BQM 305

3-3 Joseki  

Recently I have been playing Tengen in combination with Hoshi and San-San (just for some diversity). I have had several games with the following joseki. After Black 7, which should presumably have been at a, White plays at a and Black responds with b. I am not sure whether the result is any good or not. Is this line playable for both or rubbish for one?

Velobici: This position appears in at least two professional games. One is Go Seigen vs Hashimoto Utaro in their jubango; the other is Luo Jianwen vs Yang Jinhua in the 4th Mingren Title match. Please see the two diagrams below.

Better for black?  

LukeNine45: I'm only 4 or 5 kyu AGA but to me this looks quite a bit better for black, at least if it's on an empty board. I can't see a great way for white to exploit the aji of the gap in black's wall (at least not anytime soon), and seems to hurt white's shape? Black seems to have as good or better influence, 12 points or so cash, and as much potential.

More even?  

LukeNine45: Maybe this is more even? I still don't like it for white.

AJP: looks fine to me for both. What more did white want to achieve here?

Low  

Dieter White pushes once more, next makes a strong and influential shape. Black's position is too low.
IanDavis Thank you,this is a good sequence; I hadn't considered this line.

Normal play  

limits Black's development to the top. develops along the left. Compared to the BQM, White has no strong influential position ad Black develops better (higher). As a compensation, White has the initiative but I think she is happy to yield it for the previous diagram.

From Professional Play

Go Seigen (W) vs Hashimoto Utaro  

In addition to the lower left corner, the subject of this BQM, the right side shows an interesting way to handle the marked white stones using an elephant jump.