Lesson 9d – 4-4 Point Joseki (4)

Hi Everyone. After our two detours on the supplementary notes on the positions after the common Joseki, let’s not continue with our Joseki discussion. We have discussed about White entering the 3-3 point when Black pincers and we have discussed both Black’s blocks on both sides. Today, we are going to discuss White’s one-point jump when Black pincers as in Diagram 1 below.

Diagram 1.

The White one-point jump towards the center is part of a special strategy. On its own, it is said that this move is not a optimum move, the reason is because, compared to White jumping into the 3-3 position, this White jump gets neither territory nor base while Black gets to play on both sides. You see, when White plays at the 3-3 point upon Black’s pincer as in the previous lessons, White gets the corner territory and is alive. White can make perhaps like 10 points in the corner. Do not forget that the corner was Black’s corner to start with. So to compensate for this, Black will have to make like 20 points outside.

This White one-point jump is usually played to deny Black forming a moyo. It is ready to allow Black to play on both sides of the board but its primary objective is to get into the center and have a say in the center instead of letter Black blocks its access into the center and thus allowing Black to play a moyo strategy. I will show you two professional games later to illustrate this point.

Diagram 2. (Reference Diagram)

The sequence to White 13 is one of the standard Joseki. As you can see, Black played on both sides while White achieved its objective of getting stones influencing the center.

Let’s study this Joseki in more depth.

Diagram 3.

Assuming Black did not play at 4 in Diagram 2 but instead played as in Diagram 3 above, White will immediately play at 5 and will seal Black into the corner. The result will be bad for Black. Remember that it is very important to get out and not get sealed into the corner. You will remember this from our Joseki fundamentals lessons, right? The result is the same if Black played Black 4 at “a” in Diagram 3. White will still play White 5 and seals Black into the corner.

Diagram 4.

After Black responded with Black 4, White can slide inside with White 5. Black blocks with Black 6 and White counter pincers with White 7 and the sequence subsequent to that is a battle. The outcome will not be very clear.

Diagram 5.

If instead of Black 6 in Diagram 4, Black jumps first with Black 6 in Diagram 5, White will jump one more with White 7 and if Black gets out on the side with Black 8, White 9 to White 11 gets the corner.

Diagram 6.

If Black wants to prevent White from getting the corner by playing Black 8 in Diagram 6 above, then White seals Black in with White 9 as in Diagram 6 above.

The positions in Diagrams 5 and 6 is not unplayable for Black. However, the most common response for Black is to play at Black 6 in Diagram 4 above and then fight with White. Black can aim to secure territory on the right side as the fight goes on.

Diagram 7.

If instead of Black 6 in the Reference Diagram (i.e. Diagram 2 above) Black pushes up with Black 6 in Diagram 7, a complicated fight again will break out. Note that Black needs a ladder to play like this. The next Diagram will show you why.

Diagram 8.

The complicated fight will follow as in Diagram 8 above. Remember we said that Black needs a ladder in the previous diagram? The reason is if the ladder is not favourable for Black, White will simply capture the Black 8 stone with a ladder with White at the Black 18 position. If this happens, the result will be bad for Black.

If you want to avoid all these complications, the Joseki in the Reference Diagram is good.

I am showing you all these because I want to show you the rationale for the moves and what happens if some other moves are played. I want to avoid you having to memorize the Joseki in the Reference Diagram, but instead, understand it. In you games, at least at the beginning, play the Joseki in the Reference Diagrams, then slowly experiment the other Joseki variations, depending on your strategy and surrounding situations.

Diagram 9.

White can play at White 13 in Diagram 9 above instead of White 13 in the Reference Diagram. However, in the future, or even immediately, Black can play at Black 14 and the sequence in Diagram 9 above follows. Later, White has some aji at “a” or playing at “b”, blocking off Black’s access to the left.

Diagram 10.

In Diagram 10 above, you will see that the White top group has formed a very good relationship with the White formation on the left side when White plays White 19. It is therefore quite usual for Black to play at that point (White 19 point) or one line lower instead of Black 14 in Diagram 9 above, to prevent White from forming such a good relationship and framework. If Black did so, White will probably just connect at the Black 14 point instead.

Diagram 11.

The game in Diagram 11 above is one where Lee Chanho played Black. As you can see, Black has gotten a moyo on the right side and White sketches out his own moyo on the left. This is one way of playing.

Some players do not like his opponent to play a moyo game for some reasons. Therefore, when faced with a Black pincer, he will jump out as in the Reference Diagram to avoid giving the opponent a chance to build a moyo as in Diagram 11 above.

Diagram 12.

The game in Diagram 12 above is between Takemiya Masaki (White) and Mok Chin-Seok (Black). It is a typical moyo game. And in this game, Takemiya sensei won the game (he is a master of moyo games, by the way).

Therefore, in this lesson, we have discussed about the one space jump of White when Black pincers. This is a special strategy where White wants to get out into the center. The moves in the Reference Diagram (Diagram 2) is a normal Joseki. It will be worth your while to go over this joseki and study the variations that may occur.

We will continue with 4-4 Joseki in our next lesson. Till then, please solve more Life and Death problems, play more games and review your games

See you.

4-4 Point Joseki Supplement (2)

Hi Everyone,

While we are at it, we may as well add another supplement on the basic position discussed in our first 4-4 Point Joseki. This supplement and the previous one discusses a bit more in detail the weakness that is present in the Joseki after the sequence is completed. As such, the materials is slightly more difficult but you are sure to encounter it in your game sooner or later. If you cannot digest them now, just keep them in mind and come back to check when you encounter them in your game.

Diagram 1.

After having discussed the weakness of the Black position when there are stones nearby in the previous lesson, let’s look at White’s weaknesses.

Diagram 2.

In that first lesson, we have said that one of White’s weaknesses is that it can be pressed by Black as in Diagram 2 above and Black can limit White’s development towards the center while Black builds influence for himself.

Diagram 3.

A very often used technique to split apart a two space extension is by using the cross cut technique of Black 1 and 3 in Diagram 3 above. When Black plays the contact at 1, he will cut if White responds at 2. After this, if White gives atari at “a” to capture the Black 3 stone, Black will counter atari at “b” and after White captures, Black will connect at “c” and therefore cutting off the marked triangle White stone. If White give atari at “c” instead, Black will counter atari at “d” and after White captures, Black will connect at “a” and cutting off the marked square White stone.

Diagram 4.

Against Black 1, White 2 is a good counter measure. If Black hane at 3, White counters at 4 and the White group will be connected. Here is why.

Diagram 5.

If Black connects at 5, White will seal Black with 6 and through the sequence to White 10, White wins the capturing race since his corner group has 3 liberties while the Black group has only 2 liberties.

Diagram 6.

If Black extends out and escape, White will play 6 giving atari to Black 3 and captures it, and therefore connected.

Diagram 7.

If instead of the hane, Black extends down to Black 3, White still seals Black in and to White 6, the diagram will revert to Diagram 5 above and White will win the capturing race.

Diagram 8.

If Black simply extend out with Black 3 in Diagram 8, White will just connect under with White 4.

Therefore, against Black 1, White 2 is the most effective counter measure.

Diagram 9.

Now let’s look at a more serious situation for White. This is when Black has a marked stone in Diagram 9 above. It aims at the weakness at “a”. If Black has this marked stone, White will normally have to reinforce his position.

Diagram 10.

When Black plays at 1, if White answers at 2, then Black is happy to pull back at 3 as in Diagram 10 above. The White group is still not yet alive and White cannot be happy. Therefore White 2 is not good at all.

Diagram 11.

White should block at 2 as in Diagram 11 above and through White 10 , White captures the 2 Black stones while Black gets outside influence.

Diagram 12.

Black’s attempt with Black 1 in Diagram 12 above does not work and Black will be captured. Black cannot hane out since White can give atari at “a” and then White will win the capturing race.

Diagram 13. Tesuji.

When White blocks with 2 in Diagram 13, Black 3 is a tesuji and the sequence following this is quite complicated. You may want to research this further but for the purpose of this lesson, we have one recommendation.

Diagram 14. Recommendation.

Our recommendation is that after the Joseki in Diagram 1, if Black plays the marked Black stone, White should not ignore it but just play at 1 in Diagram 14 above. The sequence to Black 8 is acceptable and White now has a strong group.

Therefore, as you can see from these two supplements, Joseki is only a very initial stage but after the Joseki is completed the situation will change depending on the surrounding stones that are subsequently played. This makes Go so interesting. I hope that through these two supplements, you understand that basic Joseki pattern in lesson 1 better and you can put what we have discussed here in your games.

See you next time.

4-4 Point Joseki Supplement (1)

Hi Everyone,

I have received some requests on the continuation to the problem that I have posted in our first 4-4 point Joseki lesson. It appears that many people do in fact face this situation in their real games. So I have decided to dedicate one post to discuss that diagram.

Diagram 1.

In that lesson, the question was what happens if Black replies with the fighting empty triangle of “b”?

There are mainly two continuations for White, depending on whether he has a favorable ladder or not.

Diagram 2.

Assuming that the ladder is good for White, the sequence to White 6 in Diagram 2 above follows. The Black group is captured and it is a disaster for Black.

Diagram 3.

Black may have seen this unfavorable ladder and extended to Black 5 in Diagram 3 instead but then White will immediately cut with White 6 and gets the whole corner and side while the Black stones are still without a base and needs to scramble for life.

Diagram 4.

If Black turns at Black 5 in Diagram 4 above, White will play at White 6 and makes “a” and “b” miai. If Black cuts at “a”, White will capture the whole White group with a ladder at “b”.

Diagram 5.

If Black becomes impatient and wants to capture the two White stones with Black 3 in Diagram 5 above, then White will give atari with White 4 and to White 6 captures the whole Black group. Therefore Black has to extend to Black 3 in Diagram 2 first and cannot be impatient.

Now let’s look at the case where the ladder is favorable for Black.

Diagram 6.

If the ladder is favorable for Black, White will just connect with White 2 and takes the right side while Black will get the corner with Black 5. This position is still acceptable for Black.

Diagram 7.

Again, Black cannot be impatient and immediately wants to capture the two White stones with Black 3 because White will play at 4 and seals Black in.

Diagram 8.

The reason for Black being impatient to capture the two White stones in Diagram 7 above is because he may be afraid that White saves the two stones back with White 4. However, Black will counter with Black 5 and through the sequence to Black 7 will capture the whole White group (White has to captures the Black “c” stone at “a”, then Black give atari at “b”. White has to connect at “c” and then Black gives atari at “d” and then captures the whole White group at “e”). Can you see this sequence?

Diagram 9. Recommendation.

One simple way to avoid the complications is to play Black 2 when White plays at 1 with the marked stone combination. Black gets makes shape and gets out into the center.

I hope that through this supplementary lesson, we are clear on this very common position and that you are more confident when this position arise in your game.

Till then, see you!