Pushing battles in joseki 9

  Difficulty: Expert   Keywords: Joseki

Table of diagrams
Black 1 is ambitious
Efficient
White's replies
White's reply 'a'
Black extends
Black plays hane
White's reply 'b'
Variation 1
Variation 2
White's reply 'c'
Continuation
White's reply 'd'
White's reply 'e'
White's reply 'f'
Joseki
Black's strong response

[Diagram]
Black 1 is ambitious  

Black B1 here may not be much played any more; but it is clearly an interesting attempt to gain early influence.

[Diagram]
Efficient  

It is clear enough that this result is satisfactory for Black: Black's stones are working more efficiently than in a well-known joseki [1].

[Diagram]
White's replies  

In order of apparent popularity, White's replies from pro games are a, b, c (more common) and d, e, f (less common). Since Black is trying so hard to take up an influential position, some sort of pushing battle here would be quite natural.

[Diagram]
White's reply 'a'  

This is nearly a one-way street until White 7 (Kitani once played 6 at 7, allowing White central influence with a ponnuki; probably a Kitani joseki.) Next Black a or b; Black c was tried by Go Seigen in 1942.

[Diagram]
Black extends  

If Black now just extends the fighting becomes large-scale and Black has to decide when to play hane, considering that this is pushing along the fifth line. This is from Yamabe Toshiro-Go Seigen 1953-04-12 (colours reversed); Go Seigen played hane at the head of six stones and Yamabe cut.

[Diagram]
Black plays hane  

If Black plays hane at once, there is a clear joseki continuation this far, with White's hanging connection to the second line as good shape. After that this corner may be left.

[Diagram]
White's reply 'b'  

After White 1 here, Black always plays 2 and then White a, b or c: the last of these may not be joseki.

[Diagram]
Variation 1  

In the first case, White has bad shape; this is the old line in which both players use shape plays, but Black has the sequence Black a, White b, Black c remaining, a good example of aji. Therefore White may vary at 5.

[Diagram]
Variation 2  

This trade-off is what happens most often.

[Diagram]
White's reply 'c'  

This is the major variation in this case, with Black taking a big corner.

[Diagram]
Continuation  

This is the expected completed joseki, with Black's profit and sente set against White's wall.

[Diagram]
White's reply 'd'  

White would need a good ladder for this.

[Diagram]
White's reply 'e'  

This is likely to transpose into the position of the second diagram on this page. After that the point p is good for both from the point of view of shape; but tenuki is seen too. Pushing in the centre may happen later.

[Diagram]
White's reply 'f'  

Unusual but interesting. This shape occurred in a couple of games from the 1930s, with White immediately playing at q to reduce Black's influence.


[1] This one:

[Diagram]
Joseki  

On a side note, this move is still commonly played in the following kobayashi fuseki

[Diagram]
Black's strong response  

Pushing battles in joseki 9 last edited by PJTraill on April 12, 2018 - 18:47
RecentChanges · StartingPoints · About
Edit page ·Search · Related · Page info · Latest diff
[Welcome to Sensei's Library!]
RecentChanges
StartingPoints
About
RandomPage
Search position
Page history
Latest page diff
Partner sites:
Go Teaching Ladder
Goproblems.com
Login / Prefs
Tools
Sensei's Library