Pushing from behind

Pushing from behind  

---etc is pushing white from behind. In general this pattern is not good for black. If black continues, white is constantly ahead of him, and may choose to bend around (hane) on the front of black's stones (eg: at a instead). If black plays elsewhere (tenuki) after , white can follow up at a with a devastating bend.

Jumping ahead  

Usually, something like is better, jumping ahead. Now and are pushing from behind, and maybe black will hane in front.

Jump, cut  

The risk of , however, is that white will cut like this. Whether this is possible depends on the surroundings (eg: is the edge of the board nearby?)

Knight's move  

If you think that the cut is too dangerous, you can play the knight's move jump of instead. Now - might follow. This is better than pushing from behind.

Knight's move, cut  

Even with the knight's move, white can still cut. But this cut is much weaker than the previous one. In the previous cut diagram, and and - were separated in three groups. Here and are connected, so black only has two groups to worry about (- and -).

A little extra push  

If even the cut from the above diagram is too much for your position, then you are truly in a weak situation, and perhaps there is nothing for it but to push from behind (sometimes bad moves are your only option). Under some circumstances, pushing from behind for another move or two will lead to more favorable outcomes from a jump or knight's move. At left white has played a bend at the head of three stones, which is easier for black to defend than a bend at the head of two stones and gives black more tactical options, including the ladder at a.

Moves 12 to 21  

60th Honinbo title match, game 4, W: Cho U, B: Takao Shinji. through are an extreme example of pushing from behind.
The Japanese term translates as pushing the cart from behind--indicating that something is wrong, since in Japan carts are normally pulled, not pushed.