$$Wcm19 Black 20
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$$ | . . . . X a X . X . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X O X O . . , . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X 1 . c . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . d O e . . . . . . X . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b . . |
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- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Wcm19 Black 20
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$$ | . . . . X a X . X . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X O X O . . , . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X 1 . c . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . d O e . . . . . . X . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b . . |
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$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
[daniel the smith]: is it even worth discussing? I vote ''a'', leave white with cutting point(s).
[topazg] Agreed, and we get a nice big corner by the looks of things. Depending on where he fixes, I want "b" next - that way we either swallow the stone or get chased across to swallow the pair?
Alternatively we could play "c", separating the White groups. That probably looks better actually ... hmmm...
[daniel the smith] Yes, ''c'' is what I was thinking about...
[Dusk Eagle]: I think ''a'' is a must. White will have two cutting points and that makes his shape very ugly. If he captures out two stones (in sente, as he then threatens the corner), his group gets so much stronger.
[JoazBanbeck] I'm dead tired after a 12-hour work day. ( Yes, it was very profitable, thank you ) But my first reaction is 'c'.
A hot shower and two asprins later, I still hold the same opinion. I disagree with DE's assement of MW's play being sente. If we tenuki to J15, we get an extra move in. Sure, we have to recapture locally, but MW realy does not have sente because now he has to reply to J15. He is effectively in gote, not sente.
I agree with Daniel that is is barely worth discussing

but nonethless I added a few diagrams below.
[daniel the smith] I will think about that, I don't know if I'll change my mind or not.
[Kirby] I vote 9/10 for 'a', and 1/10 for 'c'.
[daniel the smith] I think Joaz has convinced me. .8 for ''c'', .2 for ''a''
[Kirby] I still feel that the local profit from white's cutting points is worth more than a global strategy that we cannot easily predict. It's true that splitting white is good for us, but we get solid, definite profit by connecting our stones. Magicwand cannot connect to his two stones on the top right in a single move, and we still have the approach at 'b'. I was back and forth between capturing and moving out with the last move, but since we decided to capture, we shouldn't let up in this local area, IMO.
[daniel the smith] Looks like people have pretty much made up their minds and ''a'' will win, unless topazg wants to change his vote.
[topazg] I like the possibility of cuts at 'd' and 'e' too much. I think connecting leaves us with at least 2, and possibly 3, excellent moves. If he does capture, we lose at least 1 of them. I also like 'c', I just want to see MW leaving bad aji everywhere

I've updated my votes below:
''votes:''
''a'': 0.7 (topazg) + .9 (Kirby) + 1 (DE) + .2 (dts) = 2.8
''c'': 0.3 (topazg) + 1 (Joaz) + .1 (Kirby) + .8 (dts) = 2.2
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[Joaz Banbeck]If we sacrifice our two stones, we get the splitting attack with J15:
$$Bc Diagram 20A
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$$ | . . . . X 2 X . X . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X O X O . . , . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X O . 1 . . O . . . . . . . |
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[go]$$Bc Diagram 20A
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$$ | . . . . X 2 X . X . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X O X O . . , . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X O . 1 . . O . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |[/go]
$$Bc Diagram 20B
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$$ | . . . . X . X . X . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X O 3 O . . , . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . O . 1 . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . d . . O . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . e . . O . . . |
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[go]$$Bc Diagram 20B
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$$ | . . . . X . X . X . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X O 3 O . . , . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . O . O . 1 . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . d . . O . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . e . . O . . . |
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$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |[/go]
[Joaz Banbeck]...and when we recapture he has no eye space and we are threatening moves like 'd' and 'e'.
[daniel the smith]: White fixed two cutting points in sente, is B1 worth that?
[Joaz Banbeck] Yes, IMHO. Remember, sente is simply the option to take any point on the board. We will have just gotten J15, which IS the most important point on the board. How can sente be better than that?
And the two cutting points are mutually exclusive as DE notes below: when MW replies to one he thereby almost fixes the other. We really have only one usable cutting point, and would do better to count them as one.
When we get J15, his stones at L15 and L17 are in trouble, which is worth more than either cut.
[daniel the smith] Re: "we really have only one usable cutting point": That's true any time your opponent has two cutting points near each other. You can't expect to get *both*! Therefore it's not really supporting your point...
[Joaz Banbeck] @Daniel: I'm not sure that I follow the logic here. You seem to be arguing that the general truth af a proposition weakens its particular application. Anyway, by whatever process, can we agree that we really only have one usable cutting point?
[daniel the smith] My point was that we all know "white has two cutting points" means "we get to cut at one", so I didn't see why you were mentioning it. Sure, we only get to cut at one--in my mind that's just saying the same thing a different way.

[JoazBanbeck] "We all know..."? I didn't. Maybe that idea is common knowledge for you folks, but I had never heard of it before. I had to deduce it myself from DE's comments.
BTW, this seems to argue for the idea that several 1Ds CAN add their knowledge together.
[daniel the smith] Ah, apologies for my presumption then.

And I think we're already doing better than a single one of us would have done.
[JoazBanbeck] Uhhh...thanks...but no apology is needed. I am in your debt for pointing out a proverb that most 1Ds apparently knew but I didn't.
$$Bc Diagram 20C
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$$ | . . . . X 1 X . X . . O . . . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . 4 O X O . 2 . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . 3 O 5 . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 6 . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
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[go]$$Bc Diagram 20C
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$$ | . . . X O X O . . , . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 O X O . 2 . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . 3 O 5 . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 6 . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
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$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |[/go]
[Joaz Banbeck]OTOH, letting white have J15 renders the G13 cut surprisingly ineffective.
[Dusk Eagle] B3 seems like a mistake. If we're going to cut at B5, we should probably just do it directly. On the other hand, if we consider B3's side to be more important, than B5 looks like a mistake.
[daniel the smith] Agree with DE.
[Joaz Banbeck] OK, maybe we can play in a better manner than dia 20C. What continuation would you say is best for us? And is it better than our result in dia 20B?
$$Bc Diagram 20D - Someone please show our best line here
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$$ | . . . X O X O . . , . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X O . 2 . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
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[go]$$Bc Diagram 20D - Someone please show our best line here
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$$ | . . . . X 1 X . X . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X O X O . . , . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X O . 2 . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |[/go]
$$Bcm3 Diagram 20E
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$$ | . . . X O X O . . , . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X O . O . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . 1 O . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
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- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bcm3 Diagram 20E
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$$ | . . . . X X X . X . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X O X O . . , . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X O . O . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . 1 O . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
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$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |[/go]
[Dusk Eagle] Even something like this seems really good for us IMO. White's shape still has holes, and we have a huge corner. I don't think white has made any headway into our two-stone lead, and actually I would say white has lost a little up to this point.
[JoazBanbeck] I agree that this result is good for us. But is it better than dia 20B?
In 20E MW has secured his two stones at L15 and L17, and consequently we still have a potential problem in the upper right. In 20B we still get a decent corner, and we have no weaknesses, and he has two weak groups. Why should we play an asymetric game, taking profit early but leaving chances for him to come back?
I say we should stay safe all over, and leave him with all the weakness, and no reasonable chance of attacking us. It is the sure way to win.
[Kirby] I feel like 20B and 20E are both good diagrams for us, but 20E makes me feel very confident about the game. Magicwand doesn't have anything, really, and a good portion of the board is finished. If we are ahead now, "finishing" more parts of the board seems like a good way to keep our lead. I think that 20B still looks very good for us, but there is more uncertainty as to what he can do on the left. With 20E, I feel like the game is simplified, leaving Magicwand with a sure disadvantage.
[topazg] I agree, 20B to me feels like a complicated fight still to go on, with no guarantee of success other than a general upper hand. We've effectively given White a giant ponnuki in sente - that _can't_ be good with respect to whole board influence. We're really banking on capturing those 2 stones to play this way I think. 20E just looks like some really solid profit - that's one enormous corner, and White has little compensation other than having a less endangered group.