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3-3 point shoulder hit
  Difficulty: Intermediate   Keywords: Joseki

[Diagram]
Shoulder-hit

The shoulder hit of W1 is a common way of playing against the black stone in the corner. Black will almost always answer with the basic technique of stretching at B2 and White will mostly stretch too at W3. Jumping to a instead is treated below.

For B2 tenuki, see [1]; for W3 tenuki, see [2]: these are poor plays. For tenuki after one more play by Black, see 3-3 point shoulder hit, tenuki variations.

Variation 1: keima

[Diagram]
Shoulder-hit

Black's keima slide is the most common move, though not an obvious one.

It is clear that in this joseki, White is making outside influence, while Black goes for the corner territory. Next, the jump at a, continuing to emphasize the outside, is White's most common move. White can block at b, taking the left side, which is also discussed further. White can play tenuki and regard the white stones here as kikashi. gobase shows some examples of professional games where c to e were tried.

[Diagram]
Cont 1: The jump in the center

After W1, B2 is considered correct shape.

W3 next makes nice shape as well, but it may be too slow, so White will often play tenuki instead. For that reason, B2 can also be omitted, giving Black the first chance to play elsewhere.

[Diagram]
Cont 2: The blocking move

The white blocking move at W1 gives up White's quest for central influence, and focuses on the left side instead. B2 is the natural response, playing in the direction White neglected to play.

After White stabilizes the group by the extension to W3 or a, the joseki comes to an end. Black should take this joseki into account when choosing between BC and b: it is often correct to play on the side where blocking with W1 here is least interesting.


[Diagram]
Cont 3: tenuki, Black plays first

If Black gets to be the first to play in this corner after the basic joseki, Black will almost invariably choose B1. The white stones jump to safety with W2, after which Black plays at B3 to deny White an easy base.

White, however, can also choose to ignore B1 and leave the stones to themselves: even if they are captured, Black will have to use so many moves to do so that it is not in all positions disadvantageous for White.

-- Andre Engels



Variation 2: turn

[Diagram]
Turn

Black's turn may be a natural one to occur to many players. In fact, it is not wrong and White must be very careful responding.


[Diagram]
White's mistake

W2 is a mistake and B3 puts in on the spot.

If White resists, the cut at B5 favours Black. If White submits with W4 at B5, B5 at W4 gives Black territory while White gets bad shape.


[Diagram]
Joseki

Therefore, White usually jumps to W1 and W3 to keep up with the exchange of central influence for territory.

After W3, it is usual for Black to play at a or b.

Variation 3

[Diagram]
Jump

The jump to B1 is rarely seen, with answers at a to c.

Variation 4: stretching once more (not joseki)

[Diagram]
Stretch

Another stretch at B1 is considered slow as it pushes from behind. Therefore it is not joseki. However, depending on the context this can be a good choice.

One example from BQM87:

[Diagram]
Push once more ...

When WC is in place, it makes sense to play B1 before B3 (or a); now White at b makes WC too close, and also Black has simply taken more territory and eye space here. This way of playing can be seen in pro games.



The jump variations

[Diagram]
Jump - attach

White 11 plays at a and exchanges a big black territory for thick influence in the center. W7 can also defend tightly instead of a tiger shape. For B8, a peep has been played instead.


[Diagram]
Jump - thrust 1

[Diagram]
Jump - thrust 2

After B4, White sometimes leaves the situation for a while treating the stones as kikashi.

(Charles: Tenuki here is unusual. White normally plays a or b immediately. See screening kikashi for an example of tenuki.)


[Diagram]
Jump - stretch

Quite a few pro games feature this B2. You would expect White to answer at a, making Black push from behind, but this is not the case.

Probably White plays W1 because there is a need to play lightly. Playing W3 at a would not be in accordance with this need.

Charles: I could only find one such game (1962-11-15, on Gobase, none on Gogod). W3 was at b, which even I would have played. In that game Black had a stone at c.


[Diagram]
Jump - turn: transposition after Black 4

If Black plays at B4 here, rather than the normal clamp at W5, this transposes to a line seen earlier.

Played by Otake and Yu Ch'ang-hyeok - so not really a negligible possibility. -- Charles.



[1]

[Diagram]
Shoulder-hit

If B2 tenuki, the position reverts to a 3-3 point invasion. This makes so much difference that it is hard to imagine Black playing this way, in the opening, unless W1 was a ko threat or ladder-breaker.



[2]

[Diagram]
Tenuki at 3

If W3 tenuki, B4 makes matters worse for White than not approaching this position at all.

Bill: Well, there is this tewari consideration:

[Diagram]
Kikasare?

While W2 seems to be too close, B3 looks like kikasare. Black a looks like the normal response.

Dieter: I disagree, so there is an opportunity to learn something for me here. To me, B3 looks like honte, very much like connecting against a peep.

Charles: More at 3354 enclosure.



See also 3-3 point shoulderhit - which way to push.

Authors: Andre Engels, Dieter, Goran Siska, Charles Matthews



This is a copy of the living page "3-3 point shoulder hit" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.