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3-4 point
Difficulty: Beginner
Keywords: Opening, Joseki
Like the 3-3 point, the 3-4 point (Japanese: komoku) more or less secures the corner. At the same time, it also starts taking a look outward. It forms a kind of middle ground between the corner-oriented 3-3 play and the more outward-oriented 4-4, 5-3 and 5-4 plays. The enclosure of the corner is less strong than that of the 3-3 point, and the addition of a second stone is useful to make it more secure.
A corner enclosure created like this is called a shimari. The most common shimari with the 3-4 point are the 5-3 point (1 in the diagram) or the 5-4 point (a in the diagram). The 6-3 point (b)is also often played. It claims a larger amount of territory, but at the same time the claim itself is weaker. In some circumstances, Black prefers to stake a claim to the upper side instead with a move like c or d. Because the follow-up move to a 3-4 point opening is also a good move (it both stabilises the corner, claims territory and extends the influence of your stones) your opponent will often try to stop you from making the extension. Such an approach move is called a kakari. The simplest way of stopping you from playing on a certain spot is by playing there himself. Depending on the whole board position, a play on the 5-3 point is as good a kakari as your shimari on that point would have been. Several joseki can develop from this position. Other obviously possible kakari can be the 6-3, 5-4 or 6-4 points.
One thing to remember is that making a kakari such as black 1 in the diagram (from the wrong direction) only forces white to play 2, a move he wanted to play anyway. This is not a good idea in general, but there are still positions where it is used, for example when playing against the Chinese fuseki. Still, if there is no special reason to do so, approaching the corner from this direction should be advised against. The 3-4 point 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. 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. Authors include:
This is a copy of the living page "3-4 point" at Sensei's Library. (C) the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0. |