Ways to avoid the taisha
The taisha is complicated.
The taisha is scary and hair-raising.
The taisha is blood-thirsty.
That's all true, and weak kyu players like me are afraid of playing it!
But what if our opponent challenges us with it and we do not feel like going on and fighting?
Luckily, we have many
Ways to Avoid the Taisha!!! [1]
(WARNING: The so-called "simple variations" are themselves joseki and full of variations, especially if one of the players departs from the established sequence, so always keep an alert eye on what's going on...)
The diagram below is the easiest and simplest:
A good follow-up for White is a (honte), for Black b.
Of course Black gets influence and a moyo, but that can be avoided only by going for the complicated fighting variations...
The exception is the variation below, which requires a favourable ladder (at and
in the second diagram):
White at a leads to the full-fledged taisha, but, having checked the ladder, we connect at b instead...
In this way Black gets a lot of territory, but White has beautiful thickness in sente. For what's worth, I've won important games playing like this.
Other possibilities:
At this point it becomes important who gets to settle the corner: imagine what happens if White plays a (hint: have a look below...) before Black manages to play the sequence b-c-d-e-f...
This way of playing was invented by Kitani Minoru. Afterwards...
White cannot cut at a (hint: imagine a large-scale geta...).
Instead:
Or even:
Black 11 at a.
Author (so far): AvatarDJFlux
[1]
Bill: Since the taisha move has already occurred ( in the initial diagram), it is too late to avoid it. ;-)