Life In 19x19

Black may push once more, simply because B13 is White's sente as things stand (if Black ignores, B19 kills). It's often a good idea to push until the bend isn't sente - take the standard 3-3 invasion of the 4-4 as an example. Here, that bend is so useful to White in sente because of the lower left that it's almost worth pushing on the second line for now we've got this far already

Ok, I'll leave that corner alone for a minute, he is playing toward the center and I assume that means he believes I am live. So I won't worry about it for the moment, instead I'll try to get something going on the top. I chose this because I don't know if he is bold enough to play between this stone and the corner, if not, I will and will have a large area to work with toward top and center.

I gave up trying to predict which move DIV would make, but he's made the one I was most concerned about. However, I don't think it necessarily puts me at a huge disadvantage - a 2-space extension from a single stone on the third line does provide a base, but doesn't make a strong group yet, and when it's so close to my wall then I feel it must be possible to profitably attack this group in some way. Perhaps the extension is even cuttable when so close to my strength, although of course it isn't with none of my stones nearby. I'm going to have to do take some serious thought about this move and possibly do some reading (although there seem to be very few forced sequences so reading will be hard). But I'm going out shortly, for the rest of the day, and I don't want to make a hasty move here - hence it'll be a good 9/10 hours at least before I move. Moves I am going to consider include a cap at J15, some kind of pincer/splitting move (no idea what the technical term would be) at L17 or M17, or perhaps even a direct attempt to cut the 2-space extension (it looks rather crude to my eyes, but I'm not going to reject it without at least investigating it). There are also big points elsewhere, of course, but this situation on top feels rather urgent to me, so I'm 99% sure I'm going to play something in that area.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm25 robinz vs DIV - Move 25; prisoners: Black 0 White 1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . X . . X . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . X . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 2 O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Black should not have left the sente turn here.

OK, I'm back now. (Have spent the day playing bridge - something I play much better than Go, although I guess that's natural given I've been playing it for 10 years and not 5 months - but still got the occasional time to mull over this position in my head.) This is the move I much prefer of the options I mentioned in my last post. (And I haven't seen any more that I like.)

Firstly, attempting to cut the extension seems to be just as bad as my first reaction said it was - firstly, I don't actually think it works, and even if it does I will probably end up taking gote to capture a stone and end up with what looks like a horribly over-concentrated position.

Playing at L17 or M17 doesn't seem great either, as black can just cap me and leave me with nowhere to run to. A sample sequence might be something like this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc robinz vs DIV - Move 26; prisoners: Black 0 White 1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . X . . X . 1 . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . 3 . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . X . O . . . . 4 . 2 . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

- I've no idea if 4 here is black's best move, but whatever happens I've just created a very weak-looking group which black can have fun chasing around and building outside strength with; just what I don't want. (And that's even if I manage to live, which looks difficult enough in itself.)

But this cap which I've just played looks like it works OK for me. I think black has to jump out on the other side, at F15, or I can play there (or nearby) to put real pressure on the black group. But then I think I have at least a couple of tenable options - the shoulder hit at G14 looks interesting, for one. The plan will be to try to build up outside influence towards the centre (hopefully linking up with the wall at some point) while harassing black's stones. After all, at a later point I can always slide underneath the black group from my ponnuki to try to steal some eyespace.

I've tried to think up specific variations, but it's unclear to me just where black will play, and I think I should be able to come up with something against most if not all moves. It also somehow "feels" natural, about the right distance away from the wall (a 4-space extension from a 3-stone wall, right? although I guess the wall as a whole is rather taller than that). While I realise my feel for the game is still pretty weak right now, I don't think it can be a bad thing to make moves by "feel" in positions where reading variations proves hard. At least I'll learn something (from observers' comments, as well as from what actually happens in the game) if my intuition turns out to be wrong

We're now moving into what could easily be the decisive phase of the game - I hope I don't mess it up too badly!

Ok, because he didn't move in at this point, I doubt he'll try to move in on any of these and seems to be playing toward the center, so I'll take the sides and as much corner as I can, and taking sides will strengthen my play toward the center later as I invade and reduce and whatnot.

OK, this is probably going to be another crucial decision, and I'm not quite sure where to play - although there are lots of places I'd like to, unfortunately the rules of the game only allow me to play one move at a time If the observers will forgive me (and, like I said at the start, feel free to make any suggestions to improve the quality of the commentary I'm giving as I move), this is I think going to be another long stream-of-consciousness style post as I try to figure out where is the most important area (and then the best point in that area) to play.

First, a few words on my opponents' last move - I find it a little unexpected, although not totally so (I'd have wanted a move in that area myself eventually if black hadn't played there, although I don't think I was yet in any kind of position to do so). It at least threatens to make most of the top side of the board into black territory, so seems reaonable enough from that point of view. The problem with that is that I still have my ponnuki staring down at all of that (I wonder if black now regrets letting me have it - I must confess I still can't see why he did), and there are some huge endgame moves for me there (the monkey jump, for one, and doubtless other variations on that theme). That's for (much) later, of course - Black can't prevent anything there without making some horrendously slow moves and letting me take a lot of the big points remaining. But I feel that black's strategy here is a little inconsistent.

So, where should I play my next move? The following lettered points (in no particular order) are the moves, or at least areas, I'm considering:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc robinz vs DIV - Move 28; prisoners: Black 0 White 1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . X . . X . . X . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . X . O . a . . O . . b . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . c . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . e . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . d . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Of these, of course a and b are, broadly speaking, responses to black's latest move, while the other three are moves that I would like to be able to play elsewhere.

- a is consistent with the commentary I gave in my last move, as it's where I expected black to play. But if I play there (or a different point nearby, say one to the right), my position feels kind of over-concentrated (I know this is a high level concept which I'm too weak to really understand, but in the general sense of it meaning "too many stones of my colour in one area doing too little for me", it feels like that). Plus I wasn't too worried about black getting that in, as his group will still come under attack - although somewhat less so with his latest move in there. So I don't think I want to play this now.

- b feels like a logical continuation from my last move, given where black has just played. It applies more pressure, limits black's potential territory on top and will go a long way towards giving me a big moyo in the centre. It also prevents black from jumping out there, which would put some pressure on my own stone that I played last move. All in all, this move feels sensible to me - playing at the juncture of two moyos is supposed to be big, right?

But I'm a little bored of responding to black's moves, which I've been doing for a while now, so taking sente to play elsewhere on the board could be fun. Hence the other 3 moves I've highlighted - although sadly, I don't think any of them require a response from black.

- c is I think my favourite move if I do choose to tenuki. Firstly, it prevents black making the "ideal extension" from his corner enclosure that books and websites seem to talk about. If black plays there then he does have a fairly monstrous amount of right-side territory, which already looks more or less impossible to invade sensibly, and probably with few options to reduce as well. I still have space to make a base on either side (which is why I think, if I do play here, it has to be that specific point rather than any other in the area - although I guess the equivalent point on the 4th line might be playable). Further, if I get to make my base towards the bottom, rather than the top, it may be possible to make black's own bottom-right group feel unhappy. This would compensate somewhat for me making a weak group of my own, which is one reason I have for disliking the move. In particular, if black plays a move below and forces me to make my base to the north, I will have a weak group very close to black's strength, which feels wrong on general principles.

- I'm not going to say a lot about d and e, because while typing the above I've already narrowed it to a choice between b and c. d and e (and moves nearby - the exact points above are not set in stone, although they're both probably the moves I would play if I did choose to move in those areas) are just generic "big" moves, which enlarge my territory or framework, but not much else. Definitely moves I'll want to make later (and after all I should get the chance to make at least one of them), but right now I think I can leave them as I feel that b and/or c have higher priority.

So, which of b or c is it to be? The interesting thing is that I don't think the two moves are totally divorced from each other. I said a moment ago that, if I play c, the sequence I am concerned about would be something like:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc robinz vs DIV - Move 27; prisoners: Black 0 White 1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . X . . X . . X . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . X . O . . . . O . . x . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . . . . . . . . . . . y . 3 . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

followed by perhaps a capping move on one of the two stones, or some other attacking option. But, if I already have a stone at x (suppose black has played somewhere on the bottom or on the left in the meantime), I can jump out to y (or perhaps one further, to O14), and be reasonably well linked up. Of course, for move 4 in the above sequence black could well play at y himself, but then I can play in the elephant's eye and give black a few headaches about keeping his stones connected, while also having possibilities to break out to my own centre stones for black to keep an eye on. So, while it would be going too far to call a move at b sente in this regard, it does I think make c a much more attractive follow up. And if black does make his extension on the right side, I will at least have kept sente.

So, what of playing c first, aiming for b later - the same plan in the opposite order, as it were? Well, I think this is the inferior way to play it - Black can just play as in the diagram above, and then play his move 4 at b himself, and now I have 2 groups under attack.

Thus, b it is - I keep coming back to how useful that move would be for black, as well as for me. One final afterthought would be to wonder if this 2-space extension (along the 5th line, after all, which doesn't seem normal) is a little too loose. Is it cuttable? The answer seems to be "perhaps", but in trying to do so, even if it is successful, black will be forcing me to build up extra strength in my 5th-line stones, so I'm not too worried about that possibility.

So, there we are. I wonder if black will take his extension on the right now? It would seem a good time to me, and I'm not sure black can do any more with the top for now (it will come under attack from me later if it's not defended, but I'm sure now is not the time for that). I can't help feel that black has made a strategic mistake by choosing to develop the top rather than the right (to be honest I more than half-expected him to sacrifice the F17 stone, but the J17 extension is of course inconsistent with that), but there's no way at our level that anyone can talk about a game-losing mistake at this stage

I kind of like all of robinz ideas and moves. I think "c" is the biggest and would play it, I think there's a lack of appreciation of how big Black can make that right hand side if he gets there first, but the alternatives I still good. I would seal in in the top left first, as that's sente, and then play "e" in preference to "d", but I think White's setting himself up for a pretty good game here.

That said, Black's the one with the cash, so White needs to use his influence well.

Ok, this is a move I am making after a drunken night of Halo: Reach and a long walk home. I think maybe this isn't aggressive enough nor safe enough...which at this moment I am into. I can start fights if he approaches this stone and can approach his open lower left corner if he doesn't approach. this can help me on the right side or the top. It's gonna be fun.

OK, so black did, as I expected, take an extension on the right. However, black's right-hand side formation is not without its weaknesses, and I think I have to try to exploit them right now - if he is allowed to turn all of the right-hand side into solid territory then I think I'm going to be just too far behind, given that even if I can build up a big framework in the centre (which I'm still a way from doing) it's unlikely that more than half of it will turn into territory.

So, my next move needs to be some kind of invasion on the right - but where? There's actually a pleasing symmetry (of sorts) there, in that the stone just played makes two different mixed 4-space extensions, in relation to the R6 and R16 stones respectively. I recall reading a page on SL a while ago regarding the correct point at which invade such an extension, but I don't recall exactly what it said - I feel looking it up will be cheating, so I'm not going to do so (not even after having decided on this move and posted it, as the page will also tell me what the best continuations are). But the first choice is which one to invade. I choose the lower one, because it might (depending on how black responds) give me an opportunity to attack his lower-right group from both sides. Actually, I suspect this group is alive easily enough, but sealing it in would be a nice thing to try to do, or at least threaten to do.

As for why I choose this particular spot - I'm trying to recall what the SL page said (and it's entirely possible I've picked them wrong one), and think it's something to do with what happens if black attaches below, I hane and he crosscuts:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc robinz vs DIV - Move 30; prisoners: Black 0 White 1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . X . . X . . X . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . X . O . . . . O . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , a . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4 3 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 7 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

- this sequence keeps black separated, and makes miai out of escaping towards the centre and capturing a stone (while making eyespace along the side) at a. Whereas in the alternative sequence:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc robinz vs DIV - Move 30; prisoners: Black 0 White 1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . X . . X . . X . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . X O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . X . O . . . . O . . O . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 6 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5 8 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . O . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

the fact that the stone at 5 has only 2 liberties forces 7, and then 8 connects underneath.

I've probably either hopelessly forgot/misunderstood what that page says, or chosen completely the wrong whole-board situation to do it in. But, like I said, I think something needs to be done - and now - about that right-hand side. Plus, it's about time some fighting started in this game

What non-contact plays have you considered?

I assume you're talking about non-contact responses from black to my last move?

Not really anything specific, to be honest - I'm relying on being able to jump out into the centre (or escape there in some other way) if I need to, as I don't think black can block me in all directions at once. Depending on which direction the fight goes in, I may be able to link up with my own bottom-right group, and in any case I feel that things shouldn't go badly for me (they may still do, of course, because I will inevitably make mistakes - I just hope my opponent will make more) if I can escape into the centre, simply because black has very little facing the centre on the board at the moment, whereas I have quite a lot (even if much of it is quite some distance away).

I guess this isn't quite the kind of answer you wanted - but I'm afraid I don't see the point in giving (or even looking in much detail at) actual variations when there is simply such a wide choice of moves black could make in each situation. (I think so far there have only been about 4 or 5 black moves in this game that haven't surprised me!)

Yeah, I was referring to your guesses on Black's next move. For example, if I'm ever planning on a reduction / invasion like that, I always wonder what would happen if, for example, my opponent capped my move, or at least prevent it seeing friendly faces. As you say, you expect easy access to the center, so a brief wonder whether or not Black could directly prevent that would seem the logical next step.

Not a criticism or anything I promise, I was just interested to see if you'd thought of it or not