Life In 19x19

I'm really looking forwards to this. The open format seems very instructive, and Fwiffo is strong enough to help point out my mistakes.

Strategy: All right, strategically, I normally aim for a kobayashi opening, because of the fast way it envelops the board. It kind of scatters a glob of flexible stones all over the board, and dares the opponent to try to cover as much ground. However, I like trying to adapt my strategy based on what my opponent plays. If Mister Fwiffo takes the opposite 4-4, I'm going to go for Kobayashi. If he goes for a 3-4, I will play in the corner that will provide me the best approach on it. If he allows a diagonal fuseki... I'll strongly consider it.

KobayashiFuseki is my general preferred opening.
DiagonalFuseki is when each player gets one corner stone in two diagonal corners.

I want a parallel opening. I usually play dual 4-4 as white and set my strategy based on what black plays.

This game, up to this move, is an ideal depiction of the 'Kobayashi' opening that I keep talking about. As I said before, it spreads stones quickly across the board. The objective is to be flexible. For example, my stone in the bottom left looks lonely down there, but if he pincers it, I have several options.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 Prisoners - W: 0, B: 0
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . c . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . b . 7 . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . a . . X . 8 . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

For example, I can sacrifice that stone to safely gain the corner with 'a'. Or, I can start a fight at 'b' (might be a really bad idea if I don't get a bit more support first, but I can still at least sacrifice that first stone and jump into the corner. Or I have the option at 'c', which still looks different options. I recommend this opening in general because it lets you react to situations. While you may start out picking the wrong response to a given situation, it's a good way to learn.

The idea behind Kobayashi is to invite white to approach the stone in the lower right. If white approaches closely, then black can pincer and naturally take territory on the bottom. The distant approach makes a pincer less severe, though it gives up a little bit locally. It's the standard way to approach the Kobayashi formation. There are a number of joseki that can follow.

The intent of this move is to prevent black from getting an ideal safety extension up the east side. I'm not threatening white's stone too aggressively, so he could probably tenuki if he chose. I played my pincer as wide as I did so that it would work as well as possible with the northeast. After this, white can tenuki to cover some of the top, or he can respond in the bottom right. The most concerning possibility is that he would approach my bottom right stone from the other side. However, if he does, I can either take the corner or separate the white stones, intending to make one or the other weak. If Fwiffo chooses the double-approach, I will probably try to separate him first, and take the corner if I need stability. I want to make all of my groups either stable or flexible. By this, I mean that my groups don't have to be bulletproof, I just have to have a plan B for if he tries to attack part of it. Let's see what's next.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 Prisoners - W: 0, B: 0
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . X W . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

Then black is probably forced to play R2. Any other moves I can think of leads to at least slighty unfavorable result.

Edit: What's wrong with my diagram?
Edit2: Thanks Marcus

I think the last move was a little bit the wrong direction. The point of the Kobayashi opening is to build a framework and/or territory in the bottom part of the board. But I can't say it's bad. And it's not really possible to pressure my approach stone much with this wide approach, so the pincers are uncommon. In other words, I don't know the joseki. I do remember they start with attaching and then black has a choice of hane on either side. If black chooses to hane between the white stones, then white cross-cuts.

It's bad to blindly play moves without understanding them, and since I don't know the joseki beyond the first couple moves, maybe it's bad for me to try to ape it. But I understand the idea behind the first few moves. The cross-cut is a standard technique for settling, so I think I'll manage

Okay, I thought about this. Fwiffo's right, that crosscut looks really good. However, anything else local looks like it's giving too much away. Everything just felt too small. So I figure I'll tenuki and hope to come back if things get a bit cooler on the board. At least, that's part of it. The second part is, the tenuki is in a direction that works well with my previous stone. The third part is, this tenuki threatens better followup in the southeast. It serves as a ladder-unbreaker for a potential push-and-cut.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm1 If 4 tenukis
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . B . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 . . |
$$ | . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 7 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 5 6 . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . X . . . . . 1 2 . 8 |
$$ | . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

This is all pretty tentative and up in the air. However, it looks like it would make '3' sente. I could take '1' first, but that would allow MHO a chance to play something different, changing this possibility. So I'll play my move because it works with the top, and I'll threaten to take '1' as well. Black can't stand to take '1' and '3' in sente, so I'm betting he will finish the top left in sente then take gote in the bottom right. I will lose a bit in the bottom right, but it makes it feel like I got the shape I wanted in the top left in sente.

I'm pretty out of it, so perhaps this is a huge mistake. I was up at all hours in the night due to small emergencies, but this move looks good through the haze, so I'm going for it. I feel like I'm reading either much worse or much better than I normally do right now.

Tenuki from a contact play seems pretty risky. Let's see what I can do about that. The clamp seems to be a good way to disrupt black's intentions.