Lee Sedol - Gu Li, 4th encounter
Black is Lee Sedol, White Gu Li. This is their 4th encounter and the final game in the semifinals of the 9th Samsung Cup.
marks the avalanche joseki.
chooses the large variant.
Black treats the stones involved in the corner exchange as forcing moves and uses their influence to make the big extension at . The clamp at
is a common technique to attack these stones so that they cannot be easily sacrificed. For example, if
were at
immediately, then Black would sacrifice and play at
himself, which would be a smaller sacrifice than the game sequence.
Instead of firmly capturing the cutting stones in the lower left, splits the upper side. After a common exchange of pressure and escape,
and
take the last big points.
defies the common knowledge to play at the centre of three stones (a) so there remains some aji in that shape.
exploits the aji immediately and
forms an empty triangle. Eventually
needs to return and capture the cutting stones, so that the solid connection at
has made strong influence in sente. White's stones are facing less open area and the opening now seems favorable for Black.
splits the lower side and
exploits the aji of the two stones once more. We can say they have done their job! On the other hand, White's left corner is very strong, so the job of splitting is more destructive of White's territory than it weakens White's groups.
The cap at tries to attack the black stones on a large scale.
White exploits the thinness of the horse head to cut at , after the crosscut. Black remains however unaffected and continues to disturb the balance of territory.
peeps and provides some support for the stones at the right, so that
can take the time and strengthen the central stones. After
Black seems to be firmly in the lead and
looks like an emergency measure.