Your corner kosumi is fine as a patient and territorial move, but gives him the chance to play a speedy opening so you will likely need some good invasion skills later. Also remember that if he doesn't extend from his approach then you deserve to pincer and attack it later. Other choices would be the knight's move f16 to keep influence/centre access (e16 is a good follow up for him in game), c15, or simply tenuki would display good fighting spirit e.g. make your own big shimari at f4.


Answering 31 is acceptable, and something you have to endure for getting the sente invasion and not giving him the eyeshape with playing hane-connect there (you'd already crawled the extra time at n18, if you hadn't should do so before blocking). 34 is ok, but 35 is too kind (not that it means you are loosing, but you fail to punish his premature move). Better is tenuki to help your side stone, if he cuts you r18 atari and then m18 crawl: if he extends then you live with r19 descent, if he ataris the 4 stones you tenuki and hane out at l17 and let him capture them if he wants. The purpose of m18 over immediate r19 live is to avoid his turn at m18 being sente. If you don't like the trade of losing the 4 stones you can crawl at m18 before the tenuki to the side stone, but maybe he will display fighting spirit and attack the side stone and then you wonder do you help it or display your own fighting spirit and follow up at l17.

This 'take both 3-3 and then side hoshi' actually happened in a game between Andrew Kay 4d and Boris Mitrovic 2d at the British championship league a few months ago. Serendipitously it was the game which Antti Tormanen 1p did his recorded lecture for the London Go Centre on and he explains various of these ideas and how to deal with the attachment under the hoshi too:

https://youtu.be/eN-T3keIe4I?t=899

30 - My feeling was that the 3rd line was too deep, and it seems too easy for black to get solid territory and influence while forcing white to live small.
46 - You're definitely right, I should have ataried and sacrificed a few stones for some free forcing moves. Some possibilities appear for black to be split up on this side (which reduce his territory by a lot, something that my invasion kind of failed in the game), or for white to get a stronger shape than I ended up having.
53 - He definitely has more solid territory at the moment, but I do have a lots of way to get more on the side, so at this point I think the game is about even.
63 - Certainly.
72 - Actually I think it was a bit thin. If he wedges in I can only give up a stone.
74 - I'm ashamed, I'm not sure what I was thinking in the game.
152 - With H-J13 though I do get some profit if my opponent let me cut. Maybe not enough for now though.



I had missed that I could get away with ignoring 35 since he has to capture before he can play R19.

That was a nice lecture. Of course the side hoshi invasion is kind of reliant on the opponent letting get away with a sente 3-3 invasion which really shouldn't happen. Though given this maybe I should have played something else instead of the second 3-3? Though attaching to his extension if he get sente to play the side hoshi is another cliche technique in such situation.

Several comments.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Bill : Thanks for the comment. About the wedge, I don't think I thought about it during the game, it did cross my mind while reviewing, but I dismissed it because corner > side. Still, I am not an AI and even if they might prefer the 3-3, the wedge should give me a comfortable game. So maybe I shouldn't strive for perfection when I can't properly do the followup to make it works well.

And actually, now that I look at that position again in Lizzie, while it prefers the 3-3, your wedge is the second most visited move. So clearly I should be more careful about blindly applying dogma, and there's more to the AI era play than invading the 3-3.

Also I like your variation where white let the corner die but steal most of the side and can look forward to an attack on the other wall next.

So for this game I did do the "invade only one 3-3 then wedge" thing and I had a good game going, though some unreasonable fighting spirit on my part led to it being a lot more difficult than it should have been. Oh, and my opponent blundered 35 points for a half point ko at the end, but I was winning anyway so it doesn't matter.

I just played this game that I won on time. Somewhat my opponent managed to lose on time despite the slow standard time control of IGS.



I was in unfamiliar territory in the lower right corner after , but I think I handled it well. I don't play the high approach more but the knight move approach felt hard to play. Attaching to Q3 didn't appeal to me after getting pincered so I played the natural O4. I don't really know the usual joseki, but I feel like there's no way followed by is correct. in particular feels cowardice. After that I felt happy with the result, though I decided to settle my group before enclosing the top right. The crosscut tesuji at (well, if I didn't miss anything and it is actually a tesuji) felt good and let me get sente.

I'm never sure which enclosure is best. I've played the large knight move a lot, and the small knight move enclosure sometime even if the ai don't like it. I've yet to try the two space jump since I've no idea how to handle it well. Anyway, high felt right here since black had a high position overall so I felt like contesting him a bit. Once he approached kick and pincer were natural moves. I was happy to see since I was a bit worried about the inner peep at C16 and this removed it as a concern while still leaving the upper side open. I felt that was irrelevant.

There's lots of point to invade, and felt a good one since I can get free moves against the corner. In the game the move didn't enter my mind, but now that I look at this position might have been better at S13... Yes, looking in more depth it's certainly better since it looks like black corner isn't locally alive anymore. (black S14, white defend at R11, black S18, white hane at S19, black T16, white T18).

Giving up the three stones felt like a good enough trade for the entire right side and not having to worry about the invading group's life anymore, especially since the three stones aren't dead yet. And given that he decided to protect the upper side, I decided to pull them out with . Given his big lump of stone, my instinct was that I could live by threatening it.

White 130 and 132 was because I had misread the "tesuji" of white 134. But then it turned out all right because I realised I could play white 150 and win the capturing race.

Then my opponent tried something against the corner and ran out of time on the last stone before his next 10 minutes of time. I do think I'm winning regardless though.

Instead of giving answers, here are some hints:

40 - I'm not thinking about which enclosure to play. Why?

58 - yeah you solved that one;

74-75 - I agree connecting two groups is better than trying to save those 3 stones. This is already a hint at what White should do next at 76. It's a very interesting position, which I'm going to run through LZ.

Analysis with LZ, focusing on 40 and 78

[/Hide]

: (Before looking at your lz analysis) : It feels like the bottom right might need a move. Black S15 and the peep at O6 are quite annoying. Doing R13 and killing his top right corner (or profiting in sente from him living) is another option.

: Maybe I could cut black's apart. But black can sacrifice three now unimportant stones... So I guess playing elsewhere might be better? The top is open, invade the top?


After looking at the variations : Interesting. In retrospect, yes, I didn't really had sente at the bottom right and simply didn't get punished there. I'm not too worried about black growing the bottom to ridiculous amount because it's still open in several places and white can reduce from the top or from the side, and you can probably exploit the three sacrificed stones to reduce deeper. So the top feel more important.

Also seeing white M17 make my own play for at N15 feel wanting.

An exciting game... Which I could have afforded to make less exciting.



After white 148 I'm easily winning, and I could have let him have the six stones on the left side. But doing so would be too easy on him, there's no way that should die. And well yes, after 162 I can be completely alive in one move. But no. Then after black 165, B10 set up a ko and I can either win it or make an eye and connect. Easy. But no. Then 170 at G10 and the group still live easily (and I can still play B10). But no, sloppiness in l&d (to be fair it's getting somewhat late and I'm tired) means that I play the terrible A10 and I give him sente to enclose me. I was lucky to find the nose play at 204.

Anyway let's talk a bit about the start of the game :

low because I didn't like what followup I had with the high play at D7. Though with him tenukiing I would have felt better having it high... Ah well, it's still a reasonable shape of a double approach in answer to the pincer.

Then in the following fight that spilled over three quarter of the board I didn't feel like letting him get away with anything that felt like ambition on his part, so the guiding principle seems to have been cut first think later. Given that I avoided dying anywhere and then seized the entire right side I feel it went well for me. Well his double hane at was bad after all.

Black 81. Play and win.

Right.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

It's technically a ko, but black has no ko threat. I thought about black a too but white b and white live easily.

I feel like I have trouble with giving handicap.



I might have gone overboard on this game with the "take all 3-3 and invade" strategy this game. Maybe I should have played something else for , but I don't really like the non 3-3 answer to the close pincer that much. Maybe invading the top might have worked better, as the left group would be less likely to suffer from collateral damage, and if he seal me in and make a large moyo at the bottom, it would be more open and so I could reduce or invade more easily.

Some top of the head comments:

About giving 3 stones: White has no objectively winning play, so the question becomes what are promising losing plays? That really depends upon your opponent. There is a personal, psychological aspect to giving 3 or more stones. As Go Seigen says, White's job is to make the game difficult for Black.

My feeling is that the 3-3 invasion puts Black on familiar ground. There is a joseki that he knows well. how about extending to R-07 in the bottom right? Now if White jumps out to P-14, Black will be on unfamiliar territory. And if Black prevents the jump, White threatens the kick and pincer in the bottom right. Also unfamiliar territory for Black.

I guess your bet is that Black does not know how to use thickness. IMO, that's a pretty good bet for most SDKs.

This play doesn't give Black much of a problem. How about the two space high extension to D-13. Now if Black plays C-08, peep at E-15 and attack the Black wall. If Black plays F-13, then extend towards the bottom left to make a sizable territory on the left side.

White has made virtually no headway against Black so far.

How about K-03, threatening to connect underneath, to jump into the center and harass the Black wall on the bottom left, or to make a 2 space extension on the bottom side?

Yes, that leaves your group on the right side weak. But in general that's how you win handicap games, by leaving weak groups around.

K-03 still looks good, but how about the peep at E-05? Give Black some trouble.

A bit defensive.

Good. You have made a little bit of headway. But you still have a long way to go.

Dubious.

Eye off the ball. Time to jump into the center, with K-05 or maybe L-05. You have already taken plenty of third line territory. Do you think you are ahead? Go where the action is.

Weakening the White group on the side.

You had to, anyway. But now you are weaker here.

Excellent!

Mistake. Black should counter atari and sacrifice this stone.

Maybe also a mistake. Hane at B-03, maybe? In any event, atari at G-07 while he still can.

Bad. C-08 should have been obvious.

Now we know. You are a better fighter than Black. Maybe you could have made use of that difference earlier in the game.

C-08, attacking the whole Black group. Black does not have time to save his 7 stones on the bottom side. White can probably take those stones later. Saving this White stone on C-07 and attacking on a large scale is very big.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Two typical handicap games. One of the won variety (things get complicated, and his stuff dies while mine lives) and of the lost variety (I live everywhere even if I shouldn't have, but the game isn't far enough that it can be saved in the endgame).

Some comments on game 2, after .

Main point: You played as though you were taking the handicap. I.e., you played too safe. Your job is to make problems for Black, not to solve problems for White. With some exceptions, OC.

Two step hane. Very good.

Yes, the atari variation is correct.

Good.

Black has preserved his original lead. This far into the game White should have made progress. Maybe would have been better at F-03 or M-03. Remember, that early in a three stone game all White moves are losing moves. The 3-3 invasion let Black play a lot of moves that maintained his original advantage.

White has a problem with the big Black wall in the bottom left. Even if Black should not theoretically make territory with it, with three stones he can make a lot of inferior plays and still win. This pincer allows a counter-pincer that both attacks and makes territory. Probably better to play a 2 space high pincer.

Joseki, but how about making a base on the bottom side with K-03?

This one space jump is sensible, but how about leaning on the Black counter-pincer stone with L-04? It's not like you expect to make territory to the left. You might as well prevent a jump to L-05. Besides, it may be the theoretically best play, too.

Good play! You expect Black to connect underneath and then you will push through on the 4th line.

Not so good.

Good.

Huh?

Huh? No resistance. Better to hane. The outside hane at M-02 looks better than the other hane at O-02. In variation 3 do not capture the stone on the second line. Push through at O-04 instead, with atari. This cuts off and attacks the Black stones in the corner. You are too good to go stone grabbing.

Ixnay. Here is your chance to reduce Black's potential territory on the bottom side. Take that opportunity with the hane on L-04.

Not so good. Bad shape.

Very good. Good shape.

Not good. Who cares about two stones? The danger is the potential Black territory to the left. Better to extend to K-05. If Black wants to take two stones, let him.

Not good. Black should hane.

You have made good progress since the pincer, but now you throw it all away with a defensive move. Not that you have to leave a weak group on the bottom side. Remember that contact plays strengthen both sides, as a rule. You can take advantage of that fact by playing the jump attachment at J-05. That does two things. It reduces Black's potential territory on the bottom side and also strengthens your group. Something to keep in mind.

Black has pretty well recovered his original lead. It is hard to win giving three stones when you play even for the first fifty moves.

Probably theoretically correct, but it puts Black on familiar territory. Maybe better to approach the top left corner with H-17.

If Black turns at R-16 and White connects, Black can take sente and secure territory in the top left with J-17. Then it will be hard for White to win the game.

Lives in the corner, but lets Black make a solid connection with and again, pretty well recover his original lead. This play essentially gives up. Better to push through and then either cut or play O-18, threatening to connect underneath. That way White has some chances, and it may also be theoretically best play, as well.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

This bring a point I'm unsure about, which pincer to make (in general). I sort of understand that close pincers are more severe but more prone to being counter attacked, but I'm unsure about whether to play high or low. Clearly there are tactical differences between all the pincers, but it will require a significant amount of work to get a feel for those (though that's actually not a bad reason to finally start studying some joseki).

In this case I pincered expecting the knight move at Q5, in which case I would have push and cut and fight (even if I'm not familiar with this variation, I bet he isn't either), which would be questionable with a far and low pincer, and since I don't really play the high pincers much I went with the one space low. Your main concern in this comment is the black wall and the possibility to be attacked. A 2 space high then is more flexible than the game move as it's easier to abandon it and treat it as aji to use later if needed, and also easier to escape in the center and have more space alongside the edge.

Since I have less time now due to RL, and I'm sometime too tired to seriously study I'm spending less time on go than the previous months, though I still try to do some problems every day. I thought I could keep the rate of problems and pro games played by having a short period where I wouldn't play much but... Well it turns out that when I have time for go I'm more often feeling like playing.

Still despite going at a glacial pace I finally finished GGPfB vol 4. Partly it's because the last set is fairly I'm difficult and I was in a mood of "take your time solving them well" rather than trying to solve a set number per session. I think I will go with 1001 l&d problem next. Also I'm still going through the Segoe. Currently at the wedge chapter going through the C&B problems. Some of the problems are quite demanding. It's amusing when you look at the solution happy to have cut the opponent in two and realise that you had to read how to kill him too. Or that one problem that really amused me (33 of the wedge chapter in the chinese edition) where you set up a ko to link underneath, but it's not good enough, you have to win it too.

But well you feel like you learned something when that happens. Also it encourage to be thorough in your reading.


Finally a game I played earlier today. I killed a lot of things and won. I feel those are not the most interesting games to go over (though it's better than "I was winning then my inner DDK woke up").

Most of the time, when you fuck up, you end up losing. Sometime though, your opponent manage to miraculously fuck up even more after you try some way to get at least some compensation before things settle down and you have to judge whether to resign.



Maybe, should have connected on the right side, then reduce the upper right or lower left.

I think white 107 was necessary to protect the cutting point. White 113 was probably a mistake though, since, well, following up at s13 doesn't work. M12 looks good, since if black cut at the waist I can play the broken ladder to make life. I've been looking at several variations and it seems I can either live locally or link up with the top side group.

Said topside group would then come under attack though, which means the result is not great. With those consideration, connection with to avoid getting cut off like this would have been better. Then I can get k14 to strengthen the top side, and try to reduce both black's potential territory. The game would then be close.

Anyway black 146 was not good. It does nothing and T15 would remove any hope for a ko. But 156 was just horrible, and then 160... then black 168 should have been H8

I think i'm going throw out a potentially hot take and suggest you stop playing handi games against people weaker than you. I think you have more to lose than to gain from them.

_________________
My Baduk Journey