ScartolVsOldskyman2003

Moves 1 to 10  

Things started off calmly enough. I was leaving myself open to attack the upper left, but I think it worked out pretty well.

Moves 11 to 20  

Since white retreated to the lower side (probably assuming I would close up the lower right corner -- which I probably should have done), I kept the heat on with . After , black is squished and tight on the bottom -- but it's early.

Moves 21 to 30  

is small, but it felt necessary to stabilize the bottom. I was surprised by , and also took me by surprise. I felt I was able to make a pretty good shape out of the situation.

Moves 31 to 40  

After the corner joseki, I realized that a moyo in the center could work out pretty well. After all, white hadn't entered the middle from the top too much, and I had the support on the left to help it out. But made it clear that this wouldn't happen without a fight.

Moves 41 to 50  

So I welcomed the fight. We scrapped a little on the edges, and then white stepped into the ring with . Now it was all or nothing. I knew I would probably lose, but then I thought of that speech George Clooney makes in Ocean's Eleven, and.. well, I knew I had to give it a shot. I've been reading KatosAttackAndKill and I think that had a lot to do with my "go get 'em" attitude.

Moves 51 to 60  

The keimas and felt really solid, but after I felt like there would be no way to keep this thing contained. was somewhat desperate -- I felt like I might get some advantage if I could use my wall-making for a more realistic purpose and snatch a corner or something. is similar; I'd been planning to do it at some point, and it seemed as good a time as any. I didn't realize how useful it would be on the whole board.

Suggestion.  

unkx80: The keimas may be very solid, but I feel that they make it too easy on white. I would suggest playing along the lines in this diagram. The other moves may be disputed, but I think is the only move.

Moves 61 to 70  

I think is a mistake. If white had used the weakness of the stones to connect, he would have had a much easier time of it. But I guess he worried that black would connect on the right. It seems that white believed he would be able to make everything live, and didn't have to risk anything -- a pretty fair assumption, I suppose.

was the last straw. It was time to close up the middle and start fighting for life.

Next: The Fight!