is the kikashi in the bamboo joint of Michael Redmond that must not be played later than now.

White's reply at , giving atari at Black's single stone above, will benefit White territorially, but at the cost of the loss of one liberty in the Main Semeai ( 738a).

There are two approach-move liberties (), equivalent to one real liberty.
Both sides played the same number of moves, but Black has an additional direct liberty in the (earlier) bamboo joint.
In total, Black's group has eight liberties now, and is safe from the Punishment Semeai.

Black has one surplus liberty (related to the Main Semeai, wherefore he needs seven), so he has a free endgame move outside the Main Semeai.
At the moment that Black starts the reduction of White's top right corner, the endgame on the left side of the board has not yet been played. Black will use his free move for protecting his territory in the top left corner, securing a large territorial gain that will win him the game.
Therefore, White cannot afford to play this line.

Please note that – after Black played this extra move outside the Main Semeai – he must not connect any one of his hasami-tsuke stones, as he would fall prey to the Punishment Semeai.

Otherwise, he would be able to connect his stone at the first line later.

This move is gote, so Black loses his liberty in the Main Semeai.
There are no approach-move liberties any longer; we can count only seven direct liberties for Black's group.
In total, Black's group has seven liberties now, and is still safe from the Punishment Semeai.

Please note that Black must not also connect his pivotal hasami-tsuke stone, because he would fall prey to the Punishment Semeai.

White's solid connection at in reply to Black's kikashi does not lose a liberty in the Main Semeai, but will benefit Black territorially in return ( 738b).

White connected solidly, so there is no false eye.
Again, Black has an additional liberty in the (earlier) bamboo joint.
In total, Black's group has seven liberties, and so is safe from the Punishment Semeai.

Please note that Black is able to connect both hasami-tsuke stones here, as this would only shift his liberty at the first line to another point of the board (please note that – for demonstrative purposes – we did not display White's corresponding local moves).

Both moves are gote, so Black does not only lose his -liberty in the Main Semeai, but we can also count an additional -liberty for White.
Black's group has eight direct liberties.
In total, Black's group has seven liberties now, and is still safe from the Punishment Semeai.

However, connecting Black's hasami-tsuke stones destroys four points of White territory in the Capture Variation (the Semeai Variation that Black already wins is not affected).
Now, Black will win the Capture Variation by three points with the classical line of play, respectively by two points with Yamada Shinji's tsuke played.
Therefore, White cannot afford to play this line.

White will be unable to win the Professional Solution, if she answers Black's kikashi in the bamboo joint locally.
Either Black will gain sufficient points by defending his territory in the upper left corner (if White answered with the atari), or White will lose too much territory in her own upper right corner (if she answered with the solid connection).

Therefore, she has to consider playing elsewhere. The best way to do this is to attack Black's upper left corner first, before Black can take the opportunity for a defensive action.

In principle, at an appropriate moment in the reduction sequence in the upper left corner (not displayed here to not unnecessarily complicate the flow of this presentation), Black must play tenuki, in order to give atari at White's two stones at the right, with a move at .
forces Black to capture at , and has been inserted here to simplify the presentation.

White will get two moves in a row in the upper left corner.

Black will be unable to follow the "usual" endgame sequences at the left side of the board to the very end alternatively, as White then would answer his earlier kikashi "late", winning the game by a small margin.

Black ends in gote, so he loses his -liberty.
We can surely assume that White will get sente in the "external" sequence, so it will be her, who continues with the Main Semeai.
Effectively, Black's large group has seven direct liberties () and two approach-move liberties (), which are both real liberties here, due to Black's eye.
In total, White will need nine moves to take Black's group of the board, so there is no danger at all of entering the Punishment Semeai.

On the other hand, Black has only small endgame moves in the upper right corner up his sleeves, so his two surplus liberties (related to the Main Semeai) will not be of much use for him.

The game will be mainly decided by the extent of White's destructions of Black's top left corner territory.

White played one more move than Black in the upper left corner (again not displayed here to not unnecessarily complicate the flow of this presentation), before Black decided to play tenuki, and to capture White's two stones in the upper right. Quite surprisingly, the tsuke of Yamada Shinji at ( 738c) threatens Black's top left corner less than the "classical" atari at ( 738d).
She now has the option of playing a second move in a row there.
However, White has to keep in mind that Black can get a second eye for his group at the right with a move at . Living independently with this group is surprisingly large, and might be enough to compensate for Black's additional loss in the top left corner, due to White's third free move there. According to our analysis, White will be unable to kill Black's entire corner ( 738h).
Please also note that White still has to resolve the hanezeki by capturing its tail in this case, because her group at the left has only one eye.

White might flip a coin, but which has two identical sides, both favouring Black. We think that ...

Black will win the game by at least two points.

White's only remaining option is to consider starting the endgame in the upper left corner with her move (or any of the similar ones before, when she got sente during the creation process of the nakade at the left). For details, please refer to the next chapter.