Don't descend, connect
Black to play and settle the top side shape.
This situation comes from the 4-4 point, double low approach.
Instead, we play
, which is sente. White should not omit
or a black play there might be sente. The other advantage of playing
is that it induces a cutting point at a.
Phelan: This seems to be a case of OneTwoThree.
Arieh Question - The cutting point at a seems to completely undermine the purpose of settling the shape. I'm only a beginner, but it seems to be me that if white plays a here, black is in very bad shape, so the gote play in the previous diagram is preferable. Also, I don't think white has to play 4 immediately. White can cut at a in sente, protect the cutting stone by extending and threatening white's triangle above and then play 4.
Bill: If
cuts,
can catch it in a ladder. If White tries to escape with
,
continues the ladder. On an empty board White will eventually be captured. (It is possible that a White stone will break the ladder. But unless we see such a stone in a diagram, the convention is that it does not exist.)
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/19/e410913dc8ab1499286dcd1adff2db16.png)
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/33/0107407fb551bae8555f9c9ce79d49b0.png)
is necessary, this is ![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/45/a382f9f6c3c77a054e492fb2127fc8fd.png)
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/2/5a9f1d80f82e34cae57b45874e375b9d.png)
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published under the ![Sensei's Library [Welcome to Sensei's Library!]](../../images/stone-hello.png)