Sabaki

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    Keywords: MiddleGame, Go term

Chinese: 腾挪 (téng nuó)
Japanese: 捌き (sabaki)
Korean:

Sabaki is a Japanese go term adopted into English usage.

Charles Matthews Sabaki definitely doesn't equate either to making light (karui) shape, or to settling a group (shinogi) - as is often said. Either of these might count as sabaki, I suppose - but a correct definition of sabaki is more like skilful process successfully handling an awkward situation. It could have other aims, such as taking sente by means of a sacrifice.

[Diagram]

Sabaki

This sequence by White started with the sacrifice cut at W1 is an example of sabaki play. White might now continue at a, treating the other stones lightly. Threatening ko with W5 is also notable - White can afford to lose a ko here, but Black really can't. Ko techniques can be used for sabaki.

For another way for White to play here, see light play example 4.

[Diagram]

Clumsy

If White just plays ordinary moves such as W1 and W3 here, the feeling is clumsy and the result a heavy group.



In general

  • sabaki techniques are the opposite of clumsy play;

and

  • the objective is to deal skilfully with the local situation, avoiding longer-term problems.

Based on your first diagram, I can certainly imagine why in martial arts they use this for stepping out of the line of attack and making an attack from a blind spot, like your opponent's back. With move 1, you're moving beyond Black's front line, then coming back to the front while using the first stone to attack him again from the front.

As to your definition, is it necessary to be in an awkward position to play sabaki? I find it comparable to something like Make A Feint To The East While Attacking In The West. Although this is often used to build up strength to attack in the west, while sabaki is much lighter play, comparable to light footwork in karate.

--ElDraco


Charles Matthews If you fall too much in love with sabaki - and I possibly did myself a little while ago - you find that the techniques when over-used tend to make the opponent too solid, even thick.


Pages on sabaki techniques:


Older postings:

lavalyn: Sabaki play is useful when you don't know how to deal with the opponent's moyo. But please don't make the mistake of letting the opponent secure a (albeit smaller) portion while your stones are plastered against the resulting thickness with no clear escape route or eye shape. As I've done too often - even the lightest play could end up becoming heavy if all your stones end up engulfed.

Play the shape game - and realize how outrageously difficult it is to build two eyes when there's no escape route. Sabaki is a light formation of stones in a hostile environment. The purpose of the sabaki is either run away to the support of other friendly stones or to build two eyes and live this way. Sabaki is a light formation, which means that tails might be sacrificed to achieve life or connection if the need arises. It means also that the number of stones that are invested in sabaki is not too large. Sabaki is a fast running formation which can become solid at the same time.

Building sabaki is an art.


Note: isn't karui the term for light as opposed to heavy (both properties of groups of stones) whereas sabaki is rather a technique ? I would translate sabaki with swift .

--Dieter


Sabaki in ordinary parlance means handling or treatment. I think that the term is used in Kendo (the art of swordplay), where it has to do with footwork. (I'm not real sure about the Kendo usage.)

-- Bill Spight


In Judo and Jujutsu tai sabaki (we usually translate as body movement) is used to describe the various pivots and movements of the body to defend against an attack or to off-balance your opponent. In other words, those body movements that put you in a good position (or your opponent in a bad one). Lightness is implied in the Judo context. -- Aaron Cass


On [ext] http://igs.joyjoy.net/English/learning_go/go_terms.html they say sabaki means settling a group. Couldn't find the word in the dictionary, though and they apparently don't use kanji for the word. Aaron's interpretation is probably pretty close, since getting a sabaki limits your opponent's EyeSpace, throwing him off-balance since it's in territory he was probably trying to get.

-- ElDraco

Sabaki mean literally "to turn". With my rather limited Japanese know-how. In judo tai-sabaki "turning the body

--- Petri P

I have been looking up kanji for various terms and adding them where I felt confident. (Even though I turned out to be wrong when it came to connection.) I am looking for the proper kanji for sabaki, and have come up with this: 捌き. Can anyone more experienced (or fluent) comment?

-- Blake

JohnF. This is the correct kanji, though it is rarely used.

HolIgor: I have several go books in Japanese. Most of the special go terms including sabaki are written with katakana and not with hiragana or kanji. They are special terms and get special treatment.

Blake: Ah. So sabaki would be サバキ?


Dieter: Getting ready to WME this page, I have the following to add. In Tesuji and anti-suji of Go sabaki is used in the following senses

  • dodge the attack
  • sidestepping the attack
  • dodging a blow
  • dealing admirably with a burgeoning position
  • use all elements involved to shift the balance of power
  • utilizing all elements involved to engineer an acceptable result
  • fancy footwork (the literal meaning)

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