Hello Everyone! Today we shall continue with our discussion on the 4-4 point Joseki. Before that, please subscribe to this blog by clicking on the “Sign me up!” button on the right side panel 
Diagram 1.
Against the White approach move of 1, Black 2 pincer is a common move. There are a few reasons why Black wants to do this. Firstly, Black may want to develop along top side, secondly, it wants to prevent White from developing the top side. Also, it may want to force White to go into the corner and then seal White up at the same time building a moyo like the one in Diagram 7 in our first lesson on the Opening.
This pincer is a very tight pincer and is very severe. But you may ask why not just be the most severe and contact it like in Diagram 2 below?
Like we have said quite a number of times in our previous lessons, you do not touch your opponent’s weak stone because doing that will make it stronger.
Diagram 2.
If Black attaches into the White stone with 1, it will provoke White 2 which strengthens itself while the two Black stones are now weak and separated. This is not good for Black.
However, you will not mind touching your opponent’s stone if it is already strong. By touching stones that are already strong, you will be able to make it over concentrated.
Diagram 3.
In the case of Black 4 above, Black does not mind touching the White stone because the White has already slide into the corner to make a base and Black has already played Black 2 which has strengthened his 4-4 stone.
Diagram 4.
When Black pincers at 2, White can jump into the 3-3 point with White 3 as in Diagram 4 above. Black now has two options depending on his strategy, i.e. he can either block at “a” or “b”.
Let’s look at these in more detail but before that, you may ask, why just “a” or “b”? Can Black play something else?
Diagram 5.
Why can’t Black answer at “c” or “d” in Diagram 5 above? What is wrong?
Well, to be honest, I don’t know but perhaps we can analyse this together. I have made a search on a database of more than 50,000 professional games but none of them has black answering at “c” nor “d”. There must be some good reasons why.
Diagram 6.
If Black plays at 1 in Diagram 6, White will play up to White 6. After this, the marked White stone can either be connected back via “a” or it can still run out if the time is ripe. As such, I feel that Black 1 is not tight enough to control the situation, leaving some bad aji behind.
Diagram 7.
If Black plays at 1 in Diagram 7, it effectively give White a choice of either playing “a” or “b” whereas it was initially Black’s right to choose which direction he wants to play. Therefore, this Black 1 also feels loose and gave White just a little bit too much freedom.
As such, I feel that the answer of either “a” or “b” in Diagram 4 above is good because it is tight and doesn’t give White much freedom of choice, as well as aji.
Diagram 8. (Main Joseki)
Diagram 8 above is a Joseki when Black blocks with Black 4 (i.e. “a” in Diagram 4). Black 12 can also be played at “a” which is more common nowadays as Black 12 above is perceived to be slow and over-concentrated. We will discuss more about this below. Therefore, if you compare this Diagram with Diagram 6 above, you will feel that in this diagram, Black is more solid and there is less aji.
Let’s study this Joseki in more depth.
Diagram 9.
When Black blocks at 4, instead of White 5 in Diagram 8, you may like to think why not White plays at 5 in Diagram 9 instead. Well, this variation is not unplayable and is sometimes played as part of a special strategy but in general, it is not Joseki. Why? Let’s look at Diagram 10 below.
Diagram 10.
Diagram 10 above is a common Joseki when Black blocks with Black 4 (i.e. “b” in Diagram 4 above). If you compare this diagram with Diagram 9 above, you will notice that in this diagram, White has a bigger corner. As such, if White plays as in Diagram 9 above, he will not be happy if he compares what he gets if the Joseki in Diagram 10 is played. Therefore, White’s sequence in Diagram 9 is only played when there is a special strategic situation but it is not common.
Diagram 11.
Let’s continue with our sequence in Diagram 8. Now let’s assume Black plays the hane of Black 6 in Diagram 11 instead of the extension in Diagram 8. This is one very common mistake that Black makes and I have seen this happen so many times. It is worth your while to try to understand this because chances are it will happen in your game too.
If Black hane with Black 6 in Diagram 11, White can punish Black severely with the descend of White 7. If Black tries to block with Black 8, White cuts with White 9 and then next threaten to play at “a” to capture the three black stones. Black will then have to atari with Black 10 and then come back to protect the cut at “a” with Black 12. White then captures one stone and has a superior position.
Compare this diagram with Diagram 8 and you will see that White has a much better position and has thickness facing along the right side and the center as a result of the capture of the Black 6 stone. This is the best punishment.
Diagram 12.
Instead of Black 8 in Diagram 11, Black may connect with Black 8 in Diagram 12 above. The sequence to Black 14 follows and as a result, White gets a corner that is not only slightly bigger if compared to Diagram 10 but also is superbly solid.
Therefore, the hane of Black 6 in Diagram 11 is a bad move of which White can exploit and get more out of the bargain. It is therefore important to remember to extend to Black 6 in Diagram 8 and not to hane in Diagram 11.
Many beginners confuse this with this joseki below.
Diagram 13.
Diagram 13 above is a common Joseki when White invaded Black’s corner by playing White 1 at the 3-3 point. In this Joseki, it is okay for Black to hane with Black 4 because White does not have a stone outside (i.e. White’s approach move of White 1 in Diagram 8). With one stone outside, Black cannot hane. So don’t confuse this Joseki with the sequence in Diagram 11.
Diagram 14.
Okay, after understanding why Black needs to extend to Black 6 in Diagram 8, let’s see why White plays the hane of White 7 in that diagram and not White 7 as in Diagram 14 above. The reason is because if White plays White 7 as in Diagram 14, Black will answer with Black 8. Effectively, White is pushing from behind.
Pushing from behind and letting Black plays one more stone towards the center is no good. Therefore, do not push from behind unnecessary, giving Black more influence towards the center which will certainly be very useful. Push just enough, then stop! Therefore, White forces with the hane of White 7 in Diagram 8 and Black has to block with Black 8, if not, White will save its stone and get a big corner. When White connects with White 9, Black has to connect with Black 10, else White will cut and again get to save its stone and get a big corner.
After forcing the corner and Black connected with Black 10, White jumps to White 11, getting out. Remember our fundamental? You need to get out and resist getting sealed inside.
Notice that White jumps out and not pushes out from behind. This is a very important technique.
After White jumps out, Black reinforces with Black 12 or at “a”.
Now you will probably ask why is Black 12 in Diagram 8 necessary. Actually, Black 12 is a rather slow move and makes Black having an over-concentrated shape and we rarely see it played nowadays (I think I mentioned this in one of our previous lessons). Nowadays, playing at “a” is more common. However, as a beginner, it makes no harm to play more solidly.
The reason for the need to reinforce whether at Black 12 or at “a” is to prevent White from using the aji of the White stone. For example, in Diagram 15 below, White can make use of the aji and play at the marked White stone and this threatens the sequence to White 5, digging out the Black base and put it on the run. A reinforcement by playing at Black “a” in Diagram 8 above prevents this sequence. Besides that, a Black move at “a” also reinforces Black 2 and gives it a base in case the White stone runs out.
Diagram 15.
Also, notice that White should not pull out the White stone immediately after Black reinforces. The following diagram explains why.
Diagram 16.
If White forcefully tries to pull out the White stone by playing at White 1, Black will first force with Black 2, threatening to seal up the corner and capturing a White stone. White has to answer with White 3, thereafter Black will poke with Black 4 to make White heavy, then connect all his stones with Black 6. Now the whole group of White stone is without a base and has to run for its life while Black is thick and strong. This result is not good for White.
Today we have discussed one of the main Joseki in a pincer of an approach move. This main Joseki is as in Diagram 8 above and we have also discussed why each move is a good move. I hope that this lesson has been helpful to you. We will continue to study more of the 4-4 Joseki in future lessons.
Till then, have fun, play more games and solve more life and death problems. See you next time.
