Joseki Dictionary Coverage Depth

Theme Diagram  

The joseki selected for this comparison is the line shown

Table of contents 38 Basic Joseki Even Game Joseki Essential Joseki Dictionary of Basic Joseki Great Joseki Encyclopedia In actual professional play

38 Basic Joseki

This line does not appear in 38 Basic Joseki.

Model 4 (ladder)  

The book shows that the sequence ends at this point (compare this other books).

Model 5 (no ladder, continued)  

The push by White, , into a hane at the head of two stones situation is marked as a basic joseki sequence that continues in the next diagram.

With the battle started between the two isolated, but outside, White stones and the three Black stones on the top, the standard sequence ends.

Essential Joseki

Essential Joseki provides seven diagrams over a page and a half (page 197f) regarding this line of play.

Diagram 37 (Unfavorable ladder)  

So far, this sequence is identical to that of Model 5 (no ladder) in Even Game Joseki.

Diagram 37 (Unfavorable ladder, continued)  

Here the push into a hane at the head to two stones has been replaced by the touch underneath at .

Diagram 38 (Aggressive)  

Essential Joseki covers the (overly) aggressive play at in five diagrams.

Diagram 42 (White is good, continued)  

Play continues with White a and Black b. White trades fives stones for massive thickness. This is especially disturbing to Black as a premise of playing the takamoku and the keima press is to develop influence on the outside facing down the left side of the diagram. Now White has that thickness in place of Black.

Dictionary of Basic Joseki

Ishida Yoshio's Dictionary of Basic Joseki Volume 3, devotes 18 diagrams covering three pages, starting at the middle of page 43, to this line of play.

Diagram 110 (Favorable ladder)  

This diagram is identical to Diagram 36 Essential Joseki but adds the text However, the ladder with 7 can not be favorable to Black or White would not attach in the first place, so this pattern is shown just for reference. Thus, clearly indicating that White's attachment underneath Black's knight's move is would be seen only when the ladder if in White's favor...a statement not found in either Even Game Joseki or Essential Joseki.

Reference Figure 10  

From the 13th Meijin League (1974) between Ishida Yoshio (White) and Otake Hideo (Black).

The ladder was favorable, so White attached. Black answered as shown. Black 1 is a fairly unusual move -- one cannot say whether it or the extension is better. White 2 and Black 3 are natural and the ensuing sequence is probably forced. (numbering changed from original to match diagram.)

Note that is the ugly move seen in Even Game Joseki but not in Essential Joseki. Here it is played in response to Black's descent at .

Reference Figure 10 (continued, part 1)  

If White does not play 4 and 6, the adverse potential remaining in the corner is unsettling.

Reference Figure 10 (continued, part 2)  

The sequence to Black 2 is a new pattern.

Diagram 118  

Using this diagram, Ishida explains the thrust into a hane at the head of two stones: White 4 in Reference Figure 10 is an application of the 5-3 point joseki (see page 291, Volume 2). If White simply plays 1, Black 2 is sente as it threatens Black a, White b, Black c, killing White.

Diagram 119  

Black 4 in Reference Figure 10 (continued, part 2) was questionable -- I was grateful to play White 5. Black 1 here would have been more disagreeable, as it is the central point of the whole position. if 2, Black increases the pressure with 3.

Thus Ishida concludes his discussion of this line of the joseki.

Great Joseki Encyclopedia

The 1980 edition of Igo Daijiten is a little different than the above. It includes quite a bit of analysis of lines that do not appear in GoGoD. It covers the theme joseki in 107 diagrams (plus 1 for the theme) as follows:

Igo Daijiten (Five Responses)  

Igo Daijiten shows five(!) responses by Black to White's crosscut. Only a and b have multiple lines examined in detail.

Igo Daijiten, Response a1  

10 diagrams

Igo Daijiten, Response a2  

13 (!) diagrams

Igo Daijiten, Response a3  

11 diagrams

Igo Daijiten, Response a4  

16 diagrams

Igo Daijiten, Response a5  

5 diagrams

Igo Daijiten, Response b1  

7 diagrams

Igo Daijiten, Response b2  

13 diagrams

Igo Daijiten, Response b3  

14 diagrams

Igo Daijiten, Response b4  

7 diagrams

Igo Daijiten, Response c  

3 diagrams

Igo Daijiten, Response d  

6 diagrams

Igo Daijiten, Response e  

12 diagrams

In actual professional play

Searching in a games database (2007 Christmas edition of GoGoD) in a narrow corner (includes the possibility of stones as close as the side star points) yields 125 matches as shown here...

Continuations  

Statistics: 125 matches (61/64), B: 45.6%, W: 54.4%

Ba: 75 (75), B48.0% - W52.0%
Bb: 46 (46), B43.5% - W56.5%
Bc: 3 (3), B33.3% - W66.7%
Bd: 1 (1), B0.0% - W100.0%

The play at "d" ocurred in an amateur event and was probably caused by confusion with the similar shape when White has played at 3-3 under a 5-4 stone (shift everything in the diagram one space to the left). There drawing back at "d" is a known play.

The play at "c" was tried in China in 3 games in 2000-2001 but seemingly not before and not since.

That leaves "a" and "b". The former is the most frequent choice here and is what appears in the typical joseki books, but what about "b"? This appears in Igo Daijiten but not the smaller books. This is interesting because pattern b2 from Igo Daijiten above appears in no less than 32 games. A pretty good case can be made that this is the current "main line" of the joseki (all the 2007 games in GoGoD feature this line although it first appeared in 1898) and it does not seem to appear in the English language joseki books at all. Oops! :-)

Igo Daijiten, Response b2 revisited  

is the main line here and now whether White answers on the right or the left depends on circumstances. This joseki seems to be more often seen in China currently. For example...

One recent game  

Li Zhe - Piao Wenyao, 2007 China National Individual Championship 2007-09-19