BQM 21 / Prologue

DaveSigaty: In this situation Black played in the upper right, leading shortly to BQM21.

The original setup  

But let us review the different situations around the board at this time. What opportunities and threats are there? Having sente at this point, what sort of plan makes the most sense for Black?

I think that all the following are interesting locally:

• The upper right - what alternatives are there for Black in dealing with the lone white stone? What if Black chooses to play elsewhere and White plays first here, how should she handle the situation?
• The bottom side - who plays first makes a big difference between the lone black stone and the weak two-stone white pillar? Where should Black play first? How about White?
• The lower right - actually a classic inefficient shape! It is one of the smallest three-stone frameworks from hoshi that fails to protect the corner (in other words if you are going to fail to protect the corner, you should do so on a larger scale :-) How do both sides handle the situation?
• The upper left and left side - what are the possibilities for Black here?

Add you comments to the pages above and then let us know what you think about

Plans/Strategies for Black