Gentle Joseki, part I by Pieter Mioch

The patterns

Dia 1 An opening move at the 4-3 point (komoku) is basically a

typical way of not regarding the center important as yet. Komoku
had for centuries been the focus of almost every game in Japan and
profound research dealing with the 4-3 point was constantly going
on. (this explains why even today there are more komoku joseki's
than all the other opening moves put together) In dia 1 black's aim
is to make a corner enclosure (shimari) with A, B, or C. Black thus
spending two moves in the corner gets cash profit but in doing so
it'll take longer before he can start to emphasize the center. This is because the orthodox and still
popular way of developing in the opening is to first claim the corners, then the sides, and last, as
an afterthought the center.

It should be kept in mind that either making a shimari yourself or preventing your opponent from
making a shimari is regarded of equal value (miai). It is in most cases, if not all very hard to say
that making a shimari is clearly better than preventing your opponent from making one. A good
idea for any player, be it dan or kyu, is to experiment freely with both styles of playing. Games
will most likely develop completely different, providing an opportunity to be amazed and learn,
which is all it takes to improve rapidly.

Dia 2 and dia 3 show moves which prevent black from making a shimari. White's move 2 in dia
2 is much more common than 2 in dia 3 since dia 3 actually leaves a big piece of the corner to
enclose, for example black can play at A and secure at least 12 points.

It is true that even in dia 2 black can secure about 12 points with
the sequence shown in dia 2A.
This way of playing however, is regarded as giving too much away
for too little, it is rarely seen in professional games. White's shape
on the left side is nice and he has no complaints.
In dia 4 and dia 5 you can
see the so called high and
low Chinese Fuseki
patterns, this is an
intriguing way of playing
since black's strategy by
purposefully not making a
shimari is to invite white to
play an approach move to
the corner (kakari) at A-D.
If white plays here black
hopes to put his stone at
the side, 1 to good use and
make it hard for white to
settle himself. White most
of the time declines the
invitation and plays
somewhere on the left side
instead.

(Ikezaki) "Go Seigen for

his part was more
concerned with speed than
anything else. He felt that
taking time to solidify the
corner with 2 moves was
much too laid back an
approach to the game,
especially when playing
white" (games in Japan
during the first half of this
century were largely
played without komi and
black had the advantage of
playing the first move).
Kitani and Go might have
had different goals in mind
but they both came around
to the same conclusion, komoku (4-3) or other asymmetrical opening moves (5-3, 5-4) need a
follow up move (again in the corner) and do not develop towards the center and also do not
develop one's stones very fast.
This was why they made the hoshi (4-4) play a standard opening move, and, a little after that the
ni-ren-sei (dia 6) and san-ren-sei (dia 7).

(Ikezaki) "That Kitani and Go's views differ is best explained by the san-san (3-3) move Go
came up with. Anybody can see that such a low move does not do much towards the center. Go,
however, was perfectly content with it because, similar to the hoshi play the san-san move does
not require a follow up move, enabling black to develop rapidly."
Nowadays the 4-4 move is extremely popular because of its relative simplicity and speedy
development. Of course however, there is one major drawback to the hoshi play: on its own it
barely makes any territory at all!

Dia 8 As long as black has not any stones in the vicinity white can
enter the corner at 3-3 and for example, initiate the joseki up to
black 12. Black plays the last move here (he ends in 'gote') and
white can play elsewhere first (he has 'sente'). For black the idea of
omitting 12 and play elsewhere is not an option, since white will
cut immediately left of 2, ruining black's position. So, although
black played in the corner first his opponent can invade at the 3-3
point, make 10 points of territory and play elsewhere (tenuki) first!
Put it like this and you might have a hard time believing that this
result actually favors black, big time. In spite of all the
aforementioned, black's thickness is usually worth much more than the 10 points white took in
the corner. For one thing, after white invaded black can chose where he wants to block off white.
If at 2 in the diagram his thickness will come to face to the left. If 2 at 3 black's wall will come to
face the lower half of the right side.

Realizing this white should think

twice before deciding to jump into
the corner in dia 9. Playing at 1 here
is bad timing: black has no problem
giving up the corner in order to create
formidable thickness, which might
well turn out to be worth over 40
points!
 This is shown in dia 10 where you
can see that black gets a promising
game right from the start. After white
13 black does not need to do
anything special, a play at A is good
enough. If black really wants to he
can see what happens if he plays at
B, white C and black D. Black can
permit himself to create a potentially
weak group (stone B) in white's
sphere of influence since his overall
board position is rock-solid. By the
way, black cannot play around 13
first and forget about playing at 12.
Whatever happens one thing to keep
in mind when looking at dia 10 is that
black should not look at his position
on the right as being secure territory
yet. Using the right side to set up a
moyo (oversized teritory) of roughly
the size of for example 80+ points is a good idea. For example a play at A (instead of black 1) in
dia 11 shows the right spirit. To think however, that black now quickly must at least secure 40
points of territory as compensation for losing the corner is a mistake. Such a rigid state of mind
is easily exploited by white who can play a number of forcing moves on the borderline of black's
territory. If black docile were to answer all white forcing moves (kikashi) protecting his territory
it'll be inevitable that black turns out to be using too many stones to secure a small part of the
board (kori-gatachi).

Black 1 in dia 11 is on its own

maybe not such a bad move.
However, if black 1 is played with
the idea of securing black's territory
as fast as possible then it is no good.
The sequence up to 12 shows a worst
case scenario. White doesn't even
need to bother with an invasion on
the right side (although this is of
course possible) in order to get a
promising game. If black is set on
making the right side into solid
territory he'll defend at 3-11. These
moves disregard the proper usage of
thickness and lack in fighting spirit.
Black, to be sure, does get solid
territory, about 40 points but he
normally should not be able to win
this game, his stones are all
concentrated on the right side and
much too singular in their purpose
(they do not attack or threaten to do anything)
In other words, it is often not advisable to try to use a hoshi stone in a territory-oriented manner
right from the start. Therefore, if at an early stage of the game your opponent chooses to enter at
the 3-3 point this should often be welcomed!

Dia 12 Let's take a closer look at what to do after white's 3-3

invasion. It is worthwhile to memorize at least three variations by
heart. The sequence shown in dia 8 is number one and the most
peaceful.
The ni-dan-bane combination with black 3 and 5 (double diagonal
move) is very popular since this usually lets black get the corner
back. Although white might sometimes want to play elsewhere
(tenuki) after black 11 a play at A is extremely big. Not only does
white make his position virtually invulnerable, he also can aim at
exploiting the lack of liberties of black's 1-3-7 stones. After white
A, black elsewhere, white B, black C, white D and black E, black can only just capture the white
stones because he has one liberty more. He should, however, be very careful what happens to his
own outside liberties during the game.

Note that the cut at 9 is just one possible continuation, sometimes high ranked players prefer to
let white have the corner and instead of black 9 play dia 13. By playing on the outside with 9
black clearly goes for thickness towards the left and center instead of taking profit in the corner.
Another aim however, could very well be to obtain sente by playing elsewhere in case white
connects the ko with 1 as in dia 14. But, black must be prepared for a tricky ko fight if white
does not connect at 1 but instead counters his atari with A. Finally the last variation, and a tricky
one at that.

Dia 15 White 1 and 3 are testing black's intentions and perhaps

also his knowledge of joseki. White 3 shows excellent fighting
spirit, aiming at the double atari at A in spite of the obvious
weakness of white's own stones. If black were to play at B next
white would without hesitation play A, and whatever the
continuation get a good result.

Dia 16 shows how to keep things

simple and get a good result for black. Although the sequence starting with black 1 is a basic
joseki I think that black has a nice corner with no hidden nastiness (warui aji) waiting around to
haunt him. White'd better be sure his shape at the left (ponnuki) is serving some kind of purpose
there taking the whole board situation in account, otherwise he should stick to the sequence
shown in dia 12.

The reason why I called this variation tricky is this forceful move
black 1 in dia 17, which black sometimes can play if he is careful.

Dia 18 If white has to defend with 2 and 4 then black can get a
solid, thick position. This result favors black.

Dia 19 When white tries to fall back on the original joseki (dia 12)
and captures a black stone with 2-4-6 the result is a disaster: the
triangle marked stones have now become wasted moves.
 Dia 20 This diagram shows how
frightening joseki can be. Moving out
with 3 white sets his stone in motion
instead of making eyes in the corner
at 14 (=4 in dia 18), and in doing so
is sacrificing the corner but?
Although no black stones die he is
losing the game already once the
sequence up to white 19 is set in
motion. Crawling on the second line
is not to black's liking but you can
say that he captures the corner as
compensation for that. The position
of the square marked black stone
however, is pitiful having all but died
being plastered against the white
stones as it is. Furthermore, attacking
the white stones has become pretty
difficult and black's shimari is not
doing much, black is bound to loose
this game because of a lack of
territory.
Black 1 in dia 17 is sometimes possible but shouldn't be played lightly.

Dia 21 To give you an idea of when a

pro plays under the 4-4 point of his
opponent let's take a look at dia 21.
This is a game between Japanese top
pro's. In case of white's 4-6-12
formation is entering at the 3-3 point,
like in the game, often something to
consider. Once black invades it is
difficult for white to put both 6 and
12 to optimal use. In this game
white's exchange of the moves 10-11
as well was the position of 12 is not
entirely to his liking. Black 25 is a
moyo making move still leaving
white some room to enter. It is,
however, not so easy to tell when and
where white should play.
(Shimamura Toshihiro versus
Fujisawa Hosai, 1961, black wins by
resignation in 171 moves).
Appendix 01
Index of joseki's mentioned in this episode:
Gentle Joseki, part II by Pieter Mioch
The patterns
It is safe to say that the most common and popular approach move (kakari) to the 4-4 corner
stone is the knight's move (keima) at 1 in dia 1.

For black there are legion ways of answering white 1, as a matter of

fact there are so many possible moves that I cannot hope to even
cover half of them in one episode. There are, however, only two basic
lines of thought necessary, whether -
A: to answer with an extension, or
B: to answer with a pincer.
Yes, yes, I know, there are plenty moves which do not seem to fit
either description but please bear with me, I'll get there in time, I
hope. (next edition, red.)
Diagram 1

Reasons why white's approach the keima-kakari is so

popular.

In dia 2 black played the tightest move possible, the sagari (extension
towards the side) at 1. This black shape is called "Iron Pillar". Next
time you want to impress your friends you can say something like:"
My Iron Pillar felt a little heavy, a keima extension perhaps, might
have been better". Anyway, the point of dia 2 is that even if black
plays the tight move at 1 white only needs to extend to 2 in order to
settle himself.
Diagram 2

If black answers at 1 (keima extension) white often slides at 2 first,

enlarging his eye space, before jumping to 4. The point of dia 3 is that
white, again, has no difficulty in settling his stones. Although white 2
is a basic joseki move it is very hard to say when this move is
appropriate to play. Although white gets a little extra profit when
sliding at 2, once he makes the exchange 2-3 he lets go the option of
invading at the 3-3 point. But then again, who can tell if white by
omitting this exchange actually will have the opportunity of invading
at 3-3 in the future at all! This is one of the decisions you'll be forced
to make in your own games, good luck!
Diagram 3
In dia 3.1, a situation is given where it is not interesting for white to
slide into the corner first. Because of the position of black "[]" white
cannot make the follow up extension necessary to fix up his (eye)
shape. In general it is not good to slide when you cannot extend (=
settling your stones). White tries to launch some kind of attack with 5.
Black, however, got the chance of making delicious territory at the
upper side already and now is not at all being worried about being
under attack. As a matter of fact, the white stones 1-3 might end up
making small life in defense first. Here, omitting white 1 and directly
playing the one space jump (ikken-tobi) at 3 is much better.
To make a simple situation (dia 3) even more complex, these days
black never seems to answer white 2 at 3 right away anymore.
Professionals feel that playing the exchange black 3-white 4
sometimes may favor white. Instead of black 3 later on in the game
black might want to play a pincer somewhere around white 4 judging
from the whole board position. (next edition, red.)

Diagram 3.1

In dia 4 white gets a nice result. He takes at least 10 points worth of

territory and even manages to poke his head out at 10. Although this
is a basic joseki I think that the old Japanese master Honinbo Shusaku
(1829-62) and the like would have thought twice before giving away
the corner in this fashion. The joseki in dia 4 is typical for go of the
1990's and not seen much earlier.
It came as a bit of a surprise to me that when I spoke with Nakane and
the other pros present at the ki-in about how Honinbo Shusaku would
evaluate dia 4 most of them were reluctant to give a straight answer.
As Nakane put it: "Well, Shusaku likely never saw dia 4 in his whole
life. Old game records tell us that instead of building influence the
focus seemed to be more on making territory. Shusaku might very
well recognize the pattern in dia 4, when laying eyes on it, as equal, as
is the opinion of most modern professionals.
Diagram 4

The block at 3 in dia 4 is correct, but, if black has a stone

in the neighborhood of A than it can be attractive to play
as in dia 4.1 and making the upper part of the board into a
black moyo (large framework, not yet sure territory)
Without any black stone at the left side, however, this way
of playing is not feasible for black. If white would play
somewhere around A next instead of having created
thickness black might find himself hurrying to make eyes
with potentially weak stones.
 Diagram 4.1
To summarize the dias 2-4, after white plays a keima kakari (knight approach move) whatever
black does, white can handle it. White's kakari is the perfect balanced approach move, flexible
and easy to use regardless of what black may come up with.

Answering a keima kakari; the extensions

Now, to get back to how to answer this knight approach move, when
black answers white 1 with an extension to the left the most
commonly used moves are A-C in dia 5. The move at D is also
possible but often regarded as being a little thin. The main difference
between A, B and C is that in case of a black response at A or B for
white entering at the 3-3 point is, although still possible, not as
attractive as compared to when black plays at C.
Diagram 5

Suppose that black answers white 1 with 2 at any of the moves A-C in
dia 6. White makes an extension along the right side (3) and black
plays elsewhere. The next variations (dia 6~6.8) show what happens
as white chooses to enter at the 3-3 point for each of the black
extensions.
Diagram 6

Here black has played the knight extension

at A. The result obviously favors black, he
has no defects in his shape and, besides a
few points in the corner, white did not gain
anything. The "[]" marked stone plastered
against a solid black position has weakened
a lot and is not in an interesting place for
white.
Looking at dia 6.1 it seems as if invading
the corner when black has played the
keima extension is out of the question? Not
so, invading is still an option and, under
given circumstances, called for. White,
however, should not immediately secure life with 11 in dia 6.1.
Diagram 6.1

Especially because of the presence of the triangle marked white stone

white should cut first and then make eyes. This result is playable for white. If white has a stone
at the right like the triangle-marked stone black's move 8 in dia 6.1 maybe was too thin. So,
instead of 8 black can play at 1 in dia 6.3 and keep things simple.
Diagram 6.2

In dia 6.3 there is nothing white can do to create some thinness in

black's shape. White lives in the corner but under normal
circumstances this results is not bad for black.
Diagram 6.3

In dia 6.4 black has played the ikken-tobi at B. It is much like dia 6.2
with the difference that black can capture white 13 in a ladder. If the
ladder favors him this sequence might again be worth thinking about
for white. Provided he has some stones to back him up in the vicinity
when he sets his stone 13 in motion. Of course, however, if the ladder
with 18 does not work for black he'll probably omit the atari and
instead play a short extension to the left side.
Diagram 6.4

When black has a stone at the left side like the triangle
marked stone he might very well play at 4 instead of
preventing white to cross underneath as in the previous dia.
This is a very nice result for black and he has sente, too. The
move at 4 should not be played if the left side is not
interesting for black. This is also applicable in case of the
black keima extension (A) in dia 6. Further, playing
immediately at 4 with black 2 is not an option; this gives
white too big a part of the corner.
Diagram 6.5
The last of the extensions possible for black in answer to the white
approach move is also the most popular. The oogeima (large knight
jump) of black 1 has been around for quite some time. It was the
most common answer to a white approach move for centuries in
handicap games played before the 20th century. The oogeima is
also the most greedy move since its aim is to play sagari at A at the
earliest opportunity and make the whole corner, about 18 points,
into black territory. To make close to 20 points of solid territory
using 3 moves is a good deal for black. It is for this reason that
white is most likely to invade the corner; again playing at the 3-3
point, before black gets the chance to play here. It is also very
possible for white to, instead of the extension at 3, jump
immediately in the corner. The size of the potential black territory
in the corner, however, is not the only criteria why white feels like
playing at 3-3 soon.
Diagram 6.6

Contrary to the situation when black has played the ikken-tobi

extension or the (small) keima extension it is white who can play at
the outside first (white 11) after having invaded at the 3-3 point.
This is of course an enormous difference and explains that when
playing the oogeima extension with black it is actually less likely
that the corner will turn out to be his territory. Before jumping to
11 white is tempted to peep at A. If he plays at A, however, black
won't answer there but instead play the thick hane at B. This black
hane is, by the way, a kind of a key point in all the diagrams from
6~6.8.
Although this result seems to favor white it must be kept in mind
that black got a move elsewhere. Besides, black can fix up his
shape like in dia 6.8
Diagram 6.7

Although black has nothing to brag about he is not complaining

either, the shape with black 3 is unexpectedly resourceful and his
stones are by no means weak.
Diagram 6.8
Game example 1: Takemiya Masaki
I don't think it actually was Takemiya "Cosmic Style" Masaki, 9 dan who started playing the
ikken-tobi but he certainly seems to be fond of it.
42nd Honinbo title match, game 1
White: Yamashiro Hiroshi, 9 dan
Black: Takemiya Masaki, 9 dan
Moves: 1-14 (Black wins by 5.5 point).

Here black 7 is played in, what I

think, a very positive way of using
hoshi stones, in this case the san-ren-
sei formation of black 1-5-3. As I
discussed in the first edition of
Gentle Joseki, a stone on the 4-4
point is not ideal if you are thinking
about securing territory fast, white
can play at the 3-3 point and there is
not much black can do about it.
Therefor, to give up on the idea of
making territory in the corner for the
time being only seems to be natural.
Former Honinbo Takemiya was a
master at this. He knew precisely
when to let go of the corner and when
it was important to solidify. In his top
days his skill at using stones at 4-4 to
create large frame works is perhaps
unequaled. The play at 7 is
undoubtedly proper if you are
thinking about making a moyo. If black 7 were at the third line (keima) than it already feels if the
moyo is falling short. To repeat the key point here: the black ikken-tobi response is ideal for
moyo making and fighting, exactly what the hoshi move stands for in the first place! Playing at
13 black is saying "well, the moyo is going as far as it goes, now I want to see what white is
going to do about it". The answer is the cautious reducing move at 14.
In the post game analyses of this game both players agreed that before playing at 9 black actually
first should have played at A or at 10, in both cases white will probably answer and black will
still be first to play at the bottom.

The second reason I mentioned (attacking) for playing the ikken-tobi

response is shown in dia 9. When white feels like playing elsewhere
after black's response black will attack at the earliest convenient time
with the kosumi-tsuke (diagonal clamp) at 1. Usually white will
stretch at 2 after which black plays the severe looking pincer at 3. If
the game were to continue like this the black ikken-tobi response is in
a much better position to put pressure on white compared to the keima
response at A.
Diagram 9
Often when Nakane and I come to talk about go, while shooting some pool, the conversation
leads to the correct usage of a stone at hoshi. My point is that the keima response is not really in
the spirit of the hoshi stone being a territory-oriented move. I prefer the oogeima or ikken-tobi
response since these moves seem to ignore making territory for the time being. Nakane refuses to
agree with me and shaking his head he says something like: "if the game of go were as straight
forward as you would like to believe we'd all be 9 dan in no-time! We are not dealing with
mathematical problems here, this is go, there are just too many ways of how you can put stones
to use. It often limits a persons growth when he or she starts thinking along straight lines like "if
A than B and never C". Instead of rationalizing or simplifying things in such a fashion it is
advisable to try to keep your mind flexible". Although thankful for this kind of honest advice I
find it sometimes difficult to sell to people. Let's put it like this; I guess that it is no good to have
a chess like attitude towards go.

Answering a keima kakari; the pincers

I hope that with the above you might find it easier to make up your mind what extension you
want to play in your next game in answer to a white approach move. Although there is of course
much more to tell about extensions I will leave that for another future episode of Gentle Joseki.
From here I'll discuss the idea behind making a pincer play instead of an extension. In dia 10 the
black moves from A to F are regarded as pincers. Or, in other words, these are the points you
play to prevent your opponent from making a two-space extension along the side and settling
himself.

The pincer at C is not seen often but that does not mean it
is a bad move, in recent years the pincer at A and D have
become extremely popular. The idea behind all the pincers
is basically the same; to invite the opponent to enter the
corner at the 3-3 point after which black blocks white at
the side were he has played the pincer. You already could
see an example of a (now) common pincer joseki in dia 4.
It is seldom bad for white to accept the invitation although
at times it can be too straightforward.
Diagram 10
Instead of showing you tens of variation of pincer joseki
and double kakari joseki I'd like to think about when and when not to play a pincer.
First rule: play a pincer which is
an extension at the same time
Black 2 in dia 11 is a nice example of
an extension and a pincer at the same
time, although the joseki which
follows is a kind of out of fashion
now there is nothing wrong with
playing like this. White might try to
confuse the situation by playing a
double approach move at 11 instead
of 3 but if black will keep his issues
straight and his head cool he should
be able to build thickness facing
black 2.
Diagram 11

Second rule: play a pincer which is

an extension at the same time
Dia 12 shows a pretty high-tech
joseki, if you know it and you're not
at least 3 dan you are reading too
much. It is not necessary to
memorize this joseki, but try to see
that no matter what white tries he
won't succeed in making black 2 a
wasted move. If after 16 black gets
the chance of playing at B his
shimari-moyo looks excellent so the
joseki like move for white around A
seems out of the question. To play
around B with white, however, is not
to his liking either, black's shimari
still looks good but the white stones
3-11-13 aren't too happy.
Diagram 12

In dia 13 white has tried a simple

joseki, also refusing to enter the
corner because he is worried that in
that case black's upper side will
combine perfectly (and he's right of
course). So, sliding at 5 and 7 looks like the way to avoid complications and since it is a joseki
white might be thinking he's doing well here. It is true that black 2 has lost a big part of its
original extension-pincer meaning, but still this game is good for black, to get the chance of
playing at 8 is wonderful, black is doing good.
Diagram 13

The third rule: when you can

launch a double attack, play a
pincer
Although sometimes, as a pincer,
black 2 has its shortcomings it is
right on the spot in dia 14 (if one to
the right white might settle himself
sliding underneath). Black 12 and 14
are all-out moves which are just a
little thin because of the defect at A.
White, however, will have a hard
time if he starts a fight at the left side
because of his own weak stones. The
game looks very promising for black.

Diagram 14

Fourth and last rule: do not play a

pincer where your opponent is
strong
Black had hoped white would enter at
the 3-3 point as shown in dia 4.1.
Although this actually might be not
so bad I will use this game example
to show that you cannot expect your opponent to follow your script and sit by. Of course white
wants to move out and eat the black stone whole with 3 and 5.
Diagram 15

In dia 16 the black pincer is maybe

not as obviously wrong compared to
the pincer in dia 15. Here white's
position in the lower right corner,
however, is strong, too. Black should
stay away from the lower part of the
board. Instead of the pincer the
extension at 4 looks much better. If
black does want to try something
different he can play 2 at white 3.
This cap play (boshi) is a typical
center oriented moyo making move,
it looks good together with the black
hoshi stones at the left side. The
result up to black 12 is, by the way,
not to black's liking, to have to make
eyes so early in the game in a
cramped position is in general bad.
Diagram 16

Well, that's almost it for this time. I sincerely hope you are not too confused by all this. Next
episode (Gentle Joseki III) I will get back on dia 3 briefly to handle exactly why black often
plays elsewhere after white slides into the corner. Further more I'll continue about how to answer
a keima-kakari. There are still very interesting moves left which seem to be neither, an extension
or a pincer.

The possible black answers (A-H) in dia 17 are what you can look
forward to. All the moves, from A to H are possible although D and H
are rare but at times interesting.
Diagram 17
Game example 2: Kobayashi Izumi
To finish this episode of Gentle Joseki here is a little extra, part of the game Izumi played the
18th October 2000 at the Ki-In of Nagoya.
Oteai grading tournament,
Black: Kobayashi Izumi, 4 dan
White: Miyagawa Fumihiko, 6 dan
Moves: 1-19 (Black wins by 15 points).

There is nothing terribly wrong with

the fuseki, in the middle game white
made a bad mistake and on top of
that there is no komi in games played
for the Oteai. This explains the
unusual big difference for
professionals of 15 points.
Look at how white played the tightest
moves possible when playing at 10.
Because of the presence of white 8
white judged that it would be too
sweet to let black get a part of the
corner. It shows how difficult it is to
make solid territory with a hoshi
stone when you look at the upper
right corner. White refuses to play an
approach move there so black has no
choice then to make territory but this
takes 2 extra moves. The white
shimari 4-6 as well as the black
shimari 3-5 show that 2 moves is
enough to ensure the corner territory.

Appendix 01
Index of joseki's mentioned in this episode:
Gentle Joseki, part III by Pieter Mioch
The patterns

I can't help myself but I just have to show you some diagrams. The deal
with a play on the 3-3 point is very simple. You can expect about as much
territory as there are triangles, about 4 points (dia 1)
Diagram 1

In dia 2 you can see that by adding another move black gets about 8
points worth of territory. It is not so much but it is pretty solid.
Diagram 2

Dia 3, here black has a played on the 4-3 point (komoku). Although
his territory looks bigger as compared to dia 1 I think that in terms of
solid territory there is not such a big difference, a play at komoku is
worth about 4 points, maybe 5.
Diagram 3

So, are komoku and san-san (3-3) almost equal in value and efficiency? Certainly not, there is a
very good reason why komoku was for ages thought of as the best opening move.

If black finds time to spend another move in the corner he'll be able to
make as much as 11 points worth of solid territory with the shimari
(enclosure) formation in dia 4. This may not sound as such a big deal
but 11 points for two moves comes to over 5 points a move, this is as
much as you can expect.
Diagram 4
Tenuki or not Tenuki, loose end No. 1

In the previous episode of Gentle Joseki there was, among other

things, the following comment by dia 5: "To make a simple situation
even more complex, these days black never seems to answer white 2
at 3 right away anymore. Professionals feel that playing the exchange
black 3-white 4 sometimes may favor white. Instead of black 3, later
on in the game black might want to play a pincer somewhere around
white 4 judging from the whole board position."
Diagram 5
In order to avoid confusion let's first say that the white slide at 2 most
of the time is not a bad move, for more about to white 2 click back to
Gentle Joseki II. Which raises the next, excellent, points. Why on
earth would black be reluctant to play at 3? Or, what alternatives does black have? Well, there
are some moves black might want to consider, but, once again, let's first say that black 3 in the
dia is rarely a bad move. It might be a slack play at times to answer white 2 and not take the
opportunity to do something somewhere else, but that still does not make it into no-good move
on its own.

Instead of defending the corner black can think of creating thickness

and letting go of the corner territory as in dia 6. The sequence shown
here is a peaceful one, however, and black should be prepared to fight
back when white plays 4 at A after which all kind of hairy sequences
could follow. It should be noted that instead of taking control of the
corner with white 2 jumping to B is not good. Black will immediately
block of the corner by playing at 2 himself after which it becomes
clear that the white stones can not easily make eyes anywhere and
they'll have to continue jumping towards the center in order to prevent
black from attacking.
Diagram 6

White 1 in dia 6a can lead to very difficult situations. Whatever black

does he should not play at 6, after this move he'll find himself tricked
by the delicious squeeze play of white 7. Black 2, by the way, can
also be played at 4 right away.
Diagram 6a

The fashionable clamp at 1 is another

alternative for black. This move smacks of
a trick play but it is actually a skillful
probing move. The sequence shown in dia
7 is uncomplicated and gives an equal
result. This joseki is a kind of new and it is
not yet clear if white 2 is the best response
 Diagram 7

The dias 6 and 7 showed 2 alternative ways of playing instead of guarding the corner as in dia 5.
This brings me back to the comment of last time: (dia 5)
"Instead of black 3, later on in the game black might want to play a pincer somewhere around
white 4 judging from the whole board position."
This is all very nice but what prevents the white player from thwarting black's intention of
waiting to see what the best play will be and occupying the 3-3 point with his next move
himself? Well nothing, actually.

In dia 8 black did not answer white 1 but played elsewhere instead.
White plays 3 and effectively takes over the corner territory. When
seeing this result for the first time one is tempted to think that this is a
clear disaster for black and that nothing can justify taking such a loss
in the corner.
A lot, of course, depends on precisely how big a move played when
ignoring white 1. To judge dia 8 correctly it is further necessary to
know what is at the left side of the board.
Diagram 8

In dia 9 a situation is shown where it

was almost certainly not a good idea
to ignore white's marked move. After
white takes the key-point in the
corner with 1 the black stones have
no room to make a two-space
extension towards the left and black
cannot expect to make two eyes
locally. Black's stone are afloat and
his stones will most likely keep
bothering him until the finally can get
two eyes somewhere.
Diagram 9

Looking at dia 8 and 9 you easily can get the feeling that black never should ignore white's slide!
(conveniently forgetting about the value of black's tenuki). For professionals there is, however,
still another reason why dia 8 is not such a terrible result for black.

Suppose white has played first in the corner at the 3-3 point.
Next black has played an approach move at 1 after which
white extends to 2. Well, so far so good, but...
Diagram 10
Next the questionable exchange of black 3 for white 4 gets played which gives us the same
position as in dia 8. Professionals and amateurs alike will, of course, never answer black 3 at 4.
White 4 should be at A. All the same, there doesn't seem to be such a big difference between the
white play at 4 or A. When comparing these moves the average amateur most probably'll shrug
and think "So what, maybe you lost 1 point, no big deal, what's so bad about it for white?"
For pros, however, this is quite different. To be able to make your opponent answer in a
submissive way, a way, which does not make efficient use of, previously played stones without
compensation, is a very big deal, it's a disaster.
Recently I don't go to observe the professionals play anymore but a couple of years ago when
watching the professionals play it often would happen that suddenly in the middle of a game a
pro starts beating himself over the head with his fan while screaming out in agony. When you see
this happen for the first time you naturally assume that that person must have put his own stones
in atari or made a likewise terrible blunder. After the game, however, when following the
analyses it is nine times out of ten that the reason for the self-punishment was precisely what I
was talking about now, answering submissively and not putting your own stones to optimal use.
When a pro realizes that he has played such a move unnecessarily, no matter where or what time
of day it is he will feel like walking to a nearby wall and start banging his head against it.
For the white player the 3-4 exchange is terrible. For black it helps justifying letting go of the
corner. And, black played on the 4-4 point (hoshi) in the first place, not directly thinking about
making territory there, remember? After reading this you now might feel like never taking the
corner when playing white as in dia 8. Well, sometimes it might be too early but taking the 3-3
point is a very big move. Also, even though black played on hoshi, black played in the corner
first, meaning that IF he lets go of it he should get sufficient compensation. So, if you feel that
black's move elsewhere is way too small or doesn't require a direct answer then there's nothing
against taking over the corner and being happy.
Game example
Now what I'd like you to do is to find somebody who's about your own level and show him the
opening of this game. Next you ask what your friend thinks about it and you write down the
comments and questions he or she might have. Than you ask your friend to read through Gentle
Joseki I-III and repeat the same procedure, I promise you to eat my shorts if your friend comes
up with exactly the same comments and questions as when going over the game the first time.
19th Female Honinbo title match, game 5, Date: November 22 2000
White: Chinen Kaori, 3 dan
Black: Inori Yoko, 5 dan
By forcing her opponent to resign after move 179 Yoko managed to take the Honinbo title at her
first ever title challenge.

There is enough to tell about this

particular fuseki but I think that the
left side especially deserves your
attention. It is very interesting to
notice that black is reluctant to play
at A. The reason for this is that black
in a way helps to solidify white's 4-6-
8 formation if she'll make the black
A, white B exchange. Black is keen
on keeping the option of invading at
B alive as a means of reducing the
white territory.
Diagram 11
After black 13 in the upper left
corner white choose to play tenuki
once. White 14 is an excellent move
but does not really force black to
answer immediately. Black, however,
let go of the chance of playing a
second move in the corner at 16. I
think taking the 3-3 point with black was a possible move too but after black 15 at 16 white will
extend to C which almost certainly requires black to slide in the corner at A. If the game were to
be played like that it is suddenly white who is determining the pace in spite of the disadvantage
of not having the first move. This is not to black's liking.
The last thing worth noticing is that black choose to block white 20 at 21, and not at 22. The
game move at 21 is the correct direction, black emphasizes the whole right side of the board
while maintaining "sente" (the initiative). White will have a tough time keeping black's right side
under control, invading here is not what white is looking forward to but if she doesn't do
something black's right side is sure to become too much solid territory. If black were to play at
22 instead of 21 then the black moyo would never be as impressive. White has a nice moyo-
flattening-move at D. White will not have a hard time keeping black's territory from
mushrooming. If black would've had a stone at D to start with, however, she might very well
have chosen to play 21 at 22.
Answering a white approach move with a move which is
neither an extension nor a pincer, loose end No. 2

I do not think I have enough energy left to cover all these possible
responses (my family and I'll be homeless if we don't find a place to
live by December 10) so let me start with the rarest and most
intriguing answer, black H.
Reference diagram
You will never find a beginners book of go telling you about black H,
nor will you be able to find a decent go teacher showing you this
move and encouraging to try it. It's a kind of a rogue move which, of
course makes it all the more attractive. Don't tell anybody you got it
from me. (and don't blame me if you played it and it didn't work out at
all)
Black 1 seems to be telling white that he is sealed of and that white
better hurry to make two eyes at the right side. However, any go
player worth his salt has only one thing in mind playing white:
"how am I going to keep these thin black stones separated".

Diagram 12

White 1 is a natural move, preventing the black stones to link up and

become a thick position. Instead of white 1 there are other moves
possible, at times. But if white plays any move from A to C black is
not exactly worried. Even if black plays conservatively he'll at least be
able to make a thick wall facing the left side and can be satisfied. Next
white must choose if he wants to play hane at D or cut directly at E.
Diagram 13

Generally speaking you don't want to cut with the moves 1 and 3. If a
sequence will not work any other way it is sometimes inevitable but
instead of white 1 here, playing directly at 3 is better style, i.e., to cut
at the side you capture. (if white 1 is captured or sacrificed later on
the exchange white black 2 is a huge loss for white) The result in dia
14, however, is also something of a joseki, both players get to eat an
opponent's stone. There is still a very interesting move left for black, a
move that I'm sure you want to memorize.
Diagram 14
 Black 1 is one of those moves, which make you forget your worries
and make life worthwhile. Dia 15 shows the most peaceful
continuation, black seals of the corner and white gets a rock-solid
group. White 2 is a move dictated by fighting spirit. Capturing
immediately at 6 is much to sweet and black won't hesitate playing at
4 making the corner into solid black property. White 2 in the dia,
however, is not without risk as you can see in dia 16.
Diagram 15

Dia 16. "Do I have to study such a long joseki?" "Is it

really necessary to memorize such a long sequence?"
"Will I get any stronger by trying to learn from this?"
Good questions, to be sure. The answer is respectively no,
no and maybe.
Diagram 16
If you like going over long josekies then please do so but
otherwise don't worry too much. One point of interest,
however, is to realize that white can capture two more
black stones if he plays 15 at A. After A black will build
thickness, superior in value compared to white's territory.
This joseki is a mess, it's real fist fighting and the outcome
is not predictable. When white plays 2 in dia 15 he should
be prepared for this. The result on its own is difficult to
judge since everything depends on how strong all the floating groups are in the context of the
whole board. If, for example, there would be black stones at B or C (or both) white will probably
having a very hard time getting a good result.

The cut at 1 in dia 17 is a stylish move, refusing to make black

unnecessarily stronger (compare 1 in dia 14). Black builds nice
thickness up to 8 and white gets 16 points of territory. Whether this is
a good result solely depends on the situation on the upper left side.
Next black A is extremely big.
Diagram 17

Dias 18 and 19 show moves, which are in a

way similar to 1 in dia 12.
Diagram 18
 They normally do not involve any fierce fighting but black 1 in dia
12, 18 and 19 all are clearly moves which try to emphasize the left
part of the board and do not worry about the obvious defect at A. All
these moves, however, are not very convenient in terms of securing
territory.
Diagram 19

If white enters at the 3-3 point black can keep thinks very simple by
blocking at 2 and creating a nice wall of steel.
Diagram 20

Being flexible is very very important, black 2 in the previous dia can
also be played at 2 in dia 20. The key to real strength is to never
automatically choose either but always take a minute to consider both.

Diagram 21
Variations for black 1 in dia 19 are much the same as dia 20 and 21. I
will deal with the remaining moves A-G (reference diagram) next
time. I hope you'll forgive me going house-hunting.
I do look forward to any feedback you care to mail me, or, you can
just wait and keep coming back to Gentle Joseki and I'm sure I'll
provide all the answers to your every question someday.

Appendix 01
Index of joseki's mentioned in this episode:
Gentle Joseki, part IV by Pieter Mioch
The Patterns
Some of the aspects of the remaining moves in answer to the white approach knight's move, the
keima kakari. The moves I haven't told you anything about yet are given in dia 1, A-E.
Various other ways to answer the keima kakari
I'm not a programmer myself but since I started trying to tell you
something on an elementary level about joseki I can imagine what
an extremely difficult task computer people undoubtedly are
having figuring out a way to make up code covering all the
necessary points, which seem to be virtually limitless. Every single
edition of Gentle Joseki I desperately make a choice among the
zillions of things, which are worthwhile telling you. When I finally
put up the handful of diagrams here I feel often frustrated that I,
again, wasn't able to show you more, my sincere apologizes for
this. Looking through previous episodes of Gentle Joseki I realize
that I did not spend nearly enough time, text and diagrams dealing
with the already explained other possible black moves. I hope to
get back to them in the future, someday. (Please don't go holding
your breath.)
Diagram 1
Black plays sagari

The move, which will not require too much explaining, is

perhaps 1 in dia 2. On it's own it's maybe not a perfect move but
you make about 9 points with two moves as shown by the
triangles in the dia. If black has the time to add a move around
A he will almost double that amount, this would be making
optimal use of his stones, in other words, an ideal way of
playing.
Now white can continue choosing among A-D in dia 2a. If
white plays A or B and starts something at the right side black
will, of course, solidify the upper side with a move around C.
Neither the white move A nor B, however, is out trying to make
the black sagari look like a bad move. I white insists on
showing black that maybe his choice of moves (= sagari "0")
was not correct he'll play at C or D after which there are, again,
tens, hundreds of variations unfortunately not given this time,
sigh.
Please do not forget that the black sagari (descending move) 1
in dia 2 is not so popular when there is no black stone already
somewhere at the upper side.
Diagram 2 & 2a
A splendid move

Look closely at dia 3, here you can see

a position where black 1 makes a
splendid move. Of course instead of 1
a move at A instead is very possible,
too. However, A has the drawback of
leaving white the chance of invading at
B. Black 1 is the tightest move
possible and clearly goes for territory.

Diagram 3
Various other ways to answer the keima kakari

The move 1 in dia 4 seems much in the same spirit as the black
sagari we just had a look at.
Black 1 in dia 4, however, is hardly a move worth
recommending when played with no friendly stones in the direct
vicinity, preferably a stone at the left at a keima's distance.
There is a painfully obvious peep at A which white in the future
can use as a first move in a sequence going for the corner.
There's nothing much black can do about keeping white out the
corner.
Diagram 4
White invades

In dia 4a you can see what most likely will happen if white
directly enters the corner after black 3. Black, to be sure, can
save face with the skillful tesuji of black 9 but one cannot help
feeling that black is taken in a little. Prove of this is the
exchange white 2-black 3. Imagine the situation without this
exchange and you have a basic joseki. So after the basic joseki
you can say that white played at 2 and that black, instead of
fiercely pincering, the move dictate by fighting spirit, docile
answered at 3. Although black 3 is of course not completely
wasted it is a bit of slack move.
Diagram 4a
As often, however, in the case you feel your opponent has played a lesser move, it is advisable to
not immediately try to show or prove your opponents move was a bad one. In the situation of dia
4a, for example, it might very well be a good idea for white to stay out of the corner for a while
and let black worry about coming back there and play a defensive move.
The sagari, black 1, of dias 2 and 3 is on its own maybe not the best move possible but in many
situations I don't think it will come out bad. Black 1 in dia 4 is just the other way around,
unfortunately, on its own it's hard to make it in a good move. Black 1 is a typical "finishing
touch" move. only played with plenty of back up around.
Ma Xiaochun versus Liu Xiaoguang, 11th Mingren title match, 1998

This is a fragment from a game

between two top pros from China. Ma
is White and Liu plays the black
stones. In dia 5 white 1 is a nice tight
move securing the corner territory
while at the same time preparing huge
endgame moves in regard to black's
territory at the bottom
Diagram 5
Aiming an invasion

As you can see in dia 6 because of the position of white 1

he can next easily aim to invade at B, black cannot expect
to capture or seriously attack this invasion. If white
doesn't feel like invading (he could for example be afraid
to lose the initiative (sente)) he might play the super slide
of A, as you probably know called the "Large Monkey
Jump", an excellent endgame move.
Diagram 6

Greedy?
 As with the black sagari (1 in dia 2) and the ikken-tobi one-
space-jump (1 in dia 4) black 1 in dia 7 tries to secure the
corner, too. This was for a long time one of my favorite moves
when I was still playing tournaments in Holland, ages and ages
ago. Many of my opponents not really had any clue about how
to deal with this move and not a small number of them tried the
most crazy things to prove that black 1 is just too greedy to be a
correct move. Well, it certainly does look greedy, I guess, but is
a perfectly common move and it does secure a large chunk of
the corner
Let's have a look at a peaceful continuation after black 1, for
example this could happen (dia 8).
Diagram 7
Joseki

Dia 8. This is a joseki, or, a sequence of moves, which gives

both players a results they can live with. Black 1 in dia 7,
however, has some unexpected features:
Diagram 8
Move of a madman?

Black 2 might look like the move of a madman but it's really
quite fancy. White 3 is about the worst thing he can do. Without
second thoughts black'll let go of one stone in order to create an
impressive formation up to 8. White has not gotten much in
return and if white isn't careful black will next play at A and
white even won't even be able to make two eyes locally. This is
a result very much to black's liking.
Diagram 9
White's tesuji's

White's best move is at 1 in dia 10. This is a sharp tesuji,

however, if white were to continue with 5 the result is again
very nice for black. White should play a second tesuji, at A,
instead of 5.
Diagram 10
Black is low
When playing white I don't like the
blocking move (= 1 in dia 8) very
much. Black 1 is in a rather low
position, the best move black often
has to continue is at 3, another low
move. So nothing to be worried
about. In general it is a good
attitude and often a necessary way
of playing to just ignore your
opponent's move. This is especially
easy if your opponent's move was is
in a rather low position. In dia 11
black 1 and 3 are not in an optimal
position, compare dia 11a.
In dia 11a black's 1 and 3 are used
in a more efficient way, creating a
thick position, this result is superior
to black's result in dia 11. Thinking
about the difference between the
dia's 11 and 11a you might want to
try a playing elsewhere with white
yourself.
Diagram 11 & 11a

Ignoring black
 So, just because black [] is a low position trying something
else than just blocking at A is sometimes called for. In dia 12
white 1 is another move possible and 'kind of ignoring black
[]. White gets a nice shape at the upper side and black has
some profit and thickness towards the lower right.
Diagram 12
Whaaaat?!

The kosumi-tsuke (diagonal clamp) is the last move I'm going to tell
about this time. "Whaaaat?!" I hear you say, "But you promised to go
over *all* the remaining possible moves!" I hear you say again. Yes,
yes, you're quite right, I can do nothing but admit it and make a new
promise: in Gentle Joseki 5 I promise to *only* talk about the
remaining move, the clamp of dia 14 this move is certainly worth a lot
of attention.
Diagram 13 & 14
Unorthodox

Well, for now, back to dia 13. This move on its own is a rather
unorthodox play for a good reason: it solidifies the white stone and
does not protect the corner properly.
Dia 15 shows a sequence which is most definitely not a joseki, the
result favors white. The only reason I can think of for black to play
this way is that after white 4 black intends to immediately play at
B. A black play at B guards against the white invasion at A and is a
very, very, very big move. It is also, however, a bit slow. Usually
black'll be too busy in the opening stage of the game elsewhere to
be able to permit himself such a, mostly defensive, move.
Diagram 15

Superb move
 Dia 16 shows a typical situation where black 1 is a superb move.
Because of the presence of black [] white has only little room to
make something resembling a group with eyes. To put it more
bluntly: if white would play as in dia 16 next a black move at A, B
or C is severe and white'll have to struggle for his life. This is, by
the way, a joseki which you can try to initiate in a handicap game
where black often has a stone at [] already. Do not expect,
however, that white'll tamely play at 4 in a feebly attempt to create
eyes. Any white player with a little talent will play elsewhere or
pincer two spaces below [] instead of 4, in a handicap game, that
is.
Diagram 16
Preventing that white settles

So why exactly is black 1 in dia 16 such a good strategy you ask?

Well, in dia 17 you can see what happens if black omits the
kosumi-tsuke and plays the one-space-jump instead. White has
way less trouble settling himself with, for example, the sequence
up to 4 in the dia. Instead of white 2 he might also try the variation
of clamping at A, next black 3 and white B. In an even game this
way of playing is often too thin for white but in a handicap game
where black often will start doing funny things in any situation
smelling of a ko fight white might very well try it.
So why on earth would I start telling you about the kosumi-tsuke
of dia 13 when there's not even a pincer stone present of black?
Diagram 17

Sonoda 8p (black) versus Shimamura 9p, 1977, black wins by 3.5

 The reason is the obscure joseki shown
in dia 18. Do not try to imitate this
style of playing blindly, black's usually
has a hard time of making his stones
come out nicely once he plays at 1. In
the dia, however, I think that the result
shows that black 1 in combination with
3 is very playable. Note the cool
reinforcing move of black 9, after this
move white has no choice but to
defend against the threat of black
pushing through and cutting. White 10
is a stylish way of keeping his stones
connected but all the same, it feels
black nicely forced white into a joseki
which white never thought even
existed. There is also plenty of chance
white will fumble somewhere along
the line, but of course, we are not
counting on that, aye?
To finish the joseki, by the way, black
usually jumps out at A next. You
might want to play like dia 18 if you
feel that you ought to play a pincer
instead of black 1 but are worried
about the possible difficult variations
which might follow. There is not much
room for variation with the joseki in
dia 18 and black gets to play a pincer
and is happy.
Diagram 18

Okubo Yukio 6p (black) versus Go Seigen 9p, 1956, white wins by 2

 Go Seigen is white against promising
young player Okubo in 1956. In spite
of a 2 point reverse komi, black was
not able to win against the most talked
about player of the 20th century.
Perhaps black 2 does not work well
against he who virtually made up one
new joseki per game during the first
half of his career.
Diagram 19

Appendix 01
Index of joseki's mentioned in this episode:
Gentle Joseki, part V by Pieter Mioch
The Patterns
Black attaches

This time I will try to tell you everything (well, a lot anyway)
about what happens after the attachment play of black 1 in dia 1.
Diagram 1

A different story

In dia 2 you can see black 1, the same move as in dia 1, played in a
different situation. Now it's not played in the corner but on the side
of the board. I think that the continuation given here is the most
straightforward and simple possible. I don't know about you but
ever since I learned this game I have felt like answering black's
attachment (tsuke) 1 at white 2.
Diagram 2
Regardless whether the situation is in the corner, the side or in the middle. When playing white 2
it seemed to me that black was making no territory at all and that the result was clearly good for
white?.
Well, it is not. Most of the time during the opening stage of the game black will welcome it if
white were to start crawling under the black stones as if there were no tomorrow.
The result in dia 2 is not such a terrible disaster for white, but black has a very nice and thick
position. Also, the white stones are more or less played out already and will not help white much
in the future. With the black stones it's just the other way around, although black, to be sure, did
not make any territory yet his stones will continue influencing the game, possibly right up to the
end. The 8 points of territory white made are more often than not a bad trade-of compared to
black's thickness.
Taking the head of three stones

In the dia 3 black plays the fierce combination of 5-7, the nidan-
bane (double diagonal move, blocking you opponent's stones). It
may look as if black is helping white by letting 7 get captured. In
many cases, however, this line of playing will give black an even
better result than dia 2. After black plays the super vital point of 11
white scoop of action is severely limited due to lack of liberties.
White A leads to a disaster when black answers at B, white C and
black can capture 3 stones with D.
Diagram 3

Kikashi before defending

Dia 4 shows a likely answer of white, eliminating all the bad "aji"
(potential) and capturing at 1. Before thinking about defending his
own weak points black has the nice kikashi's at 2 and 4, next it
would be perfect if black could afford to defend at 6. In your own
game, however, you might want to spend some time reading out
what happens if white cuts at A next. If the fighting after white's
cut seems too much for black it is probably a good idea to defend
around A instead of 6. Wherever black chooses to defend it is
important to realize that from white's point of view the exchange of
the marked stones is terrible. The 3 white stones are not doing
anything what so ever but black's 3 stones are influencing the
whole board.
Diagram 4

Atari before defending

In dia 5 white does not capture immediately since he doesn't like to

be kikashi-ed as in the previous dia. Black now first plays an atari
before descending with 4. Again, if the cut left after black 4 seems
to be too bothersome, defending at A is good enough.
Diagram 5
"That is all very, very nice, and may even be true, but what on earth has it to do with corner
joseki's?" I hear you think. Well everything actually, shapes tend to develop in a similar fashion
with this amazing game, even if the location is completely different. Both players, naturally, try
hard to put all their stones to optimum use, this explains the phenomenon. Just that a given
sequence has a nice natural flow, however, does not mean that it's the only sequence possible.

Not very promising

To get back to the original joseki in dia 6, it is save to say that

crawling on the third line with 1 is not a very promising move for
white, it is sometimes seen in professional games, not in the
opening, however, but much later on in the game. You can of
course try it in handicap games to confuse the situation but if black
keeps his head cool and his stones together (and every now and
then remembers the double hane) he will not get a bad result.
Diagram 6
Now when playing the black stones don't start being foolhardy and blindly play at A , whatever
the situation. If, for example, the black stones are completely surrounded by a solid white
positions and black is badly in need of some eyes do not hesitate to forget all about thickness and
whatsoever. Just block at B, directly guarding the corner is the fastest way of making sure eyes,
after all.
So, what exactly *are* white's option once black has attached?

The possible continuations

Usually the only moves worth considering are A, B, C. and D.

Please trust me, however, as I tell you that white C and D are
mainly played with the idea in mind to frustrate the black player
who very likely has studied all the available joseki books but has
never heard of white playing at C or D. Both moves, however,
occasionally do appear in pro games. I'll show you 2 variations for
each, C and D.
Diagram 7
Black is thick

Black's thick, no reason to complain.

Diagram 8

Black will fight

Black will fight. White can try to prevent black from getting a
rock-solid shape and connect at 3. Black 4 is a must; black
prepares himself for battle. After white 7 it might look as if white
has successfully played on both sides and got away with it. Not
true. The 1-7 corner has no eyes as yet and white 3-5 will have to
run for life when black chooses to play a pincer at the lower right
side. (I know, I know, in high handicap games the black stones
have a tendency to suddenly and spontaneously die, but they
shouldn't) By the way, instead of black 2 in dia 9 is black A also a
fine move, going for thickness, and thickness we love, remember?
Diagram 9

Take the 3,3 point

Blocking at the 3-3 point with 2 is seldom bad, there's some room
for variation on both sides but this is very much the general idea,
black keeps the corner, scores some points while white makes
himself comfortable at the upper side.
Diagram 10
Take the outside

If black doesn't feel like making territory he can block on the

outside and letting the corner to white. Black's strategy can be
extremely efficient and powerful if he has stones on the left
making his wall in to a large framework (moyo).
Diagram 11
Okay, so much for the gentle part of this episode of Gentle Joseki, now it is time to tackle the
more serious moves, the ones that make you feel like you just rode your camel four 3 days
through the desert when you think about them too much. (moves, not camels, that is)

Is the ladder ok?

The white wedging move in dia 12 has the same taste as when
white plays 1 at 2 and start digging himself in. It shows, however,
a lot more fighting spirit and is quite playable. If white can capture
black "[]" in a ladder black should try something different and not
play 2-6. This result is good for white. It goes without saying that
when the ladder is unfavorable white's original move 1 is very
possible not ideal.
Diagram 12

Looks familiar?
So, black will in most cases block at 1 in dia 13 after which there
are, once more, plenty of variations (and there was much
rejoicing). I'll give you one, which kind of looks familiar, doesn't
it? Black gives up the corner when he plays the double hane at 7.
Next when black takes the vital point of 11 it becomes clear that
white 's making some territory while keeping the initiative and
black makes a wall. White might somewhere along the line try to
play atari at 17. He must be careful, however, with his timing when
to play here. If white plays atari after black has played at 11 black
will sacrifice one stone and play at 16, white 12, black 13, white
captures, black 14 and white has to fill in, white being squeezed
and all will be in for difficult fighting.
Diagram 13
How to extend?

I guess most of you have seen this appearing in a game or two

already, it is the most common way of handling the black
attachment. Next white can choose between A, B or C. To extend
all the way to D is overdoing things. After white played D he'll
have a hard time dealing with a black play at X or B.
Extending to A or B makes it possible for white to move between
the black stones and try to start a fight. When white has played the
C extension he should not try to cut, see dia 15 and 15a.
Diagram 14

Oops, it's a ko!

Because white 1 is a little far white has to play at 7 in order to guard against the cut at 8 and, at
the same time, keep the struggle for liberties (semeai) alive in the corner by filling one of black's
liberties in. Black, who wasn't born yesterday and read the whole sequence out right from the
start, cuts with perfect timing at 8. This creates an ideal ko-threat black is going to need in the
future. After black 24 it is white's turn to take the ko first. As you can see in dia 15a, however,
black was waiting for this and finally plays the atari of 26. With 28 black takes back the ko and
white cannot find a threat black'll answer usually.
Diagram 15 & 15a
I told you a minute ago I could hear you thinking, well, I'm doing it again:
"So I replayed and studied these 2 diagrams, now what? If I'm lucky I might get a chance to use
this knowledge, someday, in the next century..."
Actually, there are tons of variations during every game, which bare close resemblance to many
corner joseki's. Please have a good look at dia 16.
The same sequence

A game way back from 1927

between Kitani (black) and
Hashimoto Utaro who forced
Kitani to resign this game in
216 moves.
This is nowhere near to the
corner, all the same, there it
is, exactly the same
sequence you just,
grudgingly, made your way
through. Here white is not
trying to capture black 5-13
so he doesn't need to stretch
himself and block above 13.
White solidly defends
against the cut set up by
excellent move black 13 and
bide his time.
Diagram 16

White plays tightly

White has played the tightest possible move at, black is now
tempted to play at 2, although he very well knows that the basic
joseki would be to play at 6 instead.
Diagram 17
The reason why black does not defend against white's threat of pushing through is shown here in
dia 17. Black doesn't even bother to put up a fight! He lets his two stones go and black is
perfectly happy with the 25 some points he made. If you read through the previous editions of
Gentle Joseki carefully then you know that the points black made are not the only reason for
letting white get his way. The second reason why black likes this results is the *shape* of white's
stones.
All about efficiency

Although black's stones are all doing their job, the all work nicely
together to make a solid piece of territory, white stone A is not
doing too much, it is overconcentrated, too solid. If white had the
choice of placing A somewhere else he would at least want to
extend as far as B. In other words, if there would be a stone at B to
start with and not at A black might not be so willing to let white
barge through with 3-7 in the previous dia.
Diagram 18
By the way, exactly why should black attach at 1? That is a tough question to answer. One
answer could be like this. Black plays the attachment because he wants to play out the situation
as much as possible so he doesn't need to worry about it in the future too much.
The above is as accurate as any answer, which means that whatever reason you can come up with
in any kind of situation is true as long as you have enough breath left to explain it.

Try to experiment
To give you something you can work with, however, you need to
take a look at dia 19. Black 1 often is played because black has * a
plan *. Right from the moment your learn to play go you can try to
experiment with A, this is a steady approach and although it can
get very messy too it often doesn't and keeps things fairly simple.
The moment, however, a player find himself teaching the rules of
go to somebody else and is no longer an absolute novice himself,
he will start wondering if other moves are possible. Many players
who are working their way through the 5-6 kyu barrier discover
black B like this.
Diagram 19
A revelation?

Black 1 in dia 20 many times comes as a revelation. All the same,

it's a perfectly normal move with its due of pros and cons. Notice
the quiet move of black 11, this is the best move here. Blocking
white 10 immediately at A does not defend the corner properly,
white very well might invade later on and make life. Instead of
white 10 he sometimes might want to try to play at 11 after which
black usually blocks at 10.
Diagram 20

Black too eager for points?

I don't like black's way of playing in dia 21 very much, it seems

black is too eager to secure points and does not care how the rest of
the board looks like. Nevertheless, sigh, it is a possibility, white 2
at A is also a good move, the result is equal.
Diagram 21

Move of a Madman

If you read Gentle Joseki 4 you'll remember that is said "The Move
of a Madman?" somewhere near to the end. Here's this episode's
move, which indeed looks as if black is not taking white seriously.
To draw this conclusion right away, however, is a mistake. (it goes
without saying I think black 1 in dia 22 shows an excellent
attitude)
Diagram 22
Normally better for black

White 1 is a frowned upon move. As you can see in dia 23 white

managed to take the corner but black has made a very thick
position in sente (while holding the initiative). The result is
normally judged to be better for black. Playing black 10 at 11 leads
to uncharted waters, the result is not predictable. If you are an
extremely skillful fighter you can see what happens, otherwise you
better forget about it and you won't miss it.
Diagram 23

A cool tesuji

White 1 is much in the same spirit as black's original move in dia

22. The main reason why I show you this dia 24 is not the white
move, however, but the outstanding move black 4. Black seems on
a self-destructive course once he plays 4 but this is actually a very
cool tesuji. The follow-up move of 6 is all-important. Do *not*
forget it. The result is perhaps doable for white but when playing
an approach move to the black 4-4 stone he certainly didn't count
on this. The fighting in dia 24 is good, black is happy.
Diagram 24
Taken by suprise?

I am unfortunately not strong enough

to tell you how you should judge this
result. I wanted to show you that top
pros do play the moves I am talking
about and I'm not making it up on the
spot.
Black is Korea's finest veteran Cho
Hunhyun who manages to clobber
Lee Sungjae in this game. Maybe it's
because of black 3, which took white
by surprise, maybe not, food for
thought, though.
Diagram 25

Appendix 01
Index of joseki's mentioned in this episode:
Gentle Joseki, part VI by Pieter Mioch
The Patterns

Hoshi (4-4 point)

The stone at Hoshi is not directly concerned with territory,
building frameworks is what Hoshi is supposed to be all
about. For example an additional play at either A or C will
not increase the actual amount of points made by one iota.
The amount of *potential* points, however is easily doubled
as is the fighting strength potential (were white to play
between the black stones). Developing towards A or C
comes as a first priority, if you don't feel like making a
framework the way of developing the Hoshi stone would be
to play at B or D. If you feel you are in the position of freely
playing any of the moves A-D it is often a good idea to go
for the move which has the most/ nicest follow-up moves.
Diagram 1

A Nice Flow

After white 6 not a few players

playing black might torture
themselves while figuring out which
of the tens of josekies mastered they
should apply here. Well, I'm over
simplifying things on purpose now
but to put it bluntly: It doesn't matter
what joseki you pick, as long as it
does do "something" for the right
side black will not do bad. Black 11
might be a little "of joseki" (books
give this move one space to the
right). But it is undoubtedly an
excellent point. It sets up a huge
potential territory and is a very nice
extension with regard to the bottom
right corner as well.
Diagram 2
In the above game example black is Yamashiro "Golden Child" Hiroshi who beat Qian Yuping
from china for the 3rd China-Japan match, 1987.
Framework-Style
In dia 3 there might be alternative
moves possible instead of black 1. If
this were my own game, however, I
wouldn't bother checking those and
would play at 1 in no time. Next
black has the nice aim of a move at
A. Instead of black 1 I think that
playing at the bottom is not so
interesting. White's shimari in the
bottom left corner should be regarded
as a strong position (shimaries are
those things you do not play in the
direct vicinity of soon because of
low-gain probability). And a black
play at B has not much territory
making or fighting to look forward
to. If black has the chance of playing
at the bottom in the future (for
example after black 1, white A) I
would extend no farther than C.
Diagram 3
For more detailed explanation of Hoshi openings and joseki please (re) read Gentle Joseki I-V.

Ko-Moku (4-3 point)

The primary direction of development of a ko-moku stone is towards the

left, for example A. It is intriguing that in both situations, either black
plays himself at A first or his opponent plays an approach move at A, this
focus shifts. The secondary direction of development is towards point B.
Diagram 4
Peaceful possibility

In dia 5 a very peaceful possibility is shown. Both players

are a kind of minding their own busyness and are as yet not
thinking about bashing each other's heads in. Black comes to
play at 4 in a very natural-flow kind of way. White played 3
which is just a little thin. Black can aim at playing at A but
white has a handy self-settling maneuver if he plays at B
(black C, white D, black E, and white F) after which white
has become strong enough to deal with the black invasion, he
hopes...
Diagram 5

A Little More Complicated

For those among you who have a taste for longer and more complicated josekies here are dias 6
and 6a. There is no telling what will happen after the black pincer 1, there are literally zillions of
ways to get of the main track and the end result does almost entirely depend on how good you
can handle yourself when in battle and has not much to do with joseki (book) knowledge. One
last word about dia 6a, black 9 is not the only possible move but it often shows a positive
attitude to push through and cut in a case like this when your opponent tries to push you along
the 3rd line.
Diagram 6 & 6a
Moku-hazushi (5-3 point)

Moku hazushi is an old move with a modern touch; like the

Hoshi play on its own it does not make territory. An
additional play at A, the primary line of developing makes
a nice shimari, the ideal shape to make solid points. Black's
opponent, however, usually will hurry to keep black from
playing at A in an extremely affective manner, white will
play at A himself. Once white has entered the corner the
focus again shifts to point B, the second line of developing.
If white does not prevent black from making a shimari and
black gets the chance of playing at A himself the focus
shifts to developing towards the left side, for example point
C.
Diagram 7
By the way, please keep in mind that when I'm talking about primary, secondary etcetera lines of
development I do not mean to tell you that these lines of playing are a must or that you're doing
something wrong when your stones end up facing the opposite side.. I'm only showing you what
is considered a natural way of playing. This is often at the same time a rather peace full way of
playing, too. Once a fighting variation of a joseki is initiated, however, you can conveniently
forget about those "lines of development" (you are not developing anything, you're supposedly
much to busy getting your opponent of your back).

Black's One-Space Pincer

This is a not so peaceful joseki, but it's not all out rough-and-tumble either. After white entered
the corner at 1 the easiest thing to do for black would be the extend to the lower right, using a 3
or four point jump. This approach can be extremely feasible when there's a black formation in
the lower right corner already.
In dia 8, however, black chose to pincer at 2, not such an easy move. White has a couple of ways
of moving out, the diagonal move (kosumi) is probably the simplest. Black 12 is the vital point
and an interesting move. Black does not need to sacrifice his stone 12 if he doesn't want to.
Instead of 14 he can play at 17. After this exchange, however white is not complaining and eats a
black stone by playing at 16. Black 12 is usually played with the idea of inducing white to
strengthen black's stones and to make sure white is the one who has to play the last move in the
corner, enabling black to play elsewhere first.
Diagram 8 & 8a
Are You Under 18?

The main feature of the moku-hazushi move is black 2. This innocent

looking move in dia 9 can initiate the terrifying Taisha joseki (if
you're under 18 please hit the back button of your browser, now)
Diagram 9
Basic Taisha
The reason why most people stay away of the Taisha joseki is because
it's really long and difficult and there are plenty of trick moves
involved. The sequence up to 11 in dia 10 is the basic Taisha pattern.
Already both players have had to skip a bunch of sidetrack variations
to get here. Those, however, are regarded as the easier variations, the
real hard part comes after white 11 where black can choose amongst
at least 5 possible moves. At the Leiden Go-club these were known as
the "Tombstone" variations, probably because one of the players is
supposed to meet his maker.
Diagram 10
Extreme Taisha

In other words, the reason why some people have a liking for
the Taisha joseki is because they have studied and memorized
one or two particular tricky variations, which they are eager to
use as a means to flabbergast their opponent.
Diagram 11 (1-10)
The variation shown in dia 11 was popular among a couple of us when I was still playing
tournaments. After black 9 white has to be very careful.
Continuation

The funny thing with people who study joseki for the sole
purpose of trying to trick the opponent in order to get an easy /
early lead is that they are quite often not very knowledgeable.
And (I'm talking about myself of 15 years back now) it is not
at all rare that the trickster gets tangled in his own devious
web of "Hamete" (trick moves). White 12 is excellent timing,
in order to hold white inside black can only play at 13.
Diagram 11a (11-23)

Foiling The Trick Taisha, End

==> (final position)

After black 35 white plays the very calm move at 36. This is the key to getting a good result. In
variation 11-11b white gets a better result, neatly avoiding all of black's nasty traps. By the way,
the ko which white can set up in the corner (28-30 in dia 11b) can often be used as a way to safe
himself in the more difficult patterns.
Diagram 11b (24-37)
Not A Good Forcing Move

When people showed me this Joseki for the first time I was
told that White 1 in dia 11x was a skillful move. As it turns
out, however, white 1 is questionable. White's intention is to
make black answer submissively at A before playing at the
place of black 8. Black, however, does not answer the white
forcing move but instead lets go of the complete corner! This
result is regarded as better for black.
Diagram 11x

Taka-Moku (the 5-4 point)

Taka-moku, similar to the 5-3 point, has a modern feeling. It does not make any points on its
own, and especially since the nineties it is often used in a moyo-making, fighting kind of game.
The next move, if black's going to play one, is of course at A.
Diagram 12 & 12a
Nowadays, however, often people do purposefully not play at A, even if they have the time for it.
The idea is, especially when black has stones in the neighborhood of the triangle marked spots,
to go for influence with black 2 in dia 12a. Playing like this obviously shifts the focus to point B,
big time.
Earning Respect

White 6 is a very nice move and one

of the main attractions of the 5-4
point. White wins this game
eventually by half a point. I think that
white's way of playing only recently
has become popular. Playing like this
white must have steady confidence in
his / her abilities in order to neglect
making territory in spite of the
disadvantage of not having the first
move. You can not help but feel
respect for white, playing like this,
and winning.
Diagram 13

Not Such A Modern Move After All

I only show you this game to prove
that you cannot trust me as far as you
can throw me. Although this game
was played in 1881, even before
anybody had heard of "Shinfuseki"
(= new, center oriented opening)
black 4 was played as a standard
move already. It was a 2 stone
handicap game so that does explain it
in a way. Black 4 was not so popular
but all the same, just because black 4
wasn't played so much a long time
ago does not mean that it's a typical
"new" or modern move. In this case
it only means that for centuries black
4 was thought of as a splendid move,
backed up by (some) Hoshi stones.
Of course, the only problem, except
for handicap games, nobody played
on Hoshi very much.
Diagram 14
Hayashi, who plays the black stones uses his Hoshi stones in the powerful framework strategy.
He forces his opponent Nakagawa to resign this game in 155 moves. Note that black's lower left
corner still is more or less open, in spite of two additional moves 20 and 22.

San San (the 3-3 point)

Well, there is not much of direction to the 3-3 point. What I mean is that as with a stone on
Hoshi it is self-sufficient, you do not need to hurry and play an extra move. (In contrast, al the a-
symmetrical moves 3-4; 3-5; and 4-5 are best completed with a second, shimari-making move.
If you want to develop the 3-3 point most often the wide extensions of A and C are the proper
way of playing. Although the 3-3 move does not require an immediate follow-up move you
might sometimes feel like playing at B or D (my personal favorites) or any of the square marked
spots. One reason, however, you might feel reluctant to spend a second move in the corner
(making a 3-3 shimari) is because the most effective, the best shimari is the 4-3 shimari in dia
15a.
Diagram 15 & 15a

Not So Much Choice

This excerpt of a pro game (Ma Xiaochun, 9p vs Guo Juan, 5p) shows a typical way of
developing a 3-3 stone. It is not so much that you decide which way to go to yourself. No, it is
many times your opponent who decides for you which side you have to go to. In dia 16 when
only thinking about the size of territory made, black is doing better because of his superior
shimari at the left.
Diagram 16
This does, however, not mean that he has any kind of advantage he can exploit to win the game.
White's territory at the right might very well turn out to be worth more than black's left. From
here on much will depend on exactly how strong the formations white 1-5 and black 2-4 turn out
to be in respect to each other. The weaker your nearby enemy stones are, the more territory you
can look forward to.
That's it for this time. I hope you managed to make your way through all the above this time, too.
People have told me before "You certainly seem to be writing for a wide audience, Pieter".
Meaning that Gentle Joseki is sometimes targeting 20 kyu people and sometimes (like this
episodes Taisha stuff) dan-ranking players. I, however, sincerely believe that *anyone* can pick-
up something worthwhile here, as long as you're clear about the rules.
One other thing, since Jan Steen has redesigned my automatic mail-click-link at the bottom of
this page the amount of reactions I got has drastically decreased. Please do write if you feel like
it, it is a great help, believe it or not. (Sorry to the 50+ people who were on my Gentle Joseki
mailing list, I forgot to save my address book when re-installing my system, oops...)
The number of people visiting Gentle Joseki has been quite stable since episode II at over 600
per new episode. Well over 1500 if you take the total of all the episodes over a 1-month period,
thank you people! (now where is that filthy rich sponsor again?)
Be sure to come back for more next month. In Gentle Joseki 7 I finally will start about my
hobbyhorse, the opening move at the 5-5 point. On IGS I've tried this move with both black and
white in over 30 games, each game playing two 5-5 points and I surprised myself by holding
onto my 3d* grade. Well, that's to show that you can play any move in the opening, as long as
you've convinced yourself that it's playable, you'll get away with it for sure.

Appendix 01
Index of joseki's mentioned in this episode:
Gentle Joseki, part VII by Pieter Mioch
The Patterns
Non- Standard Moves

The corner plays in dia 1, 2 and 3 have at least two things in common. One you guessed already
I presume; they are not standard opening moves. The second similarity may come as a bit of a
surprise though: these moves are all recognized as playable and sometimes appear in pro games.
Like a first move on tengen (10-10 point) the plays at the 6-3 point, the 6-4 point and the 5-5
point, however, are difficult to understand. I for one have not really a clue what they're all about.
This does not, however, stop me from freely using them in my games. They are, unfortunately,
quite hard to put to good use. In the future I might come back at the moves in dia 1 and 2. In this
episode of Gentle Joseki I would like to focus on the move in dia 3, the 5-5 point.
Diagram 1, 2 & 3

67 Years Ago

Black: Onoda Chiyotaro 5d

White: Kitani Minoru 5d
January, 1934, black wins by resign.
Recently the young (22) Japanese
talent Yamashita Keigo, 7 dan, has
gained popularity because of his
unorthodox opening moves. He did
this in such a splendid way that he
conquered Kobayashi Koichi in 2000
for the Gosei title and won the best of
five, three games to two. It is not
true, however that young Yamashita
is making these things up all by
himself. Dia 4 shows that the 5-5
point was already played, in a serious
fashion, well over 60 years ago. By
the look of this game it might well
have been played yesterday.
Diagram 4
Let's first answer the question, which surely must be on your mind: "Why on earth would
anybody feel like playing the 5-5 move"? My joseki dictionary, the "Joseki Daijiten" I
occasionally glance in has an excellent, if not completely satisfactory, answer. "Playing a move
at the 5-5 point has the advantage of having a big psychological effect on your opponent"
If this were the whole story then everybody and his brother would be playing at the 5-5 point but,
as of today, that is certainly not the case. Usually when doing Gentle Joseki I avoid opening my
joseki dictionary and instead try to explain things in my own words. As an exception I'll give you
the rest of the text, it seems to be only fair to let you share in the Daijiten's infinite wisdom... "It
is however, undeniably the 5-5 play does not help much in terms of territory. It is a move which
naturally goes for influence..."
...Well, since there does not seem to be any logical reason for choosing to play at 5-5 let's switch
to a different strategy in our crusade for wisdom, knowledge and blood.
A very good reason for not playing at the 5-5 point is because of the lack of proper follow-up
moves. As a matter of fact, this is one of the major drawbacks of all the symmetrical opening
moves, the 3-3 point, the 4-4 point as well as the 5-5 point, not to mention tengen... Symmetrical
corner moves do not make it easy to decide where to play a second move if the chance arises.
(The most effective way of guarding the corner and getting profit is the ordinary "shimari", the
shape you get with a move at the 4-3 point and the 5-3 point. I've been over this a couple of
times before and will skip a detailed explanation. If you're interested please go through earlier
episodes of Gentle Joseki.)

The 5-5 Formation

The best thing black can do seems to be to reinforce the corner

with a move at A or B as shown in dia 5. Even with this additional
move, however, it is still in the dark exactly how many points
black can expect in the corner. To put it in a different way, playing
2 moves black still didn't make one point of territory!
Diagram 5
Not Very Sensible

As is shown in dia 6, 7 and 8 black's other follow-up moves do not make a whole lot of sense.
Black can try going for territory with 1 in dia 6. In that case, however, black would very much
like the 5-5 stone to be at either A or B. Black 1 in dia 7 is also an unnatural move, now the 5-5
stone would be more useful at C or D. Black 1 in dia 8 is really funny looking, it would be
something if it would be a good formation. Actually, I am not sure how to rate this shape, it
might be worth trying. What I do know, however, is that there is a terrible defect at E, when
white plays here black's corner is gone for sure.
Diagram 6, 7 & 8
By the way, just because in dias 6-8 black one results in giving black a less optimal shape does
not mean that you will never see these kind of formations appear in your own game or pro
games. If, for example, in dia 8 white would have a stone at the 6-3 point the position reverts to a
perfectly normal joseki.
It is wishful thinking, however, to expect white to be as nice as to approach the black formation
in a way which makes black's stones come out excellent. Playing white you might feel the urge
to restore the situation to a more common one. A pattern you have seen before and know. This is
not what the game is about, however, and if your opponent played a strange move it's up to him
to make it work, there is no reason for helping him along.
(white 12 in dia 10 is an excellent move with this in mind, white does not make it any easier for
black by keeping distance and playing solid)

Common Follow-Up

Which brings me back to black 1 in dia 9. This follow-up

move is most often seen in pro games and is a standard
continuation. Which is to say that black is persistent in his far-
out strategy, playing close to the corner but not claiming it as
yet. Next black can try to put his formation to good use in
moyo making (or fighting) in the direction of A. Or black can
aim at playing B, making a thin 20 points of territory. ("thin"
meaning that depending on white stones in the neighborhood
black will be hard put to keep his corner territory unharmed)
Diagram 9
No Territory

Black: Kato Atsushi 6d

White: Yoda Norimoto 9d
White wins by resign, October 1996.
In this game black choose to ensure
the corner playing 13. A little later,
however, white successfully invaded
at the 3-3 point and black's territory
vanished. This would have been all
right if black had some weak white
stones as a target to attack and
possibly capture. Unfortunately this
was not the case, thus failing to put
his stones to good use black had to
resign. Formation like 3-7 and 1-5-13
are possible but not at all easy to
handle skillfully.
Diagram 10
White Can Invade at Will
To be perfectly honest, I do not feel
comfortable with the triangle marked
formation in dia 11. To play two moves
in the corner and still be completely
open and not able to stop white from
invading at A, B or C is not to my liking.
If, for example, black made a framework
as in dia 11 I feel this must compensate
for the open-skirted corner. As it is,
however, black cannot count on more
than 12-20 points, not counting the
corner.

Diagram 11
Now we have a bunch of plausible sounding reasons why you should never play at 5-5. And,
perhaps, the best thing to do is to stop reading right here get on with your life, forgetting about
the existence of this weird move completely and be happy.
Thank you for staying with me, coming this far shows courage. By still being here however, you
admit that you're interested in the 5-5 move. So, I think it is time for you to try the 5-5 move in
your own games a couple of times to see how you like it. Play it a couple of times in one or two
corners and than go over the rest of Gentle Joseki 7. You will appreciate the rest even more after
having faced similar situations in your own games.
Let's have a look at another aspect of the 5-5 move. What happens if white does not keep his
distance and chooses to play an approach move?
How to Enter
How to Enter the Corner

Trust me on this, only few players can resist the temptation and
usually within a couple of moves your opponent will play at A, B,
C or D. For all of you who were expecting fabulous hamete (trick)
moves or aggressive counter measures for black when white enters
the corner I have to disappoint you. There are no tricks worth
mentioning involved with the 5-5 corner. The only "trickery" thing
about it is that white most of the time does think that the strange
looking 5-5 move cannot possibly be any good no way, no how. In
this he his wrong, this misperception can be exploited.
Diagram 12

Entering at the 3-3 Point

When white enters at the 3-3 point in dia 13 black does not need to
do anything special. By playing steady moves black seals white in
most effectively and the result is not to white's liking. Although
playable under certain circumstances white should not volunteer to
be locked up like this.
Diagram 13

Variation

In dia 14 white jumped two spaces, disliking the idea of being

locked up. Black, again, plays very calmly and pushes white
along the third line. The result is nice for black and either
extending towards A or blocking at B next is extremely big.
Diagram 14
Conclusion, white should not hurry entering at the 3-3 point.
Entering at the 4-3 Point
Entering at the 4-3 point is often a better move compared to
entering at 3-3. The territory white can make is a little bigger and
while white is solid the black stones feel a little thin. After black 4
white often slides at A. This, however, is not necessary as black
cannot expect to kill the white stones if white were to omit playing
at A. The result after white A is unclear. Black has more or less
sealed his opponent but his stones are by no means thick. Very
much depends on the black player's ability to create an impressive
moyo (oversized territory) or his fighting skills. It is, however, a
very, very thin line between black stones (2-4) which are skillfully
keeping a weak white group from linking up with the corner stones
or the same black stones which get gobbled-up after being
sandwiched between two white positions.
Diagram 15

Joseki Like But...

The result in dia 16 is not good for black. By trying to play what
feels like a "normal" joseki line black ignores the purpose of the 5-
5 point. Black always should first be concerned with getting stones
at the outside, preferably locking white up in the corner. After
white 7 black has gained neither territory nor influence.
Diagram 16

Entering at the 5-3 Point

From my own experience I can tell you that white 1 is by far the
most popular way of entering the corner, at igs 3d* level that is.
The contact play of black 2 is a resourceful reply to white 1. A
natural way of playing out the situation is shown in dia 17. On an
empty board this result favors black and this sequence is
consequently not a joseki. Black 6, by the way, is perfectly timed.
Although white would like to extend to 8 this is not an option.
Diagram 17
Do Not Stretch

After black 1 white 2 is a bad move. If, for example, black cuts at 3
white will get an inferior position. Also note that the exchange
white 2-black 7 is terrible for white.
Diagram 17a

All About Shape

Black can also cut at 1 and get a good result, although I prefer to
play as in dia 17a. The result in dia 17b can also be judged by
looking if in the final position any strange exchanges have been
made. What I mean is: suppose black "[]" and white "[]" were the
last moves played here. Now why in the name of all Go-Saints
would white answer black "[]" with any other move than the play
(hane) at A?
Diagram 17b
This kind of thinking may seem trivial and not to the point. If you think so then I only can beg
you to take the following advice to heart since this is exactly what all that "Good Shape" - "Bad
Shape" talk is all about.
Judging a sequence by looking for and determining if any questionable exchanges are made is
the most powerful tool you have to judge a result correctly. And the beautiful thing is, you do
not need to be a high-leveled dan player in order to apply it to your own games! When thinking
like this, however, do not forget that two strange exchanges, one played by you and one played
by your opponent, cancel each other out. It is also true that given enough compensation for
having played a bad-shape move can justify it. On the other hand, it is next to impossible to
obtain a good result by having played 2-3 questionable exchanges more than your opponent.
Another Variation

Dia 18 shows a variation for white. After white 5 black still

attaches at 6, white 7 follows and black pulls back at 8. Black 10 is
a very sharp move but the best white can do is reinforcing at 11.
To make most of black's shape 12 is an exquisite play. The result
again favors black, but remember, the board is *never* empty.
Diagram 18

A 5-4 Joseki

I should have called dia 19 reference diagram 1 because it is not

about the 5-5 move, or is it? The shape after 1-6 is similar as with
the 5-5 variation shown in dia 17. Dia 19 shows a common 5-4
joseki, if white with 8 captures black 9 black captures white 6 in a
ladder.
Diagram 19

Not So Good for Black

To apply the joseki shown in dia 19 to the 5-5 move, however, is

not correct. The sequence shown in dia 20 is not a joseki; the result
is judged inferior for black.
Diagram 20
Not So Good Either

Even if black 6 is played at the inside white immediately goes after

the cutting stone and captures it with 9. Again this result is not
satisfactory for black.
Diagram 21
Note, however, that if the game is well underway and the opening stage is more or less finished
then black might be glad with the results in dia 20, 21. Especially dia 20 seems to be not too bad
at all.

Attaching at the Outside

To attach at the outside right away does not give black a

convincing result either. In dia 22 you can see that white makes a
lot of profit and that black's outside position does not make up for
the points lost in the corner. If black plays 6 at 7 white extends at 6
and gets a good result too.
Diagram 22

A 4-3 Joseki

It is possible to revert this situation to a ko-moku (4-3 point)

joseki when switching the order of black 2 and the move at the
5-5 point. After white 11 black can chose to play A or B. The
result as shown in dia 23 is good enough for black and he is
not complaining.
Diagram 23
Entering at 4-4

The remaining possible move for white to enter the corner under
the 5-5 point is the play at hoshi (4-4 point) as shown in dia 24
Diagram 24

Influence Again

For black it is very important to judge the surrounding situation

correctly before deciding how to use his 5-5 stone. In dia 25 a
straightforward variation is shown. The result may look good for
white (it certainly is not bad for white) but is playable for black,
too. He has sente and black can continue with is influence oriented
playing style somewhere else.
Diagram 25

White Travels a Dark Path

White might try the unhealthy looking moves of 4 and 6. If the

ladder is good for black he can play like dia 26. After black 15
black can capture two white stones at either A or B. If the ladder is
not favorable for black there are other ways of getting a
satisfactory result. That is again, unfortunately, a bunch of
diagrams not given this time.
Diagram 26
And for the main feature (ahum, ahum) of Gentle Joseki 7 the opening of a game I played at igs.
Both players are level 34*.

Who Let the Dogs Out?

 Black: me
White: m***y
I do not pretend that you'll learn from
going through this game. To be
honest, you might very well play two
stones weaker because of it. I usually
combine high approach moves like
black 5 and 7 with a 5-5 opening.
The shoulder hits at 9 and 17 are also
played with the idea of making
"something" (anything) towards the
center. When black, till white's
surprise, did not go under in a fierce
fight white asked for adjournment
and the game was suspended at move
136 with mutual consent. Black 15 is
not a very good move, I'm afraid, it is
very thin. You, of course, now know
what black's next move should be,
don't you?
Diagram 27
P.S. Not all Yamashita's games include plays at the 5-5 point but some of them do and if you'd
like to go through his games download them through Yamashita Keigo's biography page.

Appendix 01
Index of joseki's mentioned in this episode:
Gentle Joseki, part VIII by Pieter Mioch
Things you don't want to do
The 4-3, or "ko-moku" play is the most complicated opening move known today. There are
uncountable variations and to master them all would take the average person a lifetime or three.
Because of this versatility the 4-3 move is certainly worthwhile to have a closer look at how to
put it to good use. As I often do in Gentle Joseki I'd like to approach discussing ko-moku from
the opposite direction. Since it is not humanly possible to memorize all the patterns I'll keep it
simple and concentrate at ways of playing which are regarded as being bad according to modern
go theory. So, memorizing these "anti-joseki" patterns will help to stay away from bad moves
and automatically make you play the correct patterns, piece of cake.
cute move

Here it is, the 4-3 move, isn't it cute? I very much doubt it is the best
opening move possible but I doubt it even more if anybody will come up
with evidence to the contrary in the next century. Although not as
popular as it once was, the ko-moku play is an excellent move. It is a
little low but all the same it's way more positive compared to the 3-3
play.
Diagram 1
Not to discourage you but I seldom play ko-moku in my own games. It's not that I don't like it or
that there are any hidden defects or stuff like that but when playing ko-moku I always feel I have
to play a real "serious" game and think very hard. It goes without saying that this is not my
strong suit, I prefer lightning games big time and the last serious games I played were in the Insei
league some 300 years ago. (still dream about these games occasionally, they would take the
whole day and seldom finish inside 6 hours)
Well, to make good on my promise of telling you what you shouldn't do please have a look at dia
2. Follow up moves like the diagonal (kosumi) move and the one-space jump (ikken-tobi) are
often worth considering in case of having played at 4-4 (hoshi) but not with the ko-moku
opening.
Never mind anybody's advice
You won't hear me say, though, that you -never- should play at either A
or B as a follow up move to the 4-3 play. It is safe to say, however, that
A and B are regarded as bad moves. "How bad?" you ask? Humpf, as all
good questions, that is not easy to answer. If the best move would be
worth ten points than I guess that A and B are roughly the same value of
between 8-9 points. In other words, as a novice to this game I don't think
that there is anything wrong with freely playing them in your own games,
never mind what anybody is telling you about books this and books that.
Diagram 1
So, what -are- the ten pointers? Which moves are given as the best continuation after having
played at the 4-3 point?
Once Again, a Shimari

There is no move which can hold a candle to black one in dia 3.

Likewise, there is no formation as omnipotent as this small-knight's
enclosure (shimari). If in an even game black can make two shimaries
with his first four moves he can never have a bad game.
Diagram 3

Unbeatable?

15th Meijin league, January 1991

black: Cho Chikun
white: Rin Kaiho (+resign)
Now I thought that what I just said
about black never having a bad game
when making two shimaries was
rather an understatement. I just
finished searching for a good game
example where black gets an easy
win because of his shimaries. Till my
surprise, however, *all* the five
games I managed to find were won
by white! It seems the vitality of the
center oriented way of playing helps
to reinforce one's confidence or
something, that is to say, I have no
clue as to why white wins all the
games, probably coincidence.
Diagram 3a
Like I said before, however, the ko-moku opening is a kind of "serious" instead of the ol' rough'n
tumble style street fighting it shows an attitude which some regard as more mature but others just
think is boring (who said that?). When playing with a shimari it shows that you prefer to build
solid, strong positions from where you will develop steadily while making territory. Opposite to
this way of playing would be moyo making and preferring making influence instead of points.
Both ways of placing your stones on the board are, of course, perfectly common. Even if you feel
that one of them doesn't suit your temperament or character I still think it would be a very good
idea to try both, playing solid and making territory versus playing light and building moyos.
Orthodox moves

In dia 4 A-E show the moves which are regarded as

orthodox, i.e. these are the plays black should be playing
according to the book. The moves C, D and especially E are
not very tight, however, and do not help black ensuring
territory yet. Properly speaking, move E is not a follow up
but a whole-board kind of play, not necessarily regarding the
corner as being important.
Diagram 4
Let me repeat what I told you earlier about moves you shouldn't play. In dias 5-5c you can see
moves which are regarded as being bad. None of those, however, will cost you the game. This
even goes for pro's although it will be next to impossible to find a game record of a pro actually
using one of these moves in the opening. To be sure, they are slack and have other shortcomings
but I wouldn't worry about it too much if I were you. Try them, memorize them and when you
feel you got an idea why they're not too sharp keep them for special occasions (explaining the
game to your mother in law or something like that).

Non- Standard Moves

I like the moves in dia 5-5c, though, just copying pro moves is good too, of course, but I
honestly think that the road to fast improvement is playing lesser moves and come to understand
why they're not so hot. You can be sure, however, that after the game, no matter what the result
might be your opponent will keep telling you these moves cannot be good and you shouldn't be
playing them and tons more of talk you sometimes have to put up with after the game which
does not contribute to the game very much, although it can be great fun at times.
Diagram 5, 5a, 5b & 5c
Up to here I briefly described what to do with your ko-moku stone if you have the chance of
playing a second move. It is, however, likely that you often do not have the chance of doing so
and your opponent will play an approach move first.
Dealing With An Approach Move

This is the typical way of thwarting black's shimari plans, the white
"keima-kakari" or small knight approach move. Let's have a look at what
you shouldn't be doing after this when playing black.
Diagram 6

Not Good Enough

Black one in dia 7 is too small. The corner territory is only

worth about six points, this does not justify the two black
moves here. As I often said in previous episodes, one
(opening) move should be worth about 5 points.
Diagram 7

Too Tight

Dia 7a shows a likely continuation. The moves look normal

but the result is so so, not really bad for black but a little slack
. Not game-losing but a bit too tight, have a look at a better
shape for black in dia 7b.
Diagram 7a
Superior Shape

Undoubtedly the result in dia 7a is more solid for black

compared to this diagram, dia 7b. All the same, the result in
dia 7b is a joseki while dia 7a is not because black is over
concentrated, spending too many moves in a cramped place,
'kind of how you feel after a huge dinner and the cake and
coffee arrives just a little too early.
Diagram 7b
Too Solid

In dia 8 you can see yet another move, black one, which is not
standard and thought of as too solid, over protective if you
want. Instead of black one a move at either A or B would be
better.
Diagram 8
Shusaku's Kosumi

This diagonal move is a border case. It is the famous "Shusaku

kosumi" named after the 19th century Go-Master who
virtually won all his games on black by playing it. Strange
when you think about it, you can invent and play an excellent
new move but as long as you're not going to win any games
with it people will think it's worthless.
Diagram 9
According to modern go theory this move is not good enough if black has to give komi to white
to make up for the advantage of having the first move. It's a very solid move, however, and I'm
fond of it and often use it, when I play ko-moku, almost never, that is. It's also still being used in
pro games which might help you a bit more to convince you it's playable.
One more word about the Shusaku kosumi, it is especially nice and easy to use when realizing
that you have four next possible moves (compare this to the usual amount, which is about two or
three).
Four Good Moves

Black 1 in dia 9b is often played one or two spaces down, for example, when playing it after first
having played one in dia 9a. Note that black 1 in dia 9c works best when there already is a black
stone somewhere around A. The pincer in dia 9d gives a situation which was often seen in go of
the 18th and 19th century but it still is played today.
Diagram 9a, 9b, 9c & 9d

A Shuei Game

1875-08-22
black: Shuei
white: Nakagawa (+2pt)
The reason I selected the game of the
19th century shown in dia 10 is
because when looking at it even a
person who never played a game in
his life can get an idea of what you
can use a stone at the 4-3 point for.
We have a shimari (upper right white
formation) a hasami (pincer) at the
left, the famous Shusaku kosumi in
the lower right and an alternative
way of approaching the opponent's 5-
3 stone (lower left) with another
move than at 4-3.
Diagram 10

I love the old master's games and I know that if you can bring yourself to replay say 3 of such
games twice per day and manage to keep it up for a month your go skill will dramatically
improve. Not that there's anything wrong with modern games but the fighting of today is of such
ferocity and is so complicated that it is very hard for players other than top amateurs level
players or up to learn something from them without any explanation. Older masters can play
fierce too, of course, but old games were played with virtually no time limit so that top pros of
these days had a very different mentality than their modern counter parts. They took their time
and thought twice before embarking on a rash sequence of moves, the outcome of which is often
far from clear.
In the last centuries time allowances have become shorter and shorter. In Korea 3 hours per
person is common and it can be expected that the 5-hour allowance used in Japan will get
shortened too. (this is already happening, not in all games, though) This is a very good tendency
for amateurs who love to see pro games getting bloodier and bloodier, the less time pros have the
higher the possibility is that the go board will turn in a raging full-scale battlefield right from
move one.
Well, back to business, the ko-moku move. The most common approach move is the knight's
move or keima kakari. Now black has three choices:
1. solidify the 4-3 point by playing an extension
2. playing a pincer and see what white wants
3. ignore white altogether and play somewhere else

About Six Possibilities

In dia 11 you can see the defensive oriented moves which black can play
if he doesn't want to play a pincer. Move F is special and usually not
played but certainly not unplayable. If black would answer at E the
situation reverts to a 5-5 joseki (dia 23 in GJ-VII) were black's first move
in the corner was at E, white plays 1 and black answers at ko-moku.
Diagram 11
You guessed already that my recommendation here is the play at A, it is solid and easy to
understand, there is not much mischief your opponent can try to cook up. I'll show you an "and
everybody lived happily ever after" joseki to give you an idea you can work with.

All Peace and Quiet?

Dia 12 shows a sequence of both players can be happy

with, however..
Diagram 12

Beyond Joseki
 Things can get hairy easily as you can see in dia 12a. Once
black start throwing his weight around and plays
aggressively at 1 white will immediately make clear he is
not in the least impressed and start a counter offensive at 2.
After white 4 you are in no-man's-land and you'll have to
figure out what to do next by looking at the whole board
and not overestimating your own fighting skill.
Diagram 12a

Pincers

In dia 13 I've tried to rank the possible pincers A-G in

order of commonness. The play at G is not often seen (but
possible) and A is gold record all-time favorite. Its main
feature is that the situation does not settle easy and that
there are numerous variations the results of which are not
at all similar.
Diagram 13
When starting on Gentle Joseki 8, a month ago, I started to use the 4-3 move in my own games
and it seemed to work contagious because many of my opponents started playing at 4-3 too.
About 90% of my opponents played the A pincer in no time and I decided to play black 2 in dia
14 a couple of times.

In Love, Again

I've been in love with this move ever since I saw it for the
first time, some 14 years ago. It's perfect to catch your
opponent off-guard with and it works very well with a
black stone in the upper left corner to back it up.
Diagram 14
Looks Vital, But ...

White 1 in dia 15 may seem as a logical move (ergo, it is

logical, moving between two enemy stones in a way they
cannot expect to link up, ever) but it is a miss fire. Black
quietly plays the forcing moves of 2 and 4 and next comes
back at 6 or A. White has no continuation which will make
white 1 coming out good. White one only helped black
strengthen himself and white only got a few points in the
right corner back as compensation. The corner, by the way,
which was his to start with.
Diagram 15
There are plenty of nice cozy joseki I could show you but since we're at the end of this episode
I'll show you a long and difficult one.

Sacrifice

Black 2 is natural, white 5 is trying to link his own stones

together while at the same time keeping black separated.
Black 10 is an unexpected move but once you get to think
about it the only way of saving the situation is by making a
sacrifice. Up to 20 black more or less has sealed white off,
the result is about equal.
Diagram 16

Some defects Left But Equal Result

Black's formation, however, is by no means without its

defects. White may very well continue with a play at
one and starting a large-scale fight. Black's groups are
not weak, however, and he should be able to handle the
situation.
Diagram 16a
This is all for this time, I will continue with the 4-3 point and its variations in the next episode of
Gentle Joseki, that will be episode 9. I still have to think up something "tying everything together
and make it look good conclusion" for episode 10.
Appendix 01
Index of joseki's mentioned in this episode:
Gentle Joseki, part IX by Pieter Mioch
The Patterns
As usual I've underestimated the amount of even the most basic diagrams concerning the 4-3
point. There is no way on earth I can tell all the things you should know in order to be able to
start feeling confident in your own games when playing 4-3. The ko-moku move is low, as I said
before and if there's one thing you should try to pick-up from Gentle Joseki 8 and 9 it is that the
4-3 move lacks in attacking strength because of it.
Well, that was one something which deserves a single episode by itself but, alas, not this time.
I'll continue with where I let off in Gentle Joseki XIII and when I have some 20 diagrams I'll call
it a day.
White Attaches

After a white approach move to the ko-moku stone playing a

pincer is the most likely way to lead to unpredictable and
difficult situations. In dia 1 blacked played the two space high
pincer. White has plenty of choice in how to answer this pincer.
The white answer I'd like you to memorize by heart though is
the attachment (tsuke) of white 2. This is *the* move white has
to keep things simple and settle himself without messing up too
much. After black 7 white can play at either A or B to settle his
stones. Because of having two options white can play elsewhere
without having to worry.
Diagram 1
Playable But Not So Many Eyes

The dias 2 and 2a show that black can counter at 5 instead of letting white get easy eye shape.
After white 8 it is 98% out of the question to even consider fighting this ko when playing black.
Black 9 in dia 2a is natural and white 10 might look cool, but?..White should not be too happy
with his shape. As black's corner is alive black could very well choose to peep at A and B and
continue attacking the white stones. White should be able to handle himself, of course, but for
the time being his stones have no eyes and feel a kind of heavy.
Diagram 2 & 2a
a Genuine Joseki

This is, as an exception to the normal Gentle Joseki approach, a

genuine joseki. Black 1 in dia 3 shows the "go steady" attitude.
After white 2 black can hook up his stones with 3. Black is
satisfied (even though he's a bit low)
Diagram 3

Always Works

Dia 4, in short with *all* the pincers A-F the attachment play of
white 1 is possible. It most of the time works similar to the dias
I just showed you about the two space high pincer. If black
pincers at A white 1 might not be the best move, but it's still
playable.
Diagram 4

White Settles His Stones

And I do it again! It is a real joseki! Be that as it may, however,

I think that this result is more than white can hope for. White
settled his stones most effectively in spite of the fact that black
played the sever pincer of black 1. White 8, by the way, is
extremely big because white cannot extend towards the left and
instead of 8 playing elsewhere (tenuki) is often a bad idea as
black can take 8 and set the white stones a floating.
Diagram 5
The Attachment Works

Black would like to do something, anything. The atari at 5 is a good start, now there are a
number of possibilities. Filling in with black 9 is good enough, white's shape may look okay but
it's a little thin and not very impressive. White 10 is correct, if one to the left the remaining peep
option can help black to set up an attack.
The cut at black 1 in dia 6b is possible too. As black cannot expect to win the ko, however,
filling in at 3 is the only move. Next white 4 is a nice move, this solid move enables white to
later on play at A and fight ko. Without white 4 his position would most likely not survive in a
ko fight. The result is more or less equal.
Diagram 6, 6a & 6b

Not So Popular
There seems to be an unwritten law or at least a silent
agreement to not play the two-space low pincer of black 1 in dia
7 these days anymore. In my insei days my "sensei" (teacher)
was very font of this pincer because most of his students did not
study it as thoroughly as the other, more popular pincers. I think
it is an excellent play and whatever the current fashion may be
by all means add this move to your standard-answers repertoire.
Playing white the opposite idea to the attachment we just went
over would be moving out and jumping towards the center. A,
B and C are just a few possibilities which are playable with all
the pincers although they're maybe not always advisable if
black played any one-space pincer.
Diagram 7
I don't know about the correct line of playing too much but judging from my own games jumping
out leads to "unsettling" at least a quarter of the board. I mean that often both players end up with
a number of stone-strings of unclear status and feel they're in a guerilla war.
Our Ships Are Sailing the Same Direction
One of the major options white often
has when jumping out as in dia 8 is to
counter-pincer. This especially is a
very healthy attitude if white has the
left corner. If the triangle marked stone
would be black's, however, the
counter-pincer could be too much for
white to handle. This is, again, a
joseki. All the same you cannot expect
your opponent to follow suit. There are
plenty of ways to make a left turn
somewhere and, as a matter of fact,
this is often called for.
Diagram 8

Be never satisfied just because you memorized a joseki and got it on the board correctly.
Being suspicious of the outcome is the more recommendable attitude, me thinks.

A Question
Dia 9. I'm glad I could find some game
from after WW2 were the two-space
Black: Cheng Zengyu low pincer is played. From my search
White: Wang Yuan (+resign) results I can say without a doubt that
Played April 1986 this move is nowhere as popular today
as it was 60 years ago.
Next black to play, where would you
play in your own game A, B or C? Part
of the continuation of the game is
given right at the end.
By the way, this is again a game where
black had to resign after having played
an opening making two corner
enclosures (shimari). This makes six
games in a row including the games I
checked out for Gentle Joseki 8. I think
it is time for me to start writing a
thesis, proving that black cannot win a
game of go when having two shimari. I
still have no clue, however, why on
earth two shimari would be bad but it's
intriguing to find that black often loses.
Still, it could very well be coincidence,
of course. I'll get back to you when I
checked on say 2000 games.
Diagram 9
No Big Deal

In dia 10 the remaining moves I have to go over are given. You

can make a big deal of the white approach moves at B and C
but I think they're not.
Diagram 10

Good For Black

If white wants something on the left side he often chooses

to play a little far from the corner, trying to avoid being
pincered. Well, let white do his worst and give him a
second move at the left side, I say. Black 2 makes excellent
shape and after white 3 black can play tenuki or make an
extension in the neighborhood of A. Black gets the better
part out of this exchange.
Diagram 11

Good For Black Too

The same goes for dia 12. Just stay cool and play solid
moves and white only can make a thin extension towards
the left, no sweat. At a fairly early stage of the game black
might very well want to invade at A after which white
cannot hope to capture the invasion.
Diagram 12

'Lot of Moves
 Dia 13 shows that there are certainly enough moves to
choose from if white played the one-space high approach
move. I have no personal favorite move but black E gives
black a lot of points while black still is the one who can
play elsewhere (tenuki) first.
Diagram 13
Good Enough for Black

Black is solid and got points in dia 14, he has no reason to

be dissatisfied. Black also can aim at the troublesome
move at A later on in the game. He should not play here
too fast but only just about when white is starting to think
that the upper left is his territory.
Diagram 14
Three Ko-Moku Joseki

Dia 15. I don't have much room left

that's why I decided to show you this
game between Otake "the master of
good style" Hideo and Kato "the
Killer" Masao and show you various
aspects of the 4-3 move all in one
diagram. Try, among other things, to
pick up something from the lower left
corner. Playing tenuki (or a pincer)
*after* your opponent has attached at
the 3-3 point is quite a common
strategy. Now tell me, did you ever try
that in one of your own games?
White 18, by the way, is over
extended. Black could play between
white 16-18 and probably eat the 2-16
stones. White, however, does not care
so much about that since he regards the
2-16 as light.
Diagram 15 B: Kato Masao W: Otake Hideo (+resign) July 1978, 2nd round Gosei title
Alternative Joseki

Dia 16 shows an alternative joseki, that is to say that this

might be playable but by no means common. Instead of
black 7 playing at A could very well be an excellent
choice.
Diagram 16
I just found another game to throw at you which I think is worthwhile. It is between a local hero,
Hikosaka Naoto playing white and O Rissei who is currently one of the strongest players in
Japan, if not in the world.

There Ain't No Such Animal

Later on in this game a big fight

developed and black managed with a
truly exquisite move to barely ensure
life and thus killing the white stones
which had only one of those things,
eyes. White resigned after move 145.

The joseki in the upper left corner is

not all that special but the sequence
of moves in the lower left is one I
never saw before (and never hope to
see again). White clearly made a
judgment call here and decided to
give black a lot of points in exchange
for some stones towards the center. It
seems that black is doing fine here, I
wouldn't complain if this were my
game.
Diagram 17
Surprise Your Club
To give you an edge at your local go club it is a good idea to have
a closer look at dia 18. As anybody can tell you, normally black is
supposed to play at 4 instead of black 3. The blunt move of 3,
however, is possible too and an unexpectedly large number of
players seem to never have heard of it. The result in the dia looks
natural and very joseki like but it does favor black and white
should not be satisfied with it. Black 13 neatly captures two white
stones and he's happy. White should not play as docile as in the
dia but should play 10 at A instead. After this all hell breaks loose
as black has the fierce diagonal move (hane) at B. If black does
not feel up to the difficult fighting which follows he also can
stretch at C, now the result is unclear but something tells me it
cannot be bad for white.
Diagram 18

Surprise Your Club II

Dia 19. I remember as if it were yesterday that this joseki
was the latest hit at the go club I was playing when I was
about 6 kyu. We all thought that white was taken in big
time and that black had played a cool trick joseki. Well,
actually the result in dia 19 is about even and there nothing
"hamete" (tricky move) about it. So, don't be surprised
when your opponent does not answer as you had
anticipated but instead plays hane at 3 and easily captures
two stones of yours.
Diagram 19
Answer To Dia 9

Black: Cheng Zengyu

White: Wang Yuan (+resign)
Played April 1986
(continuation)
Black 15 was the biggest point at the
board and also helps to set up the
counter pincer at 25. Notice that
before starting the heavy fighting
black plays 29 in order to make one
and a half eye, this is always a good
idea, of course.
Diagram 20

Appendix 01 Index of joseki's mentioned in this episode:

Gentle Joseki, part X by Pieter Mioch
The Patterns
The 5-4 Move

As with the opening moves on hoshi (4-4) and the far-out move
at the 5-5 point an opening move at the 5-4 point (taka-moku)
does not make any territory on its own, it does not protect the
corner at all. I like 5-4 because it seems to be bragging about its
obvious disregard of points. "Yeah, look at me, no points and I
don't give a shee-it, whacha gonna do about it?" (pardon the
moves' French) The 5-4 move has a psychological effect on
your opponent for sure, exactly what kind of effect and how
you can use it is beyond me, contact me if you find out.
Diagram 1

Three Moves to Think about

Here you can see the moves black can choose from if he has the
time to add another move in the corner.
What did you say, you don't want to play another move in the
corner?? Well, fair enough I guess but have a look anyway
because an extra move can be the best play on the whole board
possible in not a few situations.
The most common follow-up would be to play at B and make a
shimari (a formation of two moves which effectively seal of the
corner.
To play at the 3-3 point with A is a good move too, it's a little
tighter compared to a move at B and it loses some 2-3 points
when talking about the size of territory made. All the same, A is
a very feasible move when your opponent is strong in the direct
vicinity. Making a shimari with a play at B leaves more room
for your opponent to try "something" (invasion) under your
stones
Diagram 2
Move C in the above diagram deserves a little extra attention, it's a non-standard corner
enclosure but not unheard of in pro games. Let's have a closer look at it in dia 3.
Strange Shimari
Black 1 is a mysterious move, it's not
clear exactly how many points black
made in the corner in spite of the two
moves he played there. In the dia,
however, an example is shown when
you might consider playing the
unorthodox move.
Instead of black 1 the usual move
would be at A. After black's play at
A the natural approach would be to
play an extension towards B. If black
is already strong in the upper right
corner, however, one cannot help but
feel that black is overdoing things
playing like this. Black seems to be
spending too many moves at one side
of the board. Which brings me to
black 1. It most probably will be the
last move black is going to spend at
the upper part of the board. Black's
strategy is to wait until white plays
between the strong black positions.
Diagram 3

China-Japan super match 1986-05-10

Black: Kubo Katsuaki, 8p

White: Rui Naiwei, 7p (+resign)
Kubo is clearly going for the
psychological effect here. All his
moves from 1 to 7 are just
screaming: "I am not in the least
impressed by a female 7 dan
professional from China, I can play
any which way I want and *you* are
gonna *lose* ". Or something like
that, well tough words but things
turned out differently from what
Kubo had expected. His attitude was
skillfully used against him and Rui
quite convincingly killed 18 black
stones at move 152 after which black
resigned.
Diagram 4
An Alternative Approach
White 1 is definitely not a normal move and although there
are undoubtedly situations in which it would make an
excellent play I'm not going to think one out.
White often is a little reluctant to enter the corner, usually
at C, because he fears black has some nasty tricks up his
sleeve and will let loose a terrifying joseki. Some people
therefor choose to play at 1 after black can play any of the
A-D moves and get a good result.
White refusing entering the corner will lose points. Note,
by the way, that if there were a black stone at E already
black might want to choose between C and D. These
moves pay more importance to the side and less to the
corner.
Move A and especially B are very tight and make sure
black has room for eyes and possible some points in the
future.
Diagram 5

Not Good

If white 1 in dia 5 was a questionable approach move than

white 1 in dia 6 is at least twice as questionable. Black answers
at either 2 or A and gets a splendid result. Whatever reason you
think you have found for playing white 1, think it over another
2-3 times before actually playing it.
Diagram 6
Finally, the Normal Approach

White 1 here is by far the most common way the enter the
corner, unless you have a really excellent reason for playing
another move to enter the corner just play 1 and don't worry too
much.
Diagram 7

Ishida

When leafing through Mr. Ishida's Joseki dictionary I see he

gives five possible moves to play with black now, A-E as
shown in the dia.
Diagram 8

Rebel without a cause

Being a rebel (I sometimes park my car at the wrong side of the

street) I would like to start off with black 1. It's not much of a
move but from one thing you can be assured, your opponent
will be surprised and suspect that you are either
1. Totally insane and do not know anything about go
2. A very crafty fellow with a profound knowledge of
"hamete"
Diagram 9

Good for Black

 This is one of the few variations which is nice for black,
unfortunately there are lots of sequences excellent for white. In
this case white 7 is not the proper move.
Diagram 9a

Better for White

White should play white 7 at 1 in this diagram.

This may look as a nice result for black but pros think white is
thick and doing better here.
Diagram 9b

The Normal Stuff

Black one is as common a move as they come. I think it is not

really in the spirit of the 5-4 move but it is an excellent point all
the same.
Diagram 10

As good as Joseki
 White 1 and 3 are the fastest way of ensuring space for future
eyes. Black 4 is strictly speaking too tight, the real joseki would
be to play at A and sometimes as far as B. Black 4, however, is
a very solid move which enables black to forget about his
stones here and regard them as settled. Although it is not the
best move it tends to make things easier.
Diagram 11

The Correct Extension

By the way, no matter which extension black may choose, A, B

or C the correct extension (if not the only one possible) for
white to play is at D. It is, however, not strictly necessary to
play here, often white will play elsewhere (tenuki), counting on
his solid shape to be able to make life in the future and/but
nothing more.
Diagram 12

A Very Cool Move

One way to go about punishing white for having played tenuki
would be the shoulder hit of black 1. The sequence, which
follows, is up to black 5 quite natural and easy to remember.
The flaming tesuji (local kick-ass move) of white 2 is not so
easy to get. Many player's first instinct would be to barge
through and play black 7 at the place of white 8. Next, however,
white plays A and any further black attempt to prevent white
from hooking up his stones might well end in losing the side.
Sometimes white 6 in the dia is too dangerous but on an empty
board it is excellent, a super-shape move. Black will normally
patiently defend at 7 and white works his way out to the center.
Diagram 13
1983-01-13 Preliminary round 1st Judan title
Iwata Sensei is the oldest and most
respected active pro in Nagoya.
Unfortunately he is getting on in age
(well, nothing unfortunate about that)
and in recent years he has trouble
going all the way. He cannot give
everything for ten hours straight
anymore, and this, to be sure, is
unfortunate. The above game,
however, is brilliant and I like to think
of the result as just a minor detail.
The reason why I show this diagram is
of course black 17 which is a little thin
but nicely looks after all black's stones
at the lower side. White, however,
patiently waited until he got his hands
free and invaded at A with move 76.
White 18, by the way, was a one-space
approach move in the upper right
corner.
Diagram 14 Black: Iwata Tatsuaki, 9p White: Kobayashi Koichi, 9p (+0.5)
Your Move, A or B?

Time to move on to the next move, the outside attachment. If

you never saw this before but you somehow feel that a play at A
next is okay for white you definitely have talent. The play at B
might look natural but actually is a pretty bad move.

Diagram 15
Black's Doing Fine

After black 4 there seem to be plenty moves possible but

descending with 5 is about the best white can do. Black gets a
good result by simply connecting at 6 but if he feels like it he
might want to play the severe block at A.
Diagram 16
The Cut

The cut at 4 is tesuji, white should accept this gift graciously

because if he connects at 5 as shown in the dia he still has to
make eyes in the corner. By the way, if the ladder works if
black instead of 6 plays atari to the left of white 3 he should
play it. If the ladder is good for white and black cannot
immediately capture white 3 the stretch of 6 is good enough.
After black 10 white can set his stone 3 in motion but provided
he has not got several strong groups in the vicinity black will
get the chance to develop his stones on both sides while white is
running for eyes.
Diagram 17

Joseki

This is what white should go for, it may look very good for
black but his territory is not secure yet. (white 5 is not
absolutely necessary but it is a very nice point)
Diagram 18

The Corner is Hollow

Black can save half of the corner but once he plays at 2 it's a
one way street. Black 6 connects (above 4) and white can nicely
get a small life. It is a hard question what exactly (and when)
black has to solidify his territory without playing too slow.
Diagram 18a
A Joseki
This is a joseki, provided that the ladder after black 5 really
captures the white stone. If the ladder doesn't work for black he
can try to get an equal result by playing black 5 at A. In contrast
to dia 17, however, the white corner is alive and does not need
any reinforcement. Making life in the corner as in dia 17 is
painful for white since it automatically makes the black stones
stronger. Here, in dia 19, this is not the case and although black 5
at A might at times be possible it is most often not a good idea.
It is very important, by the way, to resolve the ladder, i.e. capture
the single white stone, at the earliest opportunity because if white
can in the future run away with this stone black is really in a tight
spot.
Diagram 19
The rule with the outside attachment is that you cut at the side you don't want. Giving one stone
to your opponent enables you to get a big return.
A revelation?

Black 1 is in my opinion the only follow up for black after

white entered the corner, which is 100% the same idea as the
original play at the 5-4 point. Instead of white 6 playing at A is
a possibility too. Playing elsewhere is also common. Black 1
has many simple and straightforward variations (and even more
not at all straightforward ones) but this is the only one I'm going
to show you, sorry. If you are really eager to find out more
about this black 1 move here you will have to very carefully
study what happens if black plays 3 at 4.
Diagram 20

Entering at 3-3

When black has a stone at A from the start or when developing

towards the direction of A is very attractive for black, entering
at the 3-3 point with white 1 is a splendid idea.
Diagram 21
A Go Seigen Game Example

Date: 1934-11-14,15
Black: Go Seigen
White: Iwamoto Kaoru (+2)
Black 11 is normal; white 12 can also
be played at C, which is a little low,
but simple. After white 16 black
usually connects at A and white
stretches at B. Black 17 is interesting,
white played at B next and black cut
at C. A trade followed, black
captured two white stones (16 and B)
and white captured black stone 3.
Diagram 22

Appendix 01
Index of joseki's mentioned in this episode: