Life In 19x19

I'm strengthening my center stones. If I let them get too weak, him jumping out with his other group is tough to handle as it weakens both of my groups and then he can start attacking me.

Also, since this pressures his cutting stones, it encourages him to strengthen himself encouraging me to strengthen myself and hopefully, his other group remains weak though this sort of fighting is the spot where a skillful player can gain ground. White does have a somewhat complicated fight, so that's helpful in a handicap game. But, as I said before, I don't mind complicated games and situations even if it increases my chances of losing a little bit because I love to learn from them and I love the challenge. I get a bit of a rush out of complicated fighting and I love the rush of finding a tesuji that the opponent didn't envision. Especially if the opponent is very strong.

Double hane feels like an overplay as does the cut. The extension makes a weakness in shape where white would be able to peep and this may aid in sealing white off on the top side. It also jumps ahead.

But, this is one of those situations where I feel weak because I really have a lot more questions than feelings of confidence about what is best here.

Giving white the atari seems pretty painful, I would have just extended.

I'm not sure how I feel about this really. I think that I'm more likely to overthink things in this game because I know that I'm playing somebody strong and because I have so much time to think. I notice that I'm less certain of my moves than usual.

i got some points but..not enough to win yet.

I think that my group on the right should be ok. It's not in great shape, but I think I can muster it. Now I want to seal white in here. If this group is sealed in, it makes my other group stronger by making this white group weaker. I really want to protect that top group, but I don't like doing such things in gote. This is another one of those positions in which I look at this position and see a lot of uncertainty as to which points are best.

EDIT: Coming back to this. My play for the last few moves has been poor. Looking back, I should not have hane'd unless I was going to follow up on the hane with a double hane or even by extending.

If I had simply jumped out instead. I would not have helped white make good shape. I think that I did overthink that area because I was playing a stronger player, I was trying to find strong moves, but I found worse moves than normal for myself. Still, I think I'm ok in this game.

probe to leave aji in the corner before settling

what is in my mind:
i am looking to sacrafice marked stones,

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm31
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . X W . W W . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . X X W W 2 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X X O X X . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , O X O O . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , 3 . X . . X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . X . . . . . . O . X O O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

He desires to get something on both sides. I choose to separate his groups in part because it will keep his group that I'm sealing in weaker. He might be able to live small on both sides. And this isn't so bad as long as both sides are truly small and I come away with sente.

This move is about threatening to connect underneath. I think that black can win this capture race if things go like this.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . X O . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . X X O O 1 2 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . X X O X X X 4 . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , O X O O . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . X . . X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . X . . . . . . O . X O O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I think that I've made a couple of mistakes in this area, but I think I'm ok still.

in handycap game i can not win by trading move after move..
inititive is the key to overcome handy. as always..i am not looking to kill. seal black and sente is good enough.

Of course, he has the peep which makes his cut more viable. It could become a capture race. I have to be careful here. Having to play like this was very much caused by my playing in such a way that gave him some strength in the center.