OK, I missed this - it stops me playing as I wanted to in my last post. But, while I've not read everything out yet, this descent must be right. White has 2 weak groups right next to each other, and one of them must die now. Either I think will be fine now (if white manages to live with the right-hand group then I will certainly get to seal it in, probably in sente), and I can even aim to kill both

there is nothing appealing about playing with that group no more
at least for right now, left me finish this upper left corner and see
how the game flows a little bit more

Well, no choice here - at least not locally. I suppose if I thought the fate of the right-hand white group depended on who got the next move, I would play there now, but having read a few lines I'm pretty confident I can still kill it.

I'm surprised neither player has noticed that the closest the corner can come to living is an L+1, and black has sente (and the descent), so white dies. This sort of life and death should become automatic to get into the low sdks.

It dies? Am I missing something obvious?

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . 4 . . 6 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 X 2 . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . O . . . X 3 O O O O O . |
$$ | . . . O . X . . . X . . . . X X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O . . . . X . . . X X X |
$$ | . . O . O . . . . O . . . . . . O O . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O X O O O O . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . O X X . X X X . . . . . X O X O . . |
$$ | . . X , X . . . . , O . X . X X X O . |
$$ | . . X X X . . . . . . . X O O O X O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . O O X X O O . . |
$$ | . . O . . X . . . . . . . O X O X O . |
$$ | . O O . X . . . . . . . . O X X X X . |
$$ | X X O X . . . . . . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O O O . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | X X X O X O . . . . O . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . X X O . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

Sigh, I messed up who had sente after the descent. I have no idea how I made 1d ...

there are about 5 ways this can go i counted
his bet bet here is playing at n18
im stil not showing variations
i dont want to jynx my corner too

there score looks about even so im planning on fighting for every point on the board

And again, the only move. I've only just realised that white can start some complications with M16, but I have a few reasonable-looking choices for answering that, so there's no reason to be afraid to play the obvious move here. (I'm also surprised he didn't play Q18 while it was sente - now there could be more trouble for his corner than there might otherwise have been.)

he has to play o16 here to prevent me from connecting with my one space jump after he does that i will go from there
im just taking it slow and steady 

Another no-brainer - the last thing I want is for white to connect his corner to some of his other stones in the vicinity. I am aware that now I may have to watch that my wall doesn't get shut in and short of liberties, but I'm pretty confident I'm OK in most if not all variations.

right here m16 is his best bet to stop me from capturing the four black stone on the top side

im just going step by step here taking it slow

Just keeping white sealed in, but more solidly than with the direct block at M16. I will surely now get a great result in this corner (either killing white, or if not then at least keeping sente), provided I keep my wall alive. If white doesn't prevent them, then either O14, capturing a stone, or Q14, achieving a connection to the south (while also clearing up some aji) should see to that. The only way I think white can render both ineffective is to play Q14 himself. Then my position does look a little hairy, but I seem to come out happily in the following variation:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm119 Prisoner Count
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . O . . . X O O O O O O . |
$$ | . . . O . X . . . X . . O X X X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O . . . 1 X O 3 . X X X |
$$ | . . O . O . . . . O . . 8 4 5 2 O O . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . 7 6 9 . . . |
$$ | . O X O O O O . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . O X X . X X X . . . . . X O X O . . |
$$ | . . X , X . . . . , O . X . X X X O . |
$$ | . . X X X . . . . . . . X O O O X O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . O O X X O O . . |
$$ | . . O . . X . . . . . . . O X O X O . |
$$ | . O O . X . . . . . . . . O X X X X . |
$$ | X X O X . . . . . . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O O O . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | X X X O X O . . . . O . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . X X O . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

White of course has other options (most notably for ), but I don't see any that cause me any serious problems. Famous last words, no doubt

(I should finally note that the push-and-cut at M16 doesn't seem to work yet, although it adds aji for white to use in the above variation, and doubtless some others. I still think I'm OK, but it's one more thing to watch.)

I'll explain later I don't have the time sorry guys

For beginners: if W resists with , B connects out with :

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

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

If W connects with :

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B at , snapback
$$----------------------+
$$. . . . . . . . . . . |
$$. . . . X X X . . . . |
$$. . . X O O O O O O . |
$$. X . . O X X X X O . |
$$. . . X X O 4 6 X X X |
$$. O . . . X O B O O . |
$$. . . . . . 5 O . . . |
$$. . . . . . . . X . . |
$$. . . . . X O X O . . |
$$. , O . X . X X X O . |[/go]

well I can't put up variations right now but I'm pretty sure that's dead

I been sitting here thinking and I'm pretty sure

Not much of a explaniation I know

But I'm thinking about what else to do

So much to do

Well, I'm pretty sure this works, but I guess I'll find out one way or the other over the next few moves I can give variations if anyone requests, but there are quite a few of them, none very long, and all the ones I've looked at end happily for me. The basic theme is that, while my wall is now alarmingly short in liberties, both the white groups currently blocking it in are even shorter on them.

There could be some longer-term problems if white succeeds in keeping O15 alive, when my M17 group will struggle for life. But I'll cross that bridge when (or perhaps if) I come to it - I've been unable to find a better move than this one. I contemplated first playing the atari at O14, but didn't like the look of the following variation at all, so I didn't play it:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bcm121 Prisoner Count
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . O . . . X O O O O O O . |
$$ | . . . O . X . . . X . . O X X X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O . . . X X O 2 . X X X |
$$ | . . O . O . . . . O . . 5 1 O 3 O O . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . 4 6 . . . . |
$$ | . O X O O O O . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . O X X . X X X . . . . . X O X O . . |
$$ | . . X , X . . . . , O . X . X X X O . |
$$ | . . X X X . . . . . . . X O O O X O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . O O X X O O . . |
$$ | . . O . . X . . . . . . . O X O X O . |
$$ | . O O . X . . . . . . . . O X X X X . |
$$ | X X O X . . . . . . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O O O . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | X X X O X O . . . . O . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . X X O . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

still taking things one step at a time
uh oh my corner is in trouble i need to hurry & get life
hmmmn

well this is sente so i still got a few moves to figure out what im going to do 

right now im clueless, not completely though

Still the only option, I think. Not sure what white's going to do next - he's seemingly been changing his focus on almost every move! I'm more than a little worried now that N18 might die after white cuts - but I don't think it's quite game-ending if it does (although it'd make it extremely hard for me to win), and there's still plenty of fight to be had there. I'm going to fasten my seatbelt and see what happens

Could you show the variations?

I'm worried about this:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wcm124 Prisoner Count
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 2 X X X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . O X . O . 3 1 X O O O O O O . |
$$ | . . . O . X . . . X X O O X X X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O . . . X X O . . X X X |
$$ | . . O . O . . . . O . . . . O X O O . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O X O O O O . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . O X X . X X X . . . . . X O X O . . |
$$ | . . X , X . . . . , O . X . X X X O . |
$$ | . . X X X . . . . . . . X O O O X O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . O O X X O O . . |
$$ | . . O . . X . . . . . . . O X O X O . |
$$ | . O O . X . . . . . . . . O X X X X . |
$$ | X X O X . . . . . . . . O X . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O O O . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | X X X O X O . . . . O . . O . . X . . |
$$ | . . . X X O . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]

- I don't see how N18 can live here unless I can kill the corner first. I'm not saying that won't be possible - it's a capturing race that is frankly way beyond my ability to read at the moment. And I didn't feel I had much choice over my last move, so I didn't see the need to. But it's certainly possible that I could die here, hence my saying that I was worried