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BQM65
  Difficulty: Advanced   Keywords: Opening

I've seen O Rissei play this quite a lot recently (including at present in the Kisei match):

[Diagram]
Diag.: 'corners first'

I can see the logic of approaching at 3 immediately: it is, I suppose, in some sense a sort of miai strategy with respect to a and b (Black's getting a shot at two corners in any case, and he doesn't much mind which two - but it appears to me here that if he gets a, he's failing to approach on the open side, which seems a bit unusual. For what it's worth, Yamashita Keigo responded with a pincer at x.)

Is this early approach really a sort of probe? My speculation is something along the lines of O Rissei wanting to transpose into a line of the mini-chinese or nirensei, but is it simply a matter of trying to avoid:


[Diagram]
Diag.: anti-mini-chinese

as if White has responded at B in the first diagram, leading to:


[Diagram]
Diag.: anti-anti-mini-chinese?

tenuki and taking 7 would appear to be justified, leading to quite a nice position for Black (with the low stone at 4, pincering 3 is presuably going to be easily dealable via the 3-3 invasion.)

So, I guess what I'm asking, and apologies for this being somewhat nebulous, is what on earth is actually going on here?

Andrew Walkingshaw (4 kyu, UK)


[Diagram]
Diag.: Which corner?

Bill: I don't know what's going on, but I would be happy to play W 4, here.


[Diagram]
Diag.: Which corner? Tewari.

As White, I would not be unhappy with this line of play.



Charles Matthews Bill and Andrew both make reasonable points. This early approach has been played by pros for a decade: White 4 has been tried in 15 different places (!), and sometimes we get transposition to familiar positions such as mini-chinese, sometimes novel situations arise. Could just be that the flexibility of the 4-4 point is being invoked before Black plays a 3-4 point which gives the game a more specific character.

See fuseki not taking free corners for some general comments.

dnerra: I find it very hard to tell what is going on in such situations. My impression is that this is not so much a battle about objective advantages, but about trying to get to your favourite fuseki, or avoid the opponent's favourite one. So without knowing what the fuseki-preferences of the players involved, you don't know what they are trying to do.

My thoughts exactly --Dieter

Take for example Bill's diagram above. I think he likes it because if Black continues with the natural play at a, he has approached White 4 from the "wrong side". But then again, there are games where this is played voluntarily.

Bill: I like it because, if Black plays next in the bottom right corner, White can combine extension with pincer. I do not see what compensation Black gets for allowing that.As White, I would not be unhappy with this line of play.

[Diagram]
Diag.: Yamashita Keigo - O Rissei, Game 3, 2003 [Kisei]

Amusingly, exactly what you Bill said you didn't like is what the pros transposed into: this position is exactly equivalent to a nirensei where Black has chosen not to approach on the open side, with White playing the expected pincer/extension combo. However, with 7, as it turns out, O Rissei got a sensible result along the bottom, to my eyes.

No-one ever said this game was simple, I guess! (For what it's worth, after the pincer I'd have taken 6 with my third move as Black, followed (if White took 5) by invading at 3-3. Is this a sensible way of dealing with that hypothetical position?


[Diagram]
Diag.: ... this hypothetical position

- Andrew Walkingshaw

Without a white stone in the vicinity of a, White 8 is usually considered the wrong side to block. If now Black b, White c, Black d to wedge, White's wall can't work efficiently.

Charles Matthews



DaveSigaty: I think the first question that arises if White considers playing at the marked point is what happens if Black plays the double approach. Below is the experience for 1990 - July 2002 reported in GoGoD CD.

[Diagram]
Diag.: Search Pattern

[Diagram]
Diag.: Continuations


[Diagram]
Diag.: One continuation

Bill: I vote for this one. :-)



Statistics:

18 matches (18/0), B: 83.3%, W: 16.7%

Wa: 10 (10), B70.0% - W30.0%
Wb: 5 (5), B100.0% - W0.0%
Wc: 3 (3), B100.0% - W0.0%

The game list is interesting in light of the Kisei game...

1993-04-03d: Takemiya Masaki - Yang Hui (B), 5b
1995-02-01b: Kato Masao - Yuki Satoshi (B), 5c
1996-01-25: Kato Masao - O Rissei (B), 5c
1997-04-28a: Yu Ch'ang-hyeok - Cho Hun-hyeon (B), 5a
1997-05-19a: Yu Ch'ang-hyeok - Yi Ch'ang-ho (B), 5a
1997-05-28b: Yu Ch'ang-hyeok - Seo Pong-su (B), 5a
1997-08-28d: Wang Lei - Ch'oe Kyu-pyeong (W), 5a
1997-11-10c: Mun Yong-chik - Kweon O-min (B), 5b
1998-04-30c: Yamashita Keigo - O Meien (B), 5c
1999-05-16: Nie Weiping - Zhang Xuan (B), 5a
1999-08-05a: Takemiya Masaki - Kobayashi Koichi (B), 5a
2000-07-23: Yamashita Keigo - Kobayashi Koichi (B), 5b
2000-11-29: Takemiya Masaki - Chang Hao (B), 5a
2001-01-29: Kato Masao - Kono Rin (B), 5b
2001-05-04c: Seo Pong-su - Seo Neung-uk (B), 5b
2002-01-26: Dong Yan - Wang Yao (W), 5a
2002-01-31b: Takemiya Masaki - O Meien (W), 5a
2002-04-08e: Hang Tianpeng - Zhang Wendong (B), 5a

The most usual reply for White 4 is the quiet knight's move. This falls in with Black's original intention but Black does not seem able to produce any advantage from this.

[Diagram]
Diag.: Search Pattern

[Diagram]
Diag.: Continuations


Statistics:

93 matches (93/0), B: 41.9%, W: 58.1%

Ba: 57 (57), B45.6% - W54.4%
Bb: 17 (17), B35.3% - W64.7%
Bc: 10 (10), B50.0% - W50.0%
Bd: 4 (4), B0.0% - W100.0%
Be: 3 (3), B33.3% - W66.7%
Bf: 1 (1), B0.0% - W100.0%
Bg: 1 (1), B100.0% - W0.0%

Yamashita does not figure in this line. O Rissei appears four times but ends up 0-4:

1997-08-11a: O Rissei - Kobayashi Koichi (B), 4a
1998-11-26d: Yamada Kimio - O Rissei (W), 4a
1999-03-11: Cho Sonjin - O Rissei (W), 4a
1999-12-23j: Otake Hideo - O Rissei (W), 4c

It makes you wonder why he likes it! :-)



This is a copy of the living page "BQM65" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2003 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.