Life In 19x19

I may be mistaken, but I feel this is a good place to tenuki for 2 reasons. The ladder doesn't work for black, so I don't have to worry about it. And two, I feel I would be over-concentrated by sticking to the top left.

Now as for this move, I've thought about it for awhile. I feel it will work well globally with the stones I've already laid on the board, and will be beneficial in the long run. I'll have to see how white responds and how he decides to treat it.

He ignored me on the top. That means I can come back to cleaves, cuts, and clamps at my leisure. For now, how can I say "no" to glorious 4th line territory? I did not expect this approach move, but I am not saddened by it. Sure, black will get another wall, but I can come away with sente and many points while he pushes from behind. With all the defects in his upper left thickness I am not afraid.

Again, my plan here is to work globally with the stones I have on the board. This move obviously doesn't lock up solid points, but that's not what I'm after. I'm hoping my influence will be better than whatever solid points can get, and I'll get ahead in the long-term game.

I have never seen this 5th line pull back in response to this shoulder hit. I'll admit I don't play 3-3 stones very often anymore, but I used to play them all the time when I first played in middle school - I was very territorial.

The question is - how to proceed? Can I punish this move?

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[go]$$Bcm11 Main weakness I see
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . a . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . 4 , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I can't fault too much yet. It does do things. I feel there is a weak point at 'a', but that is all I see for now. The main thing it seems to do is make approaching the 4-4 on the right difficult as a pincer works very well for him. However, I do definately see one problem: that ain't sente at all. Time to take the initiative for myself.

Since helps the right, I'll approach from the top.

Given my opponent's play thus-far, I think he will pincer. He probably should honestly. He needs to try to use that wall on the left. I could then go for the corner and take whichever invasion joseki he wants. Either I undercut the right or undercut the top.

If he takes the influence toward the right, I get sente to play against his weakness while still there is weakness on the left.

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[go]$$Bcm11 a-d responses not great for B
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X C . . . . . X . O . O O . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . , . . . . X X X . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , a . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d b . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . W . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X c . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . O , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

If he blocks me the other way then I get more points and he still has weaknesses. Yes, his top could be very nice, but the aji is considerable. Black can't fix it all with 1 move. This is what I will assume my opponent will play. We shall see.

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[go]$$Bcm11 Aji at a-c
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O O . . |
$$ | . . O O X b . . . . . X . W X X O . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . c . . . a . X O . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . O , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

These results seem fine, but I have a more interesting plan in mind. If black pincers, especially if he pincers lightly, I will change direction threatening his corner and undercutting his 5th line stone.

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[go]$$Bcm11 Double approach!
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . 6 . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . , 7 . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . 4 , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

If he pulls back instead of pincering, I will pull back to the star point and prepare to attack his wall or expose the right side weakness.

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[go]$$Bcm11 Sort of a, b miai?
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X b . . . . . . . 6 . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . 8 . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . a . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . 4 , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I look forward to reading the comments from him on . I would like to know why he felt this joseki/psuedo-joseki wasn't good for him. It seems to work well, building up great potential on the right. Maybe he feared I wouldn't respond to ? It is a pretty severe threat.

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[go]$$Bcm11 can be at a or b too
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 9 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a b . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3 . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . 6 4 , 7 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 8 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

No change in score yet. Black still only has influence, and he is getting more. I'll need to make sure I get some myself - another reason I like the double approach. Either way, influence isn't as big of a deal in a cross game assuming I don't somehow let black get a cross-board moyo. That would be sad.

Interesting. Very interesting. I like it.

I thought this might work out well for black, or a looser pincer to take the top.

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[go]$$Bc at the marked stone
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 6 8 . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . 1 . O 9 3 2 . . |
$$ | . . O X . B . . . , . . . . . X 4 . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . O , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

He pulled back, and did so high. So far my guesses for my opponent's moves this game are not that great.

Either way, sticking to the plan. This move threatens to attack black's wall. If he defends it in gote then I can undercut the right. I may save that, however, to approach the lower left from the bottom. I have potential down there now that I have a 4th line stone.

I'm not going to lie, I have no idea what to do right now. I reach this point in games where the opponent will play a move and I'll draw blanks. I'm pretty sure responding here is necessary. And I thought out some moves. I could:

A. Tenuki
B. Play the move I just did.
C. Play H16

I ultimately decided that tenkuki'ing probably wasn't the best idea here even though I could go for the right side. Plus I'm not entirely sure what approach I'd use. But I imagine will eventually decide to target the right side, and that's what I'm waiting for. I'm hoping to turn it into a fight, and hopefully slay some of 's stones.

B and C sort of go together here. My idea is this:

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[go]$$Bcm20 Black: 0 White: 0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 0 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . B . 8 . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . O , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

To me, this looks decent for , but I'll have to wait and see.

This moves seems somewhat urgent. Black's wall has no base and no eyes, but it is undercutting the side group. So, I'll play a dual-purpose move that strengthens my base on the top while denying one for black. His wall is not alive. I will treat it now as a weak group. The goal is not to kill it, but to attack it for profit on the left.

Well, I didn't actually think about this move, but I probably should have figured would play here. I think I can still work in my plan for this area. We shall see.

I hadn't considered this attachment. I read for what would happen if black attached on the inside, but I hadn't considered that he would attach on top. Apparently he agrees with me that his group is weak and my top stones are stronger since he feels comfortable attaching. The rule for attachments is: "If you are weak, hane. If you are strong, honobi." I feel my stones are relatively strong, so I won't expose weakness with a hane. If he extends along my stones I will hane then.

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[go]$$Bcm11 Black: 0 White: 0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . . a . . . b . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . 8 . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . O , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

My impression is that one of A or B would be a better move for black 9. Otherwise, white's group is under no pressure and can be made solid enough as to be hard to attack with a single move. Once white's group becomes solid, the avalanche result in the top left becomes bad for black, as the wall needs to be used to attack something, not face a strong white position. B takes territory or splits white, leaving white to contend with the wall on the left. A helps protect against the cut/clamp in sente.

In this later diagram:

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[go]$$Bcm21 Black: 0 White: 0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . O 2 . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . 1 . . O . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . O , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

When black attaches to strengthen the wall, it makes white similarly strong. Black's wall has become a liability and attaching induces white to strengthen his group, making the aji at M17 less worrisome. Black set up an area with relatively strong positions on both sides, making a fight in the area favourable for black, but then chose not to fight, so white gets an easy position and black's previous moves look out of place or inefficient.

This seems like the only move. It is a hane at the head of two stones and it defends against black cutting off and killing my two stones with a hane. Since I took the time to take away black's base I can't very well let him suddenly have one. I want his group to be relatively weak. Additionally, this makes my top side much stronger. I feel like that group is basically alive at this point.

All in all, I'm feeling pretty good.

I've also earned some more points with that move. It is conceivable that black could remove points with a monkey jump, so I'll be conservative in my estimate. I feel the top side there is worth about 6 points right now. However, the descend did take away some corner points since black can kill them with a monkey jump. I think the corner is now only about 8 points. I may get all the points, but I want to be more conservative with these estimates. Overall, that means the score has returned to where I said it was - 20.5 for white (when you include komi).

Since I have no illusions about killing black's group in the center I would like to assess its point value. However, I seem to be able to take away all the points with 1 move by playing another hane around black's two stones on the other side. If black fixes he will then have points there. I think I could say he has 4 from that group if he chooses to fix. Until then, still 0 for black.

So still 20.5 to 0. Here are my point counts:

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[go]$$Bc Points inside are if black fixes at 'a'
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . C C . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . . C C . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | C C O O X a O O C C . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | C C O X C C X X O O . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | C C O X C C . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | C C . X . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . O , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]