staircase

Staircase formation  

An English name for this shape. The staircase results from a counter-hane.

These pages discuss the question of how to play here:

• Hane-kaeshi follow-up
• Staircase example

The main point is that whoever is to play should consider making a solid connection, rather than playing either available atari.

See also 4-4 point staircase joseki.

DaveSigaty: The above seems oversimplified to me. I was unable to resist checking with a database (as usual :-) See Staircase Statistics.