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Play away from thickness
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  Difficulty: Beginner   Keywords: Strategy, Proverb

This is a very important proverb, but it should not be misunderstood.

The next diagram is a good illustration. When speaking of thickness, the examples coming to mind usually involve impressive walls. Here WC doesn't make a wall at all, but it is certainly part of a thick group which has influence on the upper part of the board.[1]

Neither Black or White should consider this part of the board as important, at least in the beginning phase of the game. Why is that so? For White, the side is uninteresting because the marked stone is low and no really big potential territory can be developed. For Black, a move around a would be a natural development from the hoshi stone BS, but White could easily invade and live without fearing any consequences for her strong group.

Sebastian: What does the red ring stand for? Can we delete it? Or does it mark the ideal invasion point for White?

[Diagram]
White is thick on the upper side


[Diagram]
Play kikashi against strong groups!

In this artificially created position, the marked white stone obviously goes against the proverb not to play in the neighborhood of thickness. White plays just next to a thick black position!

Is it a bad move for this reason? No, there is nothing wrong with it because this move is a kikashi which can be discarded after Black connects. White is not trying to establish herself in the area, she just wants to play a move which might help her in the future, without losing anything. On the contrary, an invasion at a for instance, would go against the rule and would be very bad (there is absolutely no prospect of making a base for White in this area).



[Diagram]
Resist kikashi against strong groups!

Charles Matthews That seems to assume Black will just connect in reply to the peep. Black should certainly play B2 here first. If White plays W3 that's heavy, so that Black could play B4 with some satisfaction. W3 at b is a better idea but then there is no threat to cut, so the peep is a failure. The idea here is that Black is so strong he shouldn't be forced and pushed around like this.



Actually, the proverb should state: don't try to build a position too close to your opponent's thickness. The proverb also applies to your own thickness. If you build two strong groups in the same area of the board, you somehow duplicate your efforts, which is not efficient.

Jasonred Doesn't one group make the other stronger, with the chance to connect and mutual killing of enemy invasions?

Charles Matthews There is no remedy for overconcentration. It is normally better to be spread too thinly, because you can fix that later.

Velobici: Seems like we need some text explaining how this maxim and the maxim Make both ends strong are compatible. Something that might talk about the two ends of Make both ends strong not being groups and the ends can can be expected to join into one group or severely attack an attempt to prevent them from joining. Could a dan level player add this explanation?


Kungfu : "Stay away from thickness" has a dual meaning. Consider the game below:

[Diagram]
White to move

White to move.

White might think that a move around b is terrible and she's probably right: there are other moves. But it is also against the saying "play away from thickness" for Black to move at b or c himself.

For the same reason, a move around a is also bad for White in this situation. An approach move around d or e is better than a for White because "stay away from thickness" means stay away from your own thickness as well.

Floris: I don't think a white move at 'b' is bad. Looking at the board position, in my opinion a move at 'b' is the only move for w. Why do you think 'b' is so bad?

Bill: I wouldn't call b bad, but compare the prospects of Wb vs. Wd. Also consider the prospects for Bf or Bg vs. Bb or thereabouts.

Floris: I have considered 'Wd' but my opinion is that white will be faced with: A) A boring game B) Running after the fact that he is behind the entire game, resulting in a loss for him.

I believe that black is in a much better position and that white shouldn't sit still and let it keep getting bigger.

Bill: Black's advantage should not obscure the point of this page. Therefore, I have altered the diagram so that Black's advantage is only one move, the 4-4 point in the bottom right corner. Now that White does not have to play catch-up, it should be clear that Wb is inferior to other kakaris. Charles's suggestion of a wedge on the bottom side (below) is a good one.

Extending from a very thick and obviously 100% alive group is merely point-grabbing. Remember the saying play urgent moves before big moves... Well, extending from a 100% alive/thick group is not urgent. It's just big. So play an urgent move first! And if there are no urgent moves, move into a big space like around d or e.

-Kungfu


[Diagram]
The wedge

Charles Matthews The wedge play W1 seems to be an obvious candidate here: if Black is allowed to play at a to form sanrensei that gives him a plan on a larger scale than White can match. The other move I'd consider at first glance is White at b: but if Black plays a pincer the game will proceed at a higher speed, and Black's thick wall above will probably show to greater advantage.



[1] The way I learned this proverb is, "Do not approach strength", which is more general. In fact, "Do not play (too) close to strength," is even better, since it applies to one's own strength as well as the opponent's. -- Bill Spight

A variation on this theme is Otake's comment that it is 'bad taste' to expand existing territories. That must be taken with a pinch of salt, of course. -- Charles Matthews



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This is a copy of the living page "Play away from thickness" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.