Forum for Hane at the Head of Two Stones
How does this work? [#1561]
Traddles: I've seen games where this pattern starts to happen and I don't know how to get out of it or if I even want to depending on whether I am black or white. Can someone explain this weird thing that keeps happening in my games?
I didn't know how to mark stones as 10, 11, and so on, but you should get the idea of where this is going.
![[Diagram]](diagrams/23/2179f3a25b77a3dc8aae12bda1c54862.png)
This is basically a big pushing battle. There is plenty of material on senseis about it.
As for this particular pattern. It gives both sides a lot of cutting points. So both players have to becareful about that. White doesn't have a lot of options here besides backing down from the pushing battle, but Black has a lot of options. For instance a double hane, a stretch or getting ahead with a one point jump.
I hope this helps.
![[Diagram]](diagrams/29/b11383dd31e4e12f69918c5d5cb1c742.png)
If you are Black, you should be happy. As fractic says, there are so many options that Black should always be able to serve his strategic result. a goes for more influence in the centre but leaves more cutting options, b is a little safer but still gets ahead, c emphasizes the left and bottom, while reducing White's initial stones to 2 liberties and even the sharp cut at d is possible.
![[Diagram]](diagrams/2/dceadc11fffb2b6e292569912734d745.png)
![[Diagram]](diagrams/1/5d52e42738cf3151244568d398bc8f98.png)
For example, after the shoulder hit at 
and the unyielding 
, White should not play b but instead 
or a lighter move like a.
The global context is very important though and sometimes, as shown in the pro example on the parent page, both players think they're doing the right thing while hane at the head is plenty.
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