Kiseong 12 Game 1 Left Side

Position after black 41  

White has 11+6.5 sure points, black has 7 points in the lower right and about 12 points at the bottom. But the main white's concern is a weak group on the left side.

Moves 42-51  

HolIgor: My comments later.

(): HolIgor: This seems to be a better choice than defending the corner. Otherwise black can get big on the side playing a forcing move at .

(): HolIgor: Takes away a shape point from white. Generally white would reply, but I am not sure if the cut is that dangerous. What can black do?

Dave The threat of the cut leaves very bad aji (consider plays like a against the bottom for example) when you consider how relatively thin White is on the right side and the lower right corner. Remember that White made Black strong on the lower side in order to jump into the center. To allow Black the opportunity to cut anyway would leave all those stones in danger and thereby greatly expand Black's opportunities in the game. Black has played very thickly up to now ( is another such play). I think that is not only natural in a local tactical sense but also in terms of fixing up White's overall shape and thickness across the board. It is played to limit the scope of Black's opportunities.

(): HolIgor: Defending against the cut in a good shape.

(): The purpose is to protect a single stone from the attack, I guess. I don't think that there is a danger for a wall yet, but black could become overconcentrated.

Dave I think the first question here is why did Black choose to play from this side before playing at b? In practice against this pattern of three White stones b is the most common play by a wide margin, although is not unknown. It is not clear to me why is better. Black is very solid in the upper left. Naturally he has to be worried about not getting sufficient value for these stones but for the same reason he does not expect to be pushed around by White in this area. I assume that he expected . The other common alternative is to hane at c but this would seem to submissive here and allow Black to naturally expand the position in front of his upper-left wall so White rejects it.

(): HolIgor: I know that whenever I play a move like my opponents would draw back and I would not know what to do next, where to leave a weakness. Here white pushes forward.

Alternative Move White 46  

Dave I think if White answered submissively with , Black could be satisfied to treat this as kikashi and switch to . In the game, White ignores when it is finally played. Here White's eye shape is significantly worse than in the game and most likely has become sente.

(): HolIgor: Isn't this too much? What if white attacks the stone on the other side first? Black is not afraid of the complications and is ready for a big exchange. Interesting.

i think this move is preparation to play , because if white ignores this move, it would leave the two white stones in the bottom left stranded.

Alternative Move White 50  

Dave I think if White tries to force on the other side, Black will ignore it. The bottom left is wider than the upper left and White is not going to be able to live just by playing . Black is likely to gain more from the fight in the bottom than White can expect from the fight at the top.
(): HolIgor: Peaceful. Safe. Submissive?

Moves 52-53  

HolIgor: () ends the fight for the left side. Black has defended that end stone and got some outside influence, white is safe at the left side for the moment. White got about 3 points of territory on the left, black has also got some unspecified amount near the wall.

After this the game switched to other areas.