Okay, sorry for all the delays. I just didn't want to post yet another move without going over the suggestions and my choices for the two previous moves. Let's go back to move 6:
$$Bcm5 Prisoner Count: B-0 W-0
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- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bcm5 Prisoner Count: B-0 W-0
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I'll touch on the other three moves labeled a-c first.
a) This is a pretty normal move. It makes a decent sized corner and starts some fairly normal and easy joseki patterns. I could just as easily have cosen this over the move I did choose. However, Black would likely make a wall facing towards the last empty corner, in support of either taking the last corner himself, or supporting an attack on that corner.
b) I like this pincer a lot, but I wasn't sure I wanted to pincer at this stage of the game. Black is looking to start a fight, and this pincer does just that. Note that our 5-4 stone is not leaning towards the top side, so it's of only marginal help in a fight up top. Black has tengen support making a running fight pretty difficult on us.
For what it's worth, lately I've preferred to pincer on the same line as the stone I'm pincering ... so G16 or H16 would be my choice in a real-time game, if I decided to pincer.
c) I was leaning towards this move before Mnemonic changed his mind. I wanted a strong presence on the left side of the board, and the outside attachment gives us a good set of options there (though Black can complicate things, of course, and the variations could lead somewhere completely different).
) I chose this move because it emphasizes the left side, puts some pressure on the approaching black stone, and doesn't make many waves. It's peaceful when Black is purposefully trying to start a fight. These are the kinds of moves I want to try and play in the face of Black's aggression ... we want to pick moves that develop empty areas of the board while Black jumps at us trying to frighten us into a premature fight. Eventually, we will fight, but I want stones all over the board first, so we have support of our own in face of that tengen.
On to Move
$$Bcm7 Prisoner Count: B-0 W-0
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- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bcm7 Prisoner Count: B-0 W-0
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$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
There wasn't much choice here. I don't like the move at a at all, as it allows White to be cut easily. I considered taking Mnemonic's suggestion for taking the final corner, but even that doesn't feel like enough compensation for giving Black such a tasty portion of the upper left corner.
Finally, we come to the latest move:
$$Bcm9 Prisoner Count: B-0 W-0
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$$ | . b . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
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$$ ---------------------------------------
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bcm9 Prisoner Count: B-0 W-0
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$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
Here's the deal on a and b ...
a) OMG SO COMPLICATED!
Heh, just kidding (about the panic, not about the complexity). This falls back to what I mentioned earlier about move 6 ... I don't think the pincer is right for now. Black is pushing buttons, trying to get a rise out of our team. They're jumping in and saying "Fight us! We're breaking up your top, yo!" ... but, the top is not the primary direction of play for our 5-4 stone in the upper right. Sure, it's a big area (every area is big right now ... we're only at
) ... but not only has black attacked our stones early, they've neglected a corner. In my opinion, the left side, being the most open area of the board right now, is the most important for making points. As such, I want to make plays that emphasize the left right now. Perhaps we're walking away from an opportunity to test Black's reading and fighting skill, but I think that's premature.
b) This is the move I really wish I could play. It's solid and makes the White group very hard to attack ... but it gives Black too much up top and in the upper left corner. Black gets away with no weaknesses and we don't even get a decent endgame shape.
) The game move makes the White group a little easier to attack, but provides a couple additional advantages over the move at b. First, it's bigger than it looks. Still small, by opening standards (it's on the 2nd line), but big enough to play during a fight like this. Second, it threatens big endgame points later on, while depriving Black of easy endgame points in the corner. So, there's some future investment involved here. Finally, between our B18 and the white 5-4 stone, the top area is now less important as an area for expanding (in my opinion) than the left side. Black still owes a move to be a stable group, and our group is in prime shape to take advantage of the left side, when the time comes.
So, I know this has been long, but I hope it's given at least a bit of an insight on what I think our strategy should be to combat Black's hyper-agressive style so far.
to shore up the group somehow, or it'll be hideously weak), we could use it to either take the final corner, or to come back to the top right to do something with the 4-5 stone that, as Mnemonic says, would then be beginning to look a little unhappy. (But I still think this position would be OK for us.)
I first saw it in the BB game and have since used it a couple times with decent results, but mostly because my opponent chickened out and didn't fight. I don't think this is going to happen here: if red gets at least one acceptable fighting move he going to chose it (at least that is what he's done so far. I wonder if his soldiers are comfortable with the way things are going 
)
, so i will nominated this time.