Life In 19x19

I almost got greedy and had a huge failure by playing S5. The cut would have ripped me apart. I will defend the cut, effectively killing off and now and I even have a monkey jump to link my stones from this position OR I can escape to the center with my stones. I don't see how I can lose this fight now. I think and were both mistakes.

Needless to say, I think I goofed pretty bad in the right corner. I don't know why but I thought I'd be able to capture the S3 group in this scenario. I guess this goes to show my reading sucks.

I'll give it a few more moves, but I doubt I can make up for the right side.

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

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

I think either of these should be enough for white.

Oh my. I guess I succeeded in winning that fight. (That or black has a very elaborate plan that allows him to tenuki)

I'm going to make a base here. I am treating 'a' and 'b' as a sort of miai. My goal is to get stronger and then counter-attack the group on the bottom. I considered going at the corner with 'a' right away, but then my opponent could play at and make his group on the bottom stronger while forcing me into the corner. I see no reason to help him settle his group. However, if he wants to insist I dive for the corner by attempting to block my way out I can still make a nice base.

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[go]$$Bcm71 Target acquired
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O O X . O O . . . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . X X O O . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . X . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X O . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . O , O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . O O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . . |
$$ | . . 1 . . . b . . . . . . O X X X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . B O O O X O . |
$$ | . . . . . O . 2 . B . . B O . X O O . |
$$ | . . . a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

So, assuming I have won a victory for the good guys on the right, let's look at the score. I will count dead stones as 2 points to take their capture into account. Also I have my 6.5 komi.

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[go]$$Bcm71 Black: 17 White: 55.5
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . C . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . . C C . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | C C O O X . O O C C . . . O . . . . . |
$$ | C C O X C C X X O O . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | C C O X C C . . . . . . . . . . C C C |
$$ | . . . X . . X . . . . . . . . X C C C |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . C C C |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C X C |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X W . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . O , O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O B C O O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B O C C C |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . O B B B C C |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . O C O B B C C |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . X O O O B O C |
$$ | . . . . . O . O . X . . X O C B O O C |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C C C C |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C C C C |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

So I am winning for now. I can't give black the top right because I still have the 3-3 invasion, same for the bottom left, and I plan to attack his group which may involve undercutting it so I can't give him points their either. By the same token he has both possible monkey jumps on the top so those points are reduced.

My goal is to win by less than 2 points. So, how do I make sure my opponent gains 38 points on me by the end of the game?

First, let's not invade the 3-3 on the top right. So we can give black those nice points. Then, let's not do the 3-3 on the bottom left either. I may need to play a stone at 'a' which would prompt a response at 'b' so I can't give him all the points there.

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[go]$$Bcm71 Black: 37 White: 55.5
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . C . . . . . . . C C |
$$ | . . . . X . . . C C . . . . . c . C C |
$$ | C C O O X . O O C C . . . O . . d C C |
$$ | C C O X C C X X O O . e . . . X C C C |
$$ | C C O X C C . . . . . . . . . . C C C |
$$ | . . . X . . X . . . . . . . . X C C C |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . C C C |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C X C |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X W . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . O , O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O B C O O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B O C C C |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . O B B B C C |
$$ | C C . . . . . . . . . . O C O B B C C |
$$ | C C C X . . . . . , . . X O O O B O C |
$$ | C C b . . O . O . X . . X O C B O O C |
$$ | C C . a . . . . . . . . . . . C C C C |
$$ | C C . . . . . . . . . . . . . C C C C |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Alright. So by restraining myself here and not worrying about those invasions I've given black 20 points. In exchange I get to avoid gote reductions and focus on maintaining my own territory. For example, perhaps I trade c for d and then play e. This will help secure my top points even if black does get a better deal. I can afford to be generous at this point because I've gotten ahead.

The plan with this cross game was to play for territory and be up in points early. So far I seem to have done that. However, I didn't expect to get such a large kill this soon in the game.