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:
$$Wc robinz vs DIV - Move 28; prisoners: Black 0 White 1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 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 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------
- 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:
$$Wc robinz vs DIV - Move 27; prisoners: Black 0 White 1
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 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 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------
- 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
