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Six Kyu Noseki
Difficulty: Advanced
Keywords: Joseki
Alex Weldon: On IGS, with Black, I usually play the Manchurian Fuseki. Since it involves a 5-4 point, I need to know my 5-4 point joseki. But, I've discovered, my opponents, at the 6k* level, don't. People usually play the 3-4 point, rather than the other option, at 3-3. At first, I almost always played the keima press, with the continuation shown here:
But then, one time, I was playing against an opponent who played the 5-4 point, and instead of playing the press that I used to favor, or attaching at a, he attached on the outside, at b. I played what seemed intuitive for me, and it ended up with a very bad result. I checked Essential Joseki, and indeed, the play that was "intuitive" for me turns out not to be there, meaning that it's probably wrong (although Essential Joseki is, of course, far from being a complete listing of all joseki). Since the wrong play seemed, at first glance, to be sensible to me, I reasoned, perhaps it would seem to be reasonable to my opponents. And indeed, my opponents play the wrong move more than 50% of the time at the 6k* level, allowing me to reap unreasonable advantage by playing the outside attachment. Here's the mistake:
It looks good at first[1], because White is expecting this continuation, which gives White big territory in the corner, and Black outside influence in the wrong direction (since his choice of that 5-4 point should generally indicate that he was going for influence down the left side, not the top):
Really, though, Black plays a two-step hane, trapping White in the corner.
Even if White a, Black b, White c, Black d, White's corner is just 12 points, while Black's outside influence is considerable.
My opponents don't always even play this well, sometimes descending with This is the correct response to the outside attachment:
Next, Black will continue with a if he wants influence on the top side (giving White a ponnuki in the corner), or at b if he wants to exchange for the corner (giving White a ponnuki on the outside).
There's more to this noseki. If White plays
If
If the center ladder doesn't work, he sacrifices two stones and gets the better of it in terms of influence.
If White lures out her cutting stones, Black starts a ladder at
May I point out that "it looks good at first" violates basic technique. Permitting a hane at the head should always look bad at first, then maybe be playable, like in the avalanche joseki. See also joseki as a source of bad habits. --Dieter This is a copy of the living page "Six Kyu Noseki" at Sensei's Library. ![]() |