Life In 19x19

But I really hope he doesn't play any of the points he marked.

I was tempted to pincer but it seemed too aggressive. C4 also looks interesting, but it leaves a weak point at F3. So I'll just extend, and go low because of black's low position in the lower right.
I'm trying to play simple in this game.

Although I was torn on this ... maybe jumping in is a better move? It's decisions like that that usually get me into trouble in my own games. However, little brother is playing a solid move, and Black's going to have to fix that defect sometime ... meantime, we're continue to buy points.

I considered approaching the upper left first; that's the sequence you try to get away with in handicap games, albeit with the middle stone high. But because of our weaknesses at a and b, I think that if W ignores our follow-up is better here... in the second of these diagrams it looks to me like both B and W have a wobbly group, but W doesn't have any eyes yet.

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[go]$$Wcm10 Move 14... P: B-0, W-0... C: B-7(8) W-10(4)
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 8 . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . b . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 , . . . . . , . . . . 1 , O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm10 Move 14... P: B-0, W-0... C: B-7(8) W-10(4)
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 2 , . . . . . , . . . . 1 , O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 6 . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . 8 . . 5 . . . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm11 Move 16... P: B-0, W-0... C: B-7(7) W-10(4)
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 1 , . . . . . , . . . . O , O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 5 . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . 7 . . 4 . . . 6 . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

I don't like 7, though.

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[go]$$Bcm11 I wonder if these will be the next moves.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 1 , . . . . . , . . . . O , O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 5 . O . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . 8 6 . . 4 . 7 . . . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Playing C3 just feels too passive. Now is the time to play to separate the black stones, in my opinion.

I just hope I'm not a) throwing Phelan into too deep of waters (I don't think so, but we'll see), or; b) ruining Violence's plans.

If Violence approves Marcus' change, I'm leaning towards B8. The conventional response for W at that point is to hane and make a tiny little mini-group on the edge, which would, imho, end up looking like a very premature invasion, with W's corner group still very unsettled. When I say "conventional", though, I mean "conventional for invading a three-space extension on the third line with no friendly stones nearby." The 4-4 stone may enable W to safely keep us low.

I'm also considering E6. If E6, C3, D9, we have gote but I think B can be satisfied locally - it looks like B and W started to play out a pincer joseki and then W took tenuki in the middle of the joseki, letting B add a stone to an urgent area. (Or maybe it just looks overconcentrated.) If E6, E8 then... I don't know. It looks like fun! I think I'd start with C3, treating C10 lightly. If W adds a move to neutralize C10, B plays H3 and the game starts fo' reals. If W plays J3, then ... I think E10, J8 first, then I think C14 for a B's base becomes fairly urgent.

Man... don't waste corrections on moves that aren't such a big deal...

The key here is to get more corrections than the opponent so that you can change more vital moves...

My reasoning hasn't really changed. If c3, I follow up with d9; if e8, c3.