Life In 19x19

I decided that there's no good way to clearly make my top group strong. I also think if I don't do this now, white will have time to fix it before I have another chance to play here. If the gods smile upon me, this might even be sente. There's a chance I'll pay for this in the top right, but I don't think I'll die. This sort of attack is more my style, anyway.

i think my game is slowly shifting toward white..

Maybe my last move was not so good, I don't know. Hopefully white will have to live in gote here.

This game is really pushing me. White has managed to play into a position that is un clear for me. My plan, after he connects, is to jump to n6 and eat that single stone while he lives smallish. I almost played this instead of my last move. Maybe I should have. I'm not sure. O7 may have been a mistake, a large one if I lose sente here and die somewhere as a result.

I do not think that O7 was a mistake.

I'm sort of committed to this move after playing that last one. I wonder if Harlequin is saying my goal is too small or that it's unlikely to succeed... W will probably play r2 next and if I don't respond, he can gouge out most of the corner. Maybe that's the flaw in my plan...

my peep is a perfect timing.
since my group on left is not stable he has to answer my peep. which will be followed by another peep on top and disconnect the group as i discussed earlier.

sofar i think i am doing ok..but i think streatched my groups too thin.(my opponent played well and forced me to play as such)

major concern i have is the group on left which is so weak i have to play something to conver the weakness but i dont have time to play. now i have sente and use that unstablity to my advantage by peeping. (for those who want to learn about probe..my peep is an example of a probe)

if i have sente i will play "a" this will make his group weak and force him to run. then game will be over pretty quickly.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . X O . O , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . a O . X . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . O . X . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . X . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . W , X . X O . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . O . X . . . . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . X O . . . . . O . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

White can gain a lot from forcing me to capture that stone.

i had a feeling that he will play something like that. but it wont make much difference

...But you can expect some more comments now that I'm not typing on the iPad.

For some reason, in Kirby's games with Magicwand, I never felt like I would have been out of my comfort zone if I were Kirby. Maybe that's an artifact of being an observer. At any rate, Magicwand succeeded in reaching a position where I have no idea what to do a few moves ago. (I can hear him now: "what he played is not right. i do not know what is best but what he played is wrong. i will get lots of aji and he will lose.")

This move is pure reading, and most of reading is seeing (that conscious stuff we do is just to give our subconscious an opportunity to see the tesujis). I won't torture the stronger players (or fool the weaker ones) with diagrams of what I read out. I think that the worst that happens is I lose all points in the middle, but still keep white weak. I could be drastically and horribly wrong, though.

I cannot point to any of my stones and say, "That stone is out of place," so I do not think I have made any 1k level mistakes yet (I'm sure I've made 1d+ level mistakes, which I may or may not be strong enough to notice).

I've spent more time per move on this game than any in recent memory. I'm not sure if that actually improves my play or not, especially considering I usually end up playing my first instinct, anyway.

I'm extremely curious about Magicwand's and others' comments on this game... I'm guessing I lost his respect with O7...

Magicwand wrote:

$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . X O . O , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . X . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . X O . O . X . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . X . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . O W X . X O . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . O . X X . . . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . X O . . . . . O . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . X O . O , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . O O X . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . X . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . X O . O . X . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O . X . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . O W X . X O . X . . . |
$$ | . . X . . O . X X . . . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . X O . . . . . O . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

This is a dangerous way for white to play. Assuming black connects at H4, white then has to worry about the wedges. F4 or F6 can both be played to cut through. Can white defend against the wedge in sente? If so, I can't see a way. I am also 1k, so I'm assuming dts will be aware of that too.