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Komoku
    Keywords: Opening

komoku is the 3-4 point on the board, the stone showed below or the symmetrical point at 'a'. It has a very rich history in Go literature as it has been the most common opening play in the corner throughout the classical and modern periods of Go in Japan. It is the subject of volume 1 and volume 2 of the most popular joseki dictionary in English.

[Diagram]
Diag.: komoku

The play at komoku is territorially oriented. White can no longer reasonably expect to prevent Black from making some territory here although of course Black may later give up the corner in exchange for benefit elsewhere.

The komoku is not symmetrical. As a result, it leaves the corner unfinished. The question of whether Black will play next to enclose the corner with a shimari or White will play a kakari next to divide the corner is urgent. In classical games from Japanese Go history this question has tended to be resolved directly: either Black made shimari or White played kakari. In modern Go some of the popular large-scale fuseki such as the Chinese Fuseki and Kobayashi Fuseki attempt a different approach. Rather than making shimari at the earliest opportunity, Black builds a larger framework designed to exploit White's kakari when it comes.



This is a copy of the living page "Komoku" at Sensei's Library.
(C) the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.