3-4 point high approach low extension, whole board

    Keywords: Opening, Joseki
[Diagram]

The low extension

Dieter: In the Belgian Ch'ips final (round robin with 10) I played two games with the lower side constellation, both times I played B2 to frustrate White's influence. For B4 I played each hane a and b once.

[Diagram]

White is tricked

In this game (which I unfortunately lost) White played a variation which is not considered joseki. In particular, with the BC stone present AND the killer move of a waiting for Black having enough liberties at the outside, White's cutting stones end up very weak.

Some other variations:

[Diagram]

The low extension

B7 at BC. I believe this is bad for White, given the ladder aji, the thinness of the moyo and the poor position of WC shapewise.

[Diagram]

The low extension

The nice thing about BC, is that this joseki needs a White extension at a, which is impossible due to BS. W5 is cramped.

AndyPierce: Mingjiu Jiang 7 Dan in Punishing And Correcting Joseki Mistakes (Slate & Shell) calls black's outside hane BC a "trick play" and says that the sequence given above is a sufficient refutation (albeit still cramped by the presence of BS -- W5 should be at BS). He points out that black could have played this joseki instead:

[Diagram]

better for black



Should White play this way, she is even more cramped by BC, and her wall is one stone less high.

[Diagram]

Joseki

For what it's worth he also says that this joseki is "low and unimaginative" for Black and therefore seldom seen in modern play. I'm not qualified to say whether this may be justified under these circumstances for Black to force his way out to the left.

Charles In this game position, this looks to me like quite a good choice for Black.

[Diagram]

Result

Here it seems to me that both BC and BS are working well in limiting White.


[Diagram]

Better for Black

Dieter: I discarded B2 because I expected the avalanche move at W3 and didn't want White to build additional influence towards WC. It is too much to expect W3 at a. I played the inward hane because BC refutes White's refutation of it. It may not be joseki if no other stones are present, but I'd like to know whether it is still advised against when BC is present.

[Diagram]

The butt

Bill: I, too, would worry about the nadare. In such a case, the butt, B2, is a preventative. This is a likely continuation. If W4 instead of W3, Black replies at a, and BC is well placed.

Dieter: After W7, can we say that due to both positions being high, the lower side is important for both and that the stabilizing moves of b or c for Black or White respectively, are urgent ?

[Diagram]

What about the pincer?

Dave: Did you consider and reject the pincer at B2? If W3, B4 seems to be along the lines of what you wanted to achieve.



[Diagram]

Strange game ?!

Charles I presume W1 next, aiming at White at a and a game based on influence. Black has played from the thick side, so White keeps away from the top right.

I have to say this is quite an odd position. The BS stone on the right side is not so well balanced. White approaching is not very well co-ordinated with the lower left wall (which is not quite the joseki result anyway). Normally Black is quite respectful in answering WS.

Dave: I would agree that there are some interesting aspects in what has come before. The keima on the left looks too early to me. If Black had simply answered at a, the original White pincer stone would have been badly overconcentrated. White would have had to approach the bottom right from the bottom side to make any sense out of the position I think.

[Diagram]

Was it like this?

Dave: It looks to me like the marked White stone is overconcentrated (of course Black wishes the marked Black stone were on one of the points marked a as well). White has a difficult time here I believe. Playing from the direction of W3 tries to make sense of the wall to the left but if Black just keeps it simple with B4...



Charles It's certainly an interesting study. Not to give the players a hard time - it is well known that positions in which both players have erred are much harder, if one wants to draw any definition conclusions.

One thing that comes up: in this position the main pro choice is the circled point, to play into the pushing battle line The squared points are seen, too. But no examples of extending to the middle of the side. So that is perhaps a bit lukewarm.


This is a copy of the living page "3-4 point high approach low extension, whole board" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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