Diagonal jump
Path: ShapeCollection · Prev: DiagonalMove · Next: Hane
The shape created by the two White stones is called hazama tobi in Japanese. It has the obvious defect at the marked point, but can be a powerful move in the right circumstances.
It is also called an elephant's move, because the elephant in Chinese chess moves this way. (In Chinese: 象飞 (elephant's jump) or 象步 (elephant's step) and 象眼 - the elephant's eye for the marked place.)
In joseki, there are two main uses from the 3-4 point.
This pincer isn't often played now, so is rarely seen. Popular enough in the first half of the twentieth century.
This leads to a large-scale sacrifice variation known as the Kajiwara joseki. White [1] gives up around 20 points in the corner for the sake of imperfect outside influence. Not an easy line in practice. It is still being played by the pros.
BramGo: This variation I saw recently in the 6th Round of the 29th Meijin title. I am not sure if it is something new, but personally, I had never seen it before. After black tenukied, to approuch the corner at the topright of this diagram. White ignored this and played A.
White probably played that way to gain influence; so Black 1 and so on are natural, starting a pushing battle in the centre. Black has to be careful not to create difficulties for the corner 4-4 stone, though. It isn't easy to say when Black can or should stop pushing.
Frs: Does a Japanese, English or animal Go term exist for Black's shape or/and ?
Sebastian: How about "Mammoth"? For Chinese, I'd propose "猛傌", pronounced "mengma". (This would mean mammoth, if the second character were "獁". By replacing it with the old character for "knight in chess" - which is pronounced the same way - it now reads "fierce knight".)
It's tough to call Black connected, there, so the shape is somewhat nameless like many others... The potential use for such a shape depends so much on the surrounding area. Coconuts
See also:
- Cut the diagonal jump
- example at 3-5 point 5-4 approach, tenuki variations.
- a nice practical example at BQM242
[1] Robert Pauli: Seems, Black and not White is trading corner for influence, not? I searched for "Kajiwara joseki" (with double quotes) and nothing was found??
Charles Try 3-4 point low approach two-space high pincer hazama tobi.
Robert Pauli: Ah, I see. Thanks.
I've also seen this one played a few times jumping to the 2nd line as a tesuji... I'll try to find an example... (Wrote it here hoping somebody else would do it.. ;p) Reuven
In this game against Gennan Inseki, Shuusaku (black) plays 1: a move that serves to cap the white stones on the left and split them from the white stones on the right. It is also a fragile one-point diagonal jump, but since he already has a strong wall on the left, he makes it work.
White 2 and 4 split this diagonal jump and threaten to capture, but Black 3 and 5 expands diagonally, threatening the white stones on the right, putting pressure on the cutting stones, and threatening to expand into the center even if cut. After Black 5, white must defend his stones on the right. Next, black 7 extends the wall and threatens to kill. Black 9 cuts.
White captures Black's new cutting stones, but after Black 9, white's original cutting stones are dead. Both black and white have a limited amount of territory on the top now, but Black has far more influence towards the center. Black has also created a barrier between white's stones on the right and left, and even if White later connects under, he has far less territory than he would have. Black's original hazama tobi has succeeded.
Authors
Path: ShapeCollection · Prev: DiagonalMove · Next: Hane