We discuss : White has two possible answers at a and b. Other moves are so rare that they are not worth discussing here.
Black's intention is to develop along the left side and perhaps into the center. White can choose for a strong position at the upper side with a, or try to take the corner with b. Especially the latter move is likely to start some extremely complex variations. White should not play this move if the ladder is bad for her.
After the hane , drawing back (hiki) with
is most common. Next the hanging connection
is the traditional variation, while White a is more modern. White can also go straight for the center with White b, allowing Black rather a large corner.
The second option at is this extension. Then
and
next are natural. After this comes the turning point of the joseki.
here is the most common move, but leads to complex variations. White can instead choose other, more peaceful moves, but the result is regarded slightly better for Black.
After , Black has four main variations.
Black a is standard. Black takes influence towards the upper side. This is typically a joseki that is to be learned - not many variations, but the main line has some tesuji that is hard to find while at the board. See 3-4 point high approach, double contact hane.
Black b is a simple variation, which is good if the left side is more important than the upper side. See 3-4 point high approach, double contact, wall.
After and
, Black can choose between Black c, a horrendously complex variation in which the above-mentioned ladder surfaces, see 3-4 point high approach, double contact, cut, and Black d, which is like Black a in being directed towards influence and like Black b in putting emphasis on the left side, see 3-4 point high approach, double contact, extension. There is also a variation that is being played recently, atari at a: 3-4 point high approach, double contact, atari.
What about this move? It's hard to find info about; I found only 1 pro game (Kitani Minoru - Inoue Ichiro 1928) with .
iff: Could someone please explain how to handle this (I had it several times recently):
I tried this once, but crawling along the 2nd line looks bad...
So is simply going for outward influence good enough?
Bill: The Small Joseki Dictionary by Kitani and Suzuki gives this variation, which compares favorably for Black with the joseki starting with -
,
-
,
.
Hans: I had the same position in one of my games and I think white 4 (above in iff's diagram) is a bad move but it is not easy to show why.
This leads to a complicated fight, but seems playable.
Authors: