Life In 19x19

I personally like Black at this point in the game. White seems to need a lot out of the next few moves while black has calm ways to make enclosures and build points. I would like to see if White can limit the power of the hoshi stone in the top right to build along the right side, which White is not working to claim with his sansan.

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[go]$$
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One could argue 'a' and 'b' are basically miai, but I feel that 'b' is more important. Black can answer 'a' however he wants - including tenuki. A 3-5 joseki typically emphasiszes the side, but the sansan stone doesn't work with that very well. Black just needs to come away with sente and drop a stone on the bottom to limit any result from that while he gets solid points on the left.

But for 'b' a pull-back and pincer both have disadvantages. The top side is sort of flat already and the right is clearly bigger, but with a pincer white can easily run toward his friends on the other side of the board or simply dive the corner and play for territory, then reduce the right (assuming black wants the right and blocks to get a wall facing that direction).

If I was black I would like to play 'c' now to set up a framework on the right.

Hmm... I was thinking about my next move in the back of my mind for about a day now. I don't feel like approaching top right is the best choice for me.I fear this:

This kind of feels too good for black. I don'T see any good plays to invade his top.

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[go]$$Wcm13
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$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

His komoku bottom left again makes me want to approach it before he gets the enclosure. maybe I am too afraid of that lol. I dont know.. Besides, if you look at the board, he had the first stones in 3 corners. which makes me think about my decisions. maybe somewhere my mindset was flawed. I was thinking about that the past day. It's even more weird bc when I read what I was writing, I seemed so confident. now it feels I lost some of it. I feel behind and didn't want to let this have influence on my gameplay too much. so I took my time.


The bests moves I can come up with are the following: (a or b)

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[go]$$Wcm13
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$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

my plan is to play light in that area and approach top right. the problem: when I tenuki and play a joseki in the top right corner, he will again have sente and could play another move in the bottom left corner. it feels like he is 2 moves ahead of me oO. not a very nice feeling.

These are the variations that come to my mind:

1) play lightly and tenuki

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[go]$$Wcm13
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2) try to press down his komoku and build up a large framework on the left side

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[go]$$Wcm13
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3) if he decides to pincer I will try to play flexible

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[go]$$Wcm13
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I like to write down my thoughts before I decide to play a move. so, while writing this, I have discarded move b). which is quite nice imo.

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[go]$$
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$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

moyoaji wrote:One could argue 'a' and 'b' are basically miai, but I feel that 'b' is more important.

It's the other way -- (a) and (b) are not really miai -- (a) is bigger than (b).

Kayres wrote:

$$Wm13
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$$ | . . . X . X . . . . 8 . . . . . 4 6 . |
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$$ ---------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wm13
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$$ | . . . X . X . . . . 8 . . . . . 4 6 . |
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$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

$$Wm13
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$$ | . . X , 1 . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 2 3 . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
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$$ ---------------------------------------

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[go]$$Wm13
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$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . |
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$$ | . . X , 1 . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 2 3 . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
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$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Interesting about Kayres's high approach to . I wonder where he got the idea.

I understand that the bottom side of the board is technically the largest, but both players have stones facing away from that side of the board. The hoshi stone up top is the only one that is facing toward a side of the board. Both players seem to have said that they don't want the bottom based on the corner moves they made. If black plays simply and comes away with sente then it doesn't look like there is an easy way to build the bottom. All of these moves are possible, but White can challenge any of them. He is already challenging the enclosure with his joseki stone on the left. A move at 'b' looks decent, but white can just approach the corner anyway (it's basically like the Low-Chinese). Approaching White's sansan is also possible, but with 'c' white can choose a direction and probably come away with sente and with 'd' white could get a nice framework on the right side with 'e'.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W
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$$ | . . . X . X . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . |
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$$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . . 3 . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . e . . . |
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$$ | . . X , . . . . . , . . . d . c . . . |
$$ | . . . . a . . . b . . . . . . . O . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

So while the bottom side is technically larger, I don't think it's as urgent because black has no way to threaten any sort of development.

As for the exclusively high approaches? I'm not sure where White picked that up, but it seems counter-intuitive to play high stones with his 3-3 opening - assuming he's trying to build influence with them.

I'll probe to see what he wants to do with his 3-3.
Depending on this I can see what to do with the rest of the board.

moyoaji wrote:...both players have stones facing away from that side of the board.
The hoshi stone up top is the only one that is facing toward a side of the board.

What do you mean?
In general, in the opening, for an open board like this, from the bigger to the smaller:
- empty corner
- complete a shimari; or approach an incomplete shimari
- approach a corner star point
(a) is bigger than (b). (Again, like the 2 opening boards you posted Here, at these levels, it doesn't matter so much.)

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wm10
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$$ | . . . X . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . . . . . . . . b . . |
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$$ | . . X , a . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ -----------------------------------------[/go]

To simplify, the UL corner is already "taken"; (a) is bigger than (b):

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[go]$$Wm10
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$$ | . . ? ? ? . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . ? ? ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b . . |
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$$ | . . X , a . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
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$$ -----------------------------------------[/go]

not in the mood to write a lot atm.. and not enough time. I just wanted to play the move so he can think about his next move. if you guys are interested in why I played this move just ask, I can provide an explanation later on. cheers

Keep my shape ok, this has the potential to work well with the hoshi stone.

this is what I am looking forward to:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm16
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . |
$$ | . . X , O . . . . , 3 . . . X X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I really want to know what his response will be. as far as I know my play is not an overplay, so I will not be punished severely. and still, I dont want to capture any of his groups or even attack them. sometimes it is enough if he thinks I want to (aka pressure lol)

White wants teritory, thats fine. I'll make a light group in the center.
If he plays out the normal joseki here then i get to attack the white group in sente.
He'll probably have to go for something non-joseki to make this board better for white.
The problem is that white does not want to get surrounded in the bottom right and also has to do something with the stone on the left which I tenuki'd from. (otherwise he is not punishing my tenuki)
Lets see which move he chooses.