same turn.

At the same time, preventing black from doing so by making a growing move with white, would hand over the initiative to black, and three white 2-groups isn't quite enough compensation for that in this position (I think), so I moved to bear down on a bit.

The alternative, terminating black's turn-order prerogative, would have been to grow, for instance:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . . . |
$$ | . . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , 6 . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

This would give black the initiative in terms of being the player to move with an equal number of groups on the board.
This initiative allows a player to start growing, later on, with the opponent lagging behind. At the same time the opponent cannot start growing without allowing the player who has the initiative an extra group to grow at.

After the decision to make is: grow and thus terminate black's prerogative, or keek the initiative in terms of the number of groups. This is a grey area, but I don't like to see four black 2-groups plus a black stone next move, for instance in between two whites top or right, so I'm happy to give up initiative for solidity here.

So here we are, black finds a board with an equal number of groups, white has grabbed the compensation, but now cannot start growing without black having an extra group to grow at. Back to single placements for the time being.

:b12: is tricky in that local tactical involvement can easily get at odds with overall strategy: while it lasts, growth in other not immediately involved areas, keeps up, meaning that 'disregarded' areas can quickly become under the opponent's control. This simultaneity has strategical implications not found in one-move-per-turn games and imo has a bigger impact than the growth procedure in itself, where comparisons with Go are concerned.

I'm interested in the motive behind your last move - presumably you're focusing on the O9 area? Have you made any score estimates if all the staked out area becomes territory for both sides?

I wanted support for the white centerstone, As a very rough estimate I figured black controls about a third and a sixth (the black stone top right - if it lives). I wasn't particularly interested in a centerfight, but there you are. Connecting out of atari will reduce the number of groups for a defender, but so will capturing a single by the attacker. It's hard to say, we're both new at the game, and your judgement is probably better than mine anyway.

1/3 + 1/6 = 1/2, so I'm guessing you feel the game is basically even? If so, do you have any plans to take a strong advantage? I ask because of how you evaluate the difference between the importance of the fight in the center, and maximising your gains in your own potential or a large scale reduction of Black's?

You're a player, which I admire because I lack the abilities to become one. I don't know about other inventors, but I'm wired for inductive thinking (including the inherent frequent mistakes) and I understand 'organic' games in that way. I'm good at guessing how a game will behave generally, including the degree of tactical finesse it will eventually reveal, but I'm less than average in specific positions, and cannot keep up analysis to a degree that would really benefit my play. I thrive on tactical opportunism and as much streetfighter strategy as I can manage.

So regarding the evolving centerfight ... better ask me when it's over

My guess:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm16 18 | 8
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . O 2 . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . O O 2 . . . . O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . X 3 . . . . 2 O X 3 . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . 3 X O 2 . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . 3 2 . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 O O . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , X 3 . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I'm thinking this game is over now ..

I was close ... try again

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm18 25 | 16
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . O O 2 . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . O O O . . . . O . . . . . 2 . . . |
$$ | . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . X 1 3 . . 2 O O X 1 3 . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . 3 1 X O O 2 . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X 1 3 . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . 1 O 2 . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . 1 . 2 O O O . . . |
$$ | . . 3 X 1 . . . . , X 3 . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

The distribution of stones before the growing phase largely determines the initial emerging territories. In this phase small advantages or disadvantages may soon grow bigger. An additional problem is that tactical attacks may force one into growth at a moment one would otherwise consider premature.

I'm still wrestling with ideas about how to handle this phase, because small errors will usually have big consequences once growing starts. Maybe white should have replied to differently, for instance at J7 instead of K10.

As a reminder, the original game is being played at mindsports.

Of course I was forced to connect at Q10, which robs me of a growing option. On the other hand black must at some point connect three groups at K9, and the possibility of playing singles is appearing on the horizon again.

The original game is being played at mindsports.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm24 45 | 40
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 X X X X . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . O O O O O 2 , . . . |
$$ | . . O O O . . . . O . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . 2 . O . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . O O . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . a . . 1 2 . . O . . . . O O . . . |
$$ | . . X X X X O O O O X X X X 1 O . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . X X X X O O O O O 2 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . 1 . . . X X X X 1 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . 1 X X X O O O 2 . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . O O O O . . . |
$$ | . 1 X X X X . . . , X . O . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X 1 O . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

a seems better than the move played at It's more than one point, and white doesn't really want to play at the point that was chosen.

I agree, I'm obviously still in the 'move first, think later' phase of Sygo development

The original game is being played at mindsports.