Other corner plays

  Difficulty: Advanced   Keywords: Opening, Joseki

There are several more points where you can start. The 5-4 and 5-3 points are 'standard' just like the 3-3, 3-4 and 4-4 points are. Other points are sometimes used, but only rarely.

[Diagram]

Stone on the 5-3 point

The 5-3 point (called mokuhazushi in Japanese) is relatively far from the corner. Where the 3-3 point and 4-3 point focus their attention on the corner, this move is more directed to the left side. White can make an enclosure with a. This is also the most important place for a black kakari, but b and c are also standard, respectively trying to get the center and conceding it completely to White.


[Diagram]

Stone on the 5-4 point

Of the five standard opening points, the 5-4 point is the one which is farthest from the corner. Because of this, it does little to protect the corner. The compensation of course is that it is strong towards the center. By playing this way, White seems to choose for herself a strategy directed towards the center - she will go for influence and large frameworks rather than for small but secure pieces of territory.
The typical kakari to a 5-4 point is the 3-4 point inside it (a), which is also a possible enclosure point. However, as this is a low kakari (third line) it will give territory at the expense of centre influence. A second possibility is the invasion at the 3-3 point (b).


[Diagram]

Stone on the 5-5 point

The 5-5 point does not have the same standing as the moves that have been mentioned up to now, but it is still sometimes seen in games between strong players. Its direction is clearly towards the center. There are several ways for Black to approach it, but the best way is probably not to approach it at all. If Black invades anywhere, it is likely that the white stone will get stronger, and because White has no good point to make an enclosure as well, the best strategy for Black is probably to leave this corner alone, at least during the fuseki.

unkx80: Notice that if Black leaves the corner alone, White cannot surround the corner cleanly with a single move.


Other opening moves in the corner, such as the 6-4, 6-3 and 7-4 points (a, b and c) are even more rare. Almost no joseki exist for these openings. See though joseki after non-standard opening moves.

Jan van der Steen has some [ext] interesting unusual openings on his webpages.


Kogo's joseki dictionary contains a few joseki lines for the 6-3 and 6-4 points.

--Stefan


This is a copy of the living page "Other corner plays" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2007 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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