4-4 point one-space low pincer invasion, block
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Black blocks at if he has a stone near
(however, see also: 44 Point One Space Low Pincer No Support Stone). Up to
we see a typical joseki: Black makes a wall facing the left side, while White gets eyespace and a small amount of territory in the corner. If the marked stone is not present, this variation is bad for Black. White then plays in this region herself, and thus effectively reduces the influence of the black wall. The connection
-
-
is rather thin, but for White to attack it at once would do more harm than good.
With the combination of and
, White aims at the cut at
. Black most usually defends this cut indirectly - either by strengthening his position on the upper side, or by closing off the left side like he does here. If White cuts with
(often she will wait a while before doing so), he accepts the challenge with
(pushing White along the fourth line with
is not good[1]). The moves to White 11 (at a) are one possible continuation.
The old joseki, which is still played, was for Black to defend the cut directly with . The disadvantage of this move is that it leaves the large move of
as aji. If Black blocks with
at
, White has a lot of aji here which might be used to invade Black's left-side moyo. But if Black draws back to
instead, White can make a rather large reduction of his territory in sente. Instead of
, white could also play at
.
is another joseki move, but not played as often as the previous two. The sequence to
is forced, after that Black can choose to build thickness with a or fight immediately with b. a is most common.
After , this sequence is to be expected. White has sente, but Black's influence is large.
If Black plays , he should not forget the important exchange of
for
. After
, White is floating in the center, while Black is both strong and in a position to make territory on both sides. If White does not answer in the corner, Black can get a ko.
Black should not be afraid of this . Black can maintain his connection to the outside world, while White still has to come back in the corner.
Author: AndreEngels
See also thickness example 1, thickness example 5.
[1] One should say, rather, that it might not be good. It is certainly played by strong players. Charles