Cast A Brick To Attract A Gem

抛砖引玉

The original meaning of this stratagem is: To give someone something of lesser value and receive from them something of higher value in return. In Go, this can be seen as one of the following:

• trick play or hamete
• One should sometimes consider mediocre plays. They can lead to opportunities later for brilliant follow-ups. In positions where there is nothing really attractive to do, one should pay particular attention to planning. One's intention can be concealed by initially going down an obscure direction of play.

Note: In Chinese, this four-character idiom is often meant as an expression of politeness.