Wedge - when the approach is possible
When White plays the marked stone as a wedge, Black 1 is an idea to inhibit White at a. White b, Black c is interesting for Black. This is from an Edo period game in Japan. See 3473 enclosure for Black's left-hand corner.
The prevalence in contemporary Go of the mini-chinese formation means that players now often face a side position like this. White 1 is the favoured wedge. This goes against classical ideas, that an approach in the right-hand corner is larger.
This sequence has been developed in a number of recent games by Chinese and Korean players. White is trying to build a strong group to limit Black's framework on the left. Black isn't content with any normal enclosure. Black 2 at a is clearly possible - in fact experiments with 2 one, two, four and five lines to the left have been seen.
Update
Recently
has been played in order to try for more immediate advantage. In a game Pak Yeong-hun-Yi Se-tol 2002-10-31 White reacted with the contact play
, to try for sabaki.
Also popular in recent pro games is
, which leaves a clear weakness behind at a. So in this case
is comprehensible. to threaten to the right.
This is a continuation being played now. The combination
+
follows the logic 'force on the side you won't reinforce'. After White defends actively at
, ahead of Black at a, Black plays tenuki: the play at
means that Black already has a base in the left corner.
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/5/1ded2c5685f74a832991c2a1025137e7.png)
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/28/2eba388d3a9ecb2b25962926f1decd36.png)
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/9/4010ba5040276c6478502a0e9a33f7bb.png)
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/9/49fca7f50f9b61e09fffc380c4f99abd.png)
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/3/2d3eae5010453040846bfa80a7ccc76c.png)
, White 12 at a).
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/48/c06bee9577abcba5257ae365784800be.png)
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/35/49d46b2e9fc56066464e4d031f684192.png)
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