Here are a few well-known answers to the low pincer .
Moving out with a, attaching to 3-4 with b and attaching to the pincer stone with c (see 3-4 point low approach one-space low pincer contact on top, by transposition).
Ishida says that d is experimented with. In fact it is more common now than c.
The thrust at e can be found at a separate page: 3-4 point, 5-4 approach, one-space low pincer, thrust. f has also been played.
The ikken tobi of g is not possible here. See [1].
Black seems to have two standard answers: the extension to a and attaching with b.
1.1. Extension
White can now attach at a or press at b.
1.1.1 Attach
is tesuji.
White has an interesting ko to follow up with, if Black plays tenuki after the previous diagram. If Black a, White b makes a picnic ko. If Black c, White a is humiliating for Black.
1.1.2. Press
White gets influence along the left side and sente. Black's profit in the corner is considered superior locally, so has to be effective in the context of the whole board.
See BQM34. Labelled 'obsolete joseki' in the Kobayashi Koichi Dictionary. leaves bad aji here,
seems to be aji keshi therefore. Nowadays
is at a.
1.2. Attach
White can play a for central influence or b for preventing Black's connection.
Charles Matthews at c is also joseki, a more recent idea and currently much more popular.
Dieter: Aha ! That is the natural move and I have been wondering what was wrong with it. Strange that that one is a more recent idea.
The old joseki was this, with White playing tenuki after despite the cutting point at c. If Black cuts there White treats the stones including
and
as disposable.
This is a variation with the 'new' that has been played by top players. We probably assume Black wanted a framework on the left side here, making
an important point in the centre.
This line has been played in a number of games of Cho Hun-hyeon (on the side of White).
White must continue to run out after , Black a, naturally. White has made a ponnuki on Black's 'framework' side. White has a quite thin development on both sides.
Black cuts at and
is forced. Next there are the old continuation at a and a rather new one at b.
For at b see lower down.
For at
see 3-4 point high approach one-space low pincer attachment noseki.
2.1. Crawl
When Black crawls, wedge is tesuji.
2.1.1. Atari from above
This is one standard sequence. At , White can choose this peaceful variation: she can also turn at
, depending on a ladder (see below). Black gets corner territory and influence on the left side. White gets influence on the upper side and sente.
John Fairbairn::Isn't this the wrong order of moves? Surely White defers until Black has played
?
Charles Matthews John is correct. The order of plays shown is a well-known mistake seen up to shodan level.
Lucas: If played in the order shown ( before
) then White can also turn at a in sente before playing
.
os?: This is a strange argument because it says that White gets an additional option by deviating from the correct order. I think that the above order may be worse than the correct order below, because it allows Black to move out at a or at 9 after White plays .
GoranSiska The correct order of moves is this one.
2.1.1.1. Hamete
GoranSiska An interesting move (but hamete) that has potential use in some situations
GoranSiska Black trades the corner and some stones to get development on both sides.
GoranSiska An idea I had when I was about 2 kyu. Territorially the position is the same as in 2.1.1. Atari from above, but I felt that having one line higher (then
in 2.1.1.) adds to the depth of the presumed black moyo on the left. At 1 dan level I discarded the "joseki". Will anyone care to speculate as to why?
At in the previous diagram, White can turn at
here. Everything depends on the ladder at
.
If the ladder doesn't work for Black, instead of playing a he must extend at . After
, there is a peaceful play for Black at b and a fight at a.
2.1.2 Atari from below
Here, it depends on whether White can cut at a and capture the black stone in a ladder.
Charles Matthews See pushing battles in joseki 8 for a fuller treatment.
If the ladder works, Black submits with and
, getting a low position but keeping sente.
I'm not too sure, but I think this variation is too good for Black. (variation by Dieter)
Black crawls on one side but gets ahead on the other (variation by Dieter)
Variation at 3: two ponnuki
This variation occurs in the 11th Tianyuan title match, game four between Ma XiaoChun and Chang Hao. Locally, White's profit is considered better than Black's influence along the left side but Black takes sente.
2.2. Atari
Against and
,
is tesuji. An exchange takes place with Black taking corner territory and sente and White influence towards side and center. The result is considered slightly better for White locally but playable for Black in many circumstances.
TDerz Question - I wonder: It's funny, black choses, white has to follow and I find black's position better (corner + sente and not fully surrounded). So do not even have to see the white game position (the surrounding white stones) whether and why she liked it, because Black initiated here. Yet, if it's the first time that I encounter this position - here, never seen it in real game positions - then I just guess that black's position is still suboptimal to other, more "normal" variants initiated by black.
here is not so good. The marked stone is under little pressure and Black will find it easy to dispose of the situation.
This is a well-established line too. Next White plays a (simple), or b, c which are both complex.
Recently there have been experiments with 4, also.
Karel? Does anyone actually ever play this? In the high-dan games I've seen, after , black tends to jump away to one of the circled stones instead.
here is, after all, fairly slow. Would white really play
, instead of building some wall by attacking the upper black group and then pincering the lower black stone?
This is not a pincer that White can easily ignore: from the point of view of joseki and tenuki one can ignore White tenuki as a sensible continuation. It is played, though, in a small proportion of pro games. See 3-4 point high approach one-space low pincer, tenuki - the interesting point there is that Black's connection under isn't the most common way to play.
[1]
does not prevent the connection with
, and is considered bad for that reason.
If White resists:
Through White cannot live in the corner.
With the kosumi present, Black cannot cut at the marked point after .
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