I will be blogging about each move as it is made, along with a thumbnail of my board as it changes. Click on each picture to see a larger photo and a note on where the actual move was made, hosted at flickr.com.

Black 1. Q-4 Here Dan made a fairly standard opening. The 4-4 point in the corner (or the lower right star point) puts Dan in a fairly good position to both advance into the center and claim the corner when he chooses to do this. At this point, he controls nothing, but he is setting himself up to claim that corner when the times comes.

White 2. D-17 Here I make a more modern opening at D-17. The 3-4 point is has some benefits over the 4-4 point because it actually controls territory on the top rail, makes a serious claim to the corner (slightly stronger than the 4-4 point, because its a little closer to the corner), and can be easily converted into a similar claim on the top-left rail a little easier than the 4-4 point. But it is somewhat less versatile with regards to the center than the 4-4 point is, that is it will take me two moves both to secure the corner AND to advance toward the center, where it will only take Dan one move into the center (but two moves to secure larger territories on the sides and in the corner from the 4-4 than from the 3-4). It depends on where one’s focus is where one will open. Some people will do some crazy shit and open at the 5-3 point or even the 5-4 point and these moves, unless made by a master, can easily be converted into a disaster for those using them. I am nothing like a master, so I will stay away from the 5 line when making my openings. Read the rest of this entry »