4-4 3-3 enclosure

    Keywords: Opening
[Diagram]

4433 enclosure

This enclosure appears quite often in the games of Takemiya, to defend against the 3-3 point invasion.


[Diagram]

4-4 3-3 answer to white kakari

If you want to shock a stronger player who is giving you a handicap, you can answer the usual kakari of W1 with the surprising kosumi at B2. Many players don't know that this is actually a joseki listed on page 1084 of "Joseki Daijiten" (Big Joseki Lexikon) Volume 1, Tokyo, Nihon Kiin, 1986, as Diagram 9257. However, in that book black has a stone on the 3-3 point first and answers the kakari at W1 with a kosumi outwards to the star point.

Jesse: This would not surprise me at all. It actually seems to be quite common in handicap games at the kyu level, sometimes even without a White kakari. Personally, I don't think it is a good way to develop a 4-4 stone. I'll leave it to stronger players to comment further, though.

The continuation in that diagram is shown below:

[Diagram]

Continuation

Whatever happens after the answer on 3-3 in the diagram above, white can't trade the white stone on the outside for the corner. So this is actually an attack on the kakari stone and should be played aiming at that attack, not in a defensive state of mind.

[Diagram]

high handicap enclosure use 1

Klaus: Trying out stuff like this can be fun, and one can learn a lot about attacking baseless stones by using this enclosure.

[Diagram]

high handicap enclosure use 2


Professional examples

[Diagram]

Zhang Xuebin? (Black) versus Wang Yao (White), 2008 NEC Cup

It appears the motivation for the 4-4 3-3 enclosure is to prevent black+circle from making sabaki.

White wins by resignation.

[Diagram]

Xu Ying (Black) versus Luo Xihe (White), 2006 CCTV Cup

W1 creates the 4-4 3-3 enclosure, with the aim of turning much of the framework in the lower left into territory.

White wins by resignation.

[Diagram]

Ito Kiyoko? (Black) versus Shusai Meijin (White), 1931, 3-handicap game

Owing to the strength of the White groups all around the upper right corner, B1 chose the 4-4 3-3 enclosure to ensure the safety of his upper right corner.

White wins by resignation.

[Diagram]

Kato Masao (Black) versus Otake Hideo (White), 1986 Judan

In response to the approach at B1, W2 plays the diagonal to form the 3-3 4-4 enclosure. This move puts more pressure on the B1 stone than the more common response at a.

Black wins by 3.5 points.


This is a copy of the living page "4-4 3-3 enclosure" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2014 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
[Welcome to Sensei's Library!]
StartingPoints
ReferenceSection
About