Never ignore a shoulder hit
Difficulty: Beginner Keywords: Shape, Tactics, Proverb
Cho Hun-hyeon in his Lectures on Go Techniques: one should never ignore a shoulder hit.
Black can also extend to a. The difference from the previous diagram is huge. When white answers, Black has many options, such as playing a hane, or a pincer if his own group has enough support (though this diagram does not show these continuations.)
TA?Is it also important that you are giving up the choice of which direction you wish to block in? If white preferred to block at 2 in the first diagram, perhaps it is more likely for black to choose a than 3 in the second?