BQM 519

Moved from 4-4 point low approach, two-space high pincer, without side stone.

Jump out & san-san  

How should Black answer ? (This used to be a joseki variation of the already unpopular catenaccio joseki.

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seems to be overconcentrated White doesn't get many points.

White a : Black plays b and cuts White. White lives in the corner in gote.
White b : White connects in gote. AJP: better for white to connect at c instead.

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unkx80: I think Black should consider cutting the White stones apart first.

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I got trouble in a game with this... how should Black play ?

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Kogo's variation

Anonymous: A Japanese 6-dan told me : Tenuki after .

Charles Black's tenuki after I can believe.

Bill: I wonder about the Japanese 6-dan's comment. Maybe there was no stone in the position discussed. It is urgent here to attack rather than be attacked, it seems to me.

Bill: (A little later.) I did a search on GoBase. White's 3-3 invasion has occurred in very few games, as you might have guessed. When it has, Kogo's variation is typical, but without . (White plays tenuki instead.) Also, White often plays tenuki after .

unkx80: A likely reason why this "joseki" is rarely played out is because the one-space jump followed by the 3-3 invasion is not really following the flow in most cases - the feeling is that White wants to make moves both outside and inside the corner, which appears somewhat greedy. (Compared to the usual joseki where White directly enters the 3-3, White sacrifices the outside for a fairly large corner.) This results in a smaller corner, while the outside stones are somewhat heavy and subject to attack.

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unkx80: If you must play on the left side, then is a much thicker reply. a is way too thin.