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TaishaJoseki

 

Ways To Avoid The Taisha
   

Taisha is complicated.
Taisha is scaring and hair-raising.
Taisha is blood-thirsty
It is all true, and weak kyu players like me are afraid of playing it! But what if our opponent challenges us with it and we do not feel like to go on and fight?
Luckily, we have many

Ways to Avoid the Taisha!!!

(WARNING: The so-called "simple variations" are themselves joseki and full of variations, especially if one of the players departs from the established sequence, so always keep an alert eye on what's going on...)

The diagram below is the easiest and simplest:

[Diagram]
Diag.: The simpler variation


Good follow-up for W is a (Honte), for B b. Of course B gets thickness and a moyo, but that can be helped only by going for the complicated fighting variations...
The exception is the variation below, which requires a favourable ladder (at 3 and 5 in the second diagram):

[Diagram]
Diag.: Standard variation...

a leads to the full-fledged Taisha, but, having checked the ladder, we connect at b instead...


[Diagram]
Diag.: ...Connecting toward the center


In this way B gets a lot of territory, but W has beautiful thickness in sente. For what's worth, I've won important games playing like this.


Other possibilities:

[Diagram]
Diag.: Diagonal attachment, the old way

At this point it becomes important who gets to settle the corner: imagine what happens if W plays a (hint: have a look below...) before B manages to play the sequence b-c-d-e-f...


[Diagram]
Diag.: Diagonal attachment, the "new" way


This way of playing was invented by KitaniMinoru. Afterwards...

[Diagram]
Diag.: Emphasising the LS

W cannot cut at a (hint: imagine a large-scale geta...).
Instead:

[Diagram]
Diag.: Emphasising the top


Or even:

[Diagram]
Diag.: Emphasising the LS again - move 11 at the marked stone


Author (so far): AvatarDJFlux



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