3-3 Point Invasion which peeps at the tiger's mouth

    Keywords: MiddleGame, Joseki
[Diagram]

The opening

W5 is usually played to keep sente. Sooner or later White plays W7, which is usually gote but which has a large follow-up.

[Diagram]

The invasion

[1] Black can connect at a or resist at b.

In a small sample (3) the pro always connects.


Connection

[Diagram]

Connection & block

Black can also cut White off with B4 instead of B3, but then White can live.

[Diagram]

Connection & cut

If the top right is big, Black plays this way. White lives

[Diagram]

Variation

Taking the corner is usually too painful.


Resistance

[Diagram]

Resistance

The question is whether Black can resist.

[Diagram]

Refutation

This way, White wins by one liberty.

[Diagram]

Crawl OK

If Black tries to use the special properties of the corner by playing B1 at the 1-2 point, the crawl at W2 suffices. Black's attempts to smother White with B3 - B9 fail.

[Diagram]

Refutation

W3 would be a mistake. White loses a liberty.

unkx80: Doesn't W9 at a win the capturing race?

fractic: I think so too. Also while White does indeed have one liberty less, she does have sente. In the earlier diagram she had one more liberty but Black had sente.


MrTenuki (KGS 3k): Please correct me if I'm wrong-- it seems to me that Black could try to trick White into playing the following sequence if he is komaster.

[Diagram]

Possible Follow-up (W15 takes ko)


Then again, I did find a refutation for White for avoiding the ko...

[Diagram]

Corrected Follow-up (a and b are miai for White)


This is a copy of the living page "3-3 Point Invasion which peeps at the tiger's mouth" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2011 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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