When Black crawls with , the wedge is tesuji. Without this move, the attachment in the corner would not be playable for white.

White should not atari at a with (see here)

Table of contents Atari from above Standard joseki Bending out Wrong atari Alternative joseki Atari from below Atari instead of tesuji

Table of diagrams Extends Joseki Standard joseki Black gets the move order wrong Variation: the ladder question Variation: ladder question White gets move order wrong Lim Yoo Jong's suggestion Ladder question Almost joseki: The ladder works for White Black punishes wrong-order Joseki? The ladder doesn't work for White The ladder doesn't work for White Variation at 3: two [ponnuki] Atari However (1) However (2) Atari B4@WW Atari

Atari from above

If black plays atari on the outside, the move up to follow. Now, white has a choice. The normal continuation is the atari at a, but depending on a ladder, white can also bend out at b.

The atari at c is a mistake.

Lim Yoo Jong suggests that can also be played at d.

Standard joseki

This - are the standard sequence. Black gets corner territory and influence on the left side. White gets influence on the upper side and sente.

If black goes wrong with , White gets a better result. White has sente and much more of the corner. The atari at 'a', for Black, is no longer as good a move.

Bending out

At in the previous diagram, White can turn at here. Everything depends on the ladder at .

If the ladder doesn't work for Black, instead of playing a he must extend at . After , there is a peaceful play for Black at b and a fight at a.

Wrong atari

Playing first is the wrong order of moves. Now, is not sente since a is not necessary for Black to preserve the position.

So, White loses the initiative here. As a minor plus, she has b in sente later.

Alternative joseki

Playing instead of 'a' is an idea proposed by Lim Yoo Jong. It leaves White no scope for variation (in the main line White can play at depending on a ladder), and White has fewer ko threats. On the other hand Black's eyes are a little less well defined. Click here for more analysis/discussion.

Atari from below

Here, it depends on whether White can cut at a and capture the black stone in a ladder. See pushing battles in joseki 8 for a fuller treatment.

If the ladder works, Black submits with and , getting a low position but keeping sente.

Black cannot ignore to play 4; White cuts at 'a' and gets a ponnuki on the outside, or captures the 4 black stones in the corner. More importantly, and for the same reason, Black cannot answer 2 at 'b'.

If the moves and are played in the wrong order, Black can double-hane, at 'b'.

The cutting point at 'a' goes nowhere after the 2-3 exchange. It is usually impossible to severely attack 5 after the cut at 'b'. Indeed, the white cutting stones ought to come under heavy attack, considering black chose a pincer on the left side (so it shouldn't be dominated by white influence).

Guo Juan commented that an additional push is joseki.

Variations if Black ignores (to play 6) are not analyzed here. Presumably should in fact be one line further away, since the wall is one line higher. One also hopes that it makes sense to play ( in the prior variations) on the 4th line, since a wall this high is somewhat silly if there is black influence further down the right side (a reason to play low).

If the ladder doesn't work for White, this is joseki.

Black crawls on one side but gets ahead on the other.

This variation occurs in the 11th Tianyuan title match, game four between Ma XiaoChun and Chang Hao. Locally, White's profit is considered better than Black's influence along the left side but Black takes sente.

Atari instead of tesuji

If White exchanges for before playing , then Black can play and gain considerably compared to the joseki. This is a mistake

This has been seen in pro games, and ...

... this also and ...

... even this ...

and this too! This is favourable for White, if there is an extension possible next in the direction of a