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BQM116
Path: BigQuestionMark   · Prev: BQM115   · Next: BQM117
  Difficulty: Beginner   Keywords: Question

[Diagram]
a or b?

From an eight-stone handicap game. The reply of B2 to the W1 peep is bad. White wedges with W3. Black connects out with B4.

What is the correct followup for White?



Chris Hayashida: I played at a, thinking that the strength would be better, and there would be no bad aji in the corner. A stronger player suggested b instead (hane at the head of two stones) but that path seems fraught with difficulty, as Black is already strong and the cut at a seems disastrous.

What do you think?

[Diagram]
A 14k NOT-approach

Hikaru79 Personally, I would choose a. The reason for this is because the cut by playing at b terrifies me... I would not know how to deal with it. This variation shows how I think b would work out -- a possibility that I am too frightened of (note the ladder). I'd rather be playing it safe, even if it is passive.

Alex Weldon: Well, Hikaru's diagram is clearly a very wrong way to answer the cut. Better to sacrifice the W5 stone in order to get the corner. But a in the original diagram is still much better.


[Diagram]
The correct response to the cut


Path: BigQuestionMark   · Prev: BQM115   · Next: BQM117
This is a copy of the living page "BQM116" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.