Before living with , White makes a kikashi with
. This is an example of the proverb play kikashi before living. This serves as a peep at the Black's tiger shape, forcing Black to answer at
. It also has a local achievement too: by connecting the
stone in sente, it enhances the strength of the White wall. As
is part of the White's wall, the proverb on sacrificing kikashi stones does not apply in this example.
Later, the peep at is another typical example of a kikashi. Due to his marked tiger shape, White is already connected, and there is hardly any aji left in this position. So Black's move is justified: he forces White to confirm the choice she already made: connect her stones.
does several things at a time: it destroys some eye shape, and it can serve as a ladder breaker later, or be a stone that is just in the right spot to win a capturing race. But
is a stone to be treated lightly. It is not an important stone. It is a kikashi stone.
Enfors: Let me see if I get understand this properly. The point of is not to make white play at
. The point of playing
there is that it might become useful in the future, and it is the fact that
forces white to play at
which enables black to play at
without losing sente. Correct?
Phelan: Correct. :)
Suppose White is ahead in territory but Black has more influence. With and
, White forces Black to take some territory at the top. After his submissive answers, she jumps to
. Her stones
,
and
, will have some influence on the proceedings in the center. If Black makes an attempt to capture
and
, they should be sacrificed in order to strengthen
.
Bill:
looks peculiar, doesn't it? Don't we have any good examples from pro games?
Dave: With
, White pulls out the stones played earlier - this is not kikashi. Compare this example from the 7th Honinbo title match. Black plays kikashi with a similar shoulder hit and then abandons the kikashi stones in order to invade the corner.
Bill: Great example, Dave! :)
JohnMoser: I have to agree with Dave. The area marked .C seems to represent territory dispute. This could be destroyed territory (stones there, adds to no one's score) or captured territory (surrounded). If white captures
and
, it can gain those territory as score; if Black connects
and
to
and fails to form territory in that area, White still fails to gain territory from the exchange as well.
and
could be worth 5 or 10 points.
Dave: Later in the game White starts to play against the kikashi stones but both players treat them lightly. With
Black is willing to let White cut off the two stones. However,
shows that White has no interest in such a small-scale capture.
In this position, Black has a few forcing moves. He starts off with . If unanswered, White's position would completely crumble.
then forces White to take the two stones. White may decide (but is unlikely) to abandon her three stones, depending on the rest of the top side. Next,
forces once more to effectively take the stones off the board. Next, Black can play along the left side or connect around a.
and
are mere sente moves, moves that are played to keep the initiative while building the position.
is the only example of kikashi, because the stone is treated as disposable:
Later, close to the endgame, this may be played. The added value of is that it makes
sente again, compared to if Black had not forced White to capture as in the previous diagram.
In a game vs. Yamashita Keigo in the 29th Meijin league, Cho Chikun plays kikashi with -
before strengthening his center group with
. (See commentary at
http://www.asahi.com/igo/meijin29/16/05.html.)
Despite the proverb about sacrificing kikashi stones, only is in any danger.
LukeNine45: Are these really kikashi? It looks to me like White is just taking all the free moves he can before playing
.
Bill: Yes. The commentary says, 右辺を白70から76と利かし . White plays kikashi on the right side with
-
.
My own comment is that these plays are more urgent because of White's running group. After White secures the group, they might not be so urgent.
LukeNine45: Interesting. I guess I'll have to think of kikashi as having a broader meaning. Thanks!
is a peep. Black can sacrifice
with b and d after White a.
From Charles Matthews - Shape Up! (p.48)
By the way, thank you for this excellent book. QWerner
Also, I think this is a 100 day thinking example for kyu players.
What is inside:
1. Kikashi ofcourse.
2. Shape, one way to use the Big Bulge and how to set it up.
3. Double purpose move. Not only in sense of the normal meaning of double purpose move. More in sense of the time changing purpose. First is needed to get
in the right place. Later it will treated lightly to get a strong position.
If W tenuki playing
elsewhere
is needed to cut. So this is another use of the Big Bulge here. Of course W tenuki is in this situation not the best idea, but this shows the dynamic of this shape. I will call it: A bunch of virtual live lines. In the moment where
is played all they exist, but only one get reality later (condensation). Therefore fixing a position reduce the value. From this point of view a good shape is a configuration which has enough nice future prospects to a brought variety of possible upcoming situations. A good feeling means than
to look somehow in the future knowing which live lines from different possible shapes over the goban will work later nicely together. This maybe is also called luck, I guess. QWerner
Tapir: To my limited understanding it is far from clear whether will turn out as kikashi. Imagine the Black stone on the right (
) needs to make eyes later,
by disabling the attachment at k might as well turn out to be aji keshi.