Large avalanche - cut

  Difficulty: Advanced   Keywords: Joseki
[Diagram]

large avalanche, cut

Black 1 is a recent development in the large avalanche joseki. As far as I (or rather the GoGod database) know, it was first played by Li Zhe in August 1993. W2 and B3 invariably follow. Usually when black plays this way, he has some stone or stones, but not thickness, in the lower left.

[Diagram]

continuation

After the previous diagram, there are a few variations, but the sequence in this diagram is by far the most common. W1 removes the aji of black's sacrifice stone, but now black has filled an extra liberty with B2, so that he can resist W3 with the combination of B4 and B6, capturing the stone. White adds two more stones to her sacrifice, then cuts at W9.

[Diagram]

A few more moves

A few moves have been tried for W1, but this one seems to have become joseki. White threatens to capture black's two stones, so black plays B2 to keep the white stones captured first. White then attempts to cut the black group off from the center with W3. Black will usually cut at B6, but a and tenuki have also been tried. At the end of this diagram, black has two stones floating in the center, but white's three stones are without a base as well. If, as usually is the case, black has some support further down the left side, the white stones are quite weak and therefore the black ones are not as weak as they seem.


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