Trick play example 6

   
[Diagram]
Two-space high pincer joseki  

Alex: Twice in one night at the Go club, both as White in two-stone handicap games, I made a low approach to komoku (shown here with the colours reversed), had the two-space high pincer played against me, jumped out to B1 and, instead of the response at a I was expecting, was faced with the aggressive answer at W2, which I hadn't seen before. From here, the obvious line of play is B3 to W0, after which White b and Black c are honte. However, I had the suspicion (correct, it turns out) that both of my opponents were imitating something they'd seen in a high dan KGS game and, it being a handicap game, wanted to get them out of a memorised pattern and into unfamiliar territory where they would actually need to think a bit.

Patrick Taylor: Did you mean W10 in the paragraph above? "W0" doesn't appear in the diagram, for that matter neither does W10.


[Diagram]
Improvised hamete  

Alex: My sneaky move was at B1 here. The ladder was good for Black, incidentally, so the cut at a wouldn't work, but that probably wouldn't be the best play even if the cut did work.


[Diagram]
Probably not the right answer  

Alex: What I was hoping for was for White to try hitting the shape point immediately with W1. This lets Black attach in the corner at B2 and make a staircase with B4. White can't play at a (read this out for yourself), so with the sequence up to B8, Black has something resembling eyeshape in the corner, access to the centre, and White can't defend both sides at once. Black has succeeded in starting a fight, which it what he wanted (since Black is actually White in this handicap game).


[Diagram]
Better response 1  

Alex: Cutting with W1 is straightforward. Black gives up the corner with B2-W5 in return for outward influence. This is what I was expecting as worst-case scenario, and it isn't really all that bad. White gets a lot of territory, but I like thickness, and was planning on playing the honte move at a next if White (that is, Black in the game) followed this line.

In the first actual game, White played W1, but then played W3 at B4, which is obviously bad. Maybe I'll add a diagram for that later, but I'm short of time at the moment.


[Diagram]
Better response 2  

Alex: I think it would also be just fine to play W1 like this. Black's attachment at a is no longer so great, since the staircase doesn't work after W1, so fixing his shape with B2 becomes urgent. White can make the rather thick hane at W3 next. White gets a slightly better deal, but Black ends in sente and there are large endgame moves in the corner, which tend to go in the stronger player's favour in handicap games, so I could have accepted this result.

In the second actual game, White played W1 at b, which is bad because it doesn't prevent the staircase in the corner from working. I attached at a, White tried to resist the staircase and ended up with a disaster.

[Diagram]
powerful center move  

tderz: W1 might be a thank-you move as B2 is a powerful center move.
In fact, in other(?) variations (with the tigermouth), black+circle is played voluntarily by Black, going for influence. If white cuts at a, Black can play consistently c (making walls, influence) + separating white+circle OR
fiddle around with b.

Alex: I thought about this, but the problem I had with it is that Black now has two vital shape points left unplayed - d and e and, since both are pure gote for Black and each carries a big follow-up for White, he will get to play at most one of them.

[Diagram]
powerful center move  

tderz: I had associations with this variation (Joseki?)


Alex: Anyone have anything to add to this analysis? It's actually quite an interesting noseki, I think. I decided to put it down as a hamete/trick play, since I think it ends up slightly favourable to White with the correct answers and slightly favourable for Black if White makes the "obvious" move (taking the shape point immediately).


[Diagram]
Divide and ....  

Bill: What if White cuts Black's corner off with W5 - W7?

Alex: Yes, of course. Typical of me, overlooking the obvious in favour of a bunch of strange variations. It still gets a little tricky after B8-B10, because both a and b look, at first glance, like decent continuations for Black, and White can't prevent both. However, in reality only b is a significant threat.

If White cuts off Black's lone stone with e and connects her groups, Black can peep at b, then play c and get a decent result.

However, after W c, B a, as long as White just connects under with d (Black doesn't have enough liberties to do anything about this) and doesn't try to cut with e, White definitely has a very good result, having developed on both sides, while Black's group is left very weak and his corner is only about 5 points.


Excurs

[Diagram]
other tesuji example  

tderz: in this position (which is different, indeed) ...

[Diagram]
other tesuji example by Yi  

tderz: Yi Changho played B1.

[Diagram]
other tesuji example by Yi  

tderz: ... of course, variations after B1 are possible,
White could stretch at a or hane at b.
Some peaceful variants (from Galactic Go)

[Diagram]
other tesuji example by Yi  

tderz:

[Diagram]
other tesuji example by Yi  

tderz: ... and White extends-kakaris at a.


Trick play example 6 last edited by Warder05 on November 14, 2006 - 20:51
RecentChanges · StartingPoints · About
Edit page ·Search · Related · Page info · Latest diff
[Welcome to Sensei's Library!]
RecentChanges
StartingPoints
About
RandomPage
Search position
Page history
Latest page diff
Partner sites:
Go Teaching Ladder
Goproblems.com
Login / Prefs
Tools
Sensei's Library