Gentle Joseki - Pieter Mioch PDF

Gentle Joseki, part I
by Pieter Mioch
Introduction
An introduction to corner patterns, especially but not only meant for kyu
players.
Starting this month (October 2000) I intend to do a monthly column for
Jan's hp. I'll try to give you a glimpse of the Japanese Go scene as well as
showing some elementary moves and provide insight in exactly how
important joseki's are in order to improve your game and how they relate
to the whole board.
Ikezaki
When visiting the Japanese go association of central Japan (Nihon Ki-in) I
came to talk with Mr. Ikezaki, a 4 dan professional and ex-director of the
Nihon Ki-In in Nagoya. While discussing what kind of go was played at the
beginning of the 20th century the conversation automatically led to the
two pillars of modern go, Kitani Minoru and Go Seigen. These giants of the
go scene, especially in the pre WWII years, turned their genius to try and
find different, and for that time unusual ways of playing. A business smart
editor of the Nihon Ki-in go-magazine and a formidable go player himself,
Mr. Yasunaga, introduced their way of playing to the world and named it
"Shinfuseki". Not a very original name maybe when you come to think
that "shin" means new and "fuseki" means opening but the name stuck
and is still in use.
So now, seventy years after the Shinfuseki saw the light, Mr. Ikezaki said:
"not many go players, even in Japan, know that Kitani and Go actually
had quite different views about the Shinfuseki." While saying this Mr.
Ikezaki was stretched out on the tatami mats of the professional (relax)
room in between teaching games at the Ki-In. His gaze was captured by
the ceiling and after a few minutes of silence he continued:
"Yes, Kitani's views concerning a new way of playing were mainly that
there was more to paying importance to the center than previously
thought."
Let's see what Mr. Ikezaki actually was talking about,
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 sansan (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 lose 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 46-12 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).
That was all for this time. What happened with Mr. Ikezaki? Well, the
conversation was not going very smoothly to start with, him muttering to
the ceiling and all. After a couple of remarks Mr. Ikezaki seemed to totally
surrender to his thoughts. When the silence had continued for 10 minutes
I decide to leave him in peace and went out for lunch.
Be sure to come back next month for the next episode of "Gentle Joseki"
Appendix 01
Index of joseki's mentioned in this episode:
Appendix 02
Japanese words and their English equivalents used in this article:
NAMES
Go
Seigen
(1914-) Japanese reading of his Chinese name Wu Qing-yuan.

The unrivaled go genius of the 20th century. Although he is
approaching 90 now professionals like O Rissei and (until she
moved to Korea) Rui Naiwei still recognize his genius and
attend study sessions at Go's house in Tokyo. Korean hopes are
high that 25-year-old Lee Changho will turn out to be the Go
Seigen of the 21st century. For more about Go Seigen
read Mindzine.
Go is, by the way, a family name. This, very appropriately,
makes people address him as "Mr. Go", or "Go Sensei" (lit. "Go
Master") in Japanese.
Ikezaki
Family name, Ikezaki Tokinori (1956-) is a 4 dan pro from

central Japan
Kitani
Family name, Kitani Minoru (1909-1975) was, together with Go

Seigen the founder of the "Shinfuseki". For more about Kitani
read Mindzine.
Yasunaga Family name, Yasunaga Hajime (1901-1994) was editor for the
Nihon Ki-In and pro level amateur Go player
TERMS
aji
taste; remaining possibilities, however distant they may be
atari
"check" on at least 1 stone
dan
ranking system for stronger players
fuseki
opening
gote
not being able to leave the current situation first, allowing your
opponent to be able the play elsewhere first
hoshi
star; any of the 9 dots one the go board, the middle one is
called "Tengen" (=center/origin of heaven). Hoshi is often used
when talking about an opening move on the 4-4 point.
joseki
a sequence of moves (in the corner) giving both players a

locally equal results
kakari
approach move to the corner
kikashi
a move which is almost impossible to ignore, also "forcing

move"
ko
situation which occurs when it is possible to immediately recapture the stone your opponent played in the previous move
to capture 1 of your stones. Since there is no end to this there
is the ko-rule, which prohibits a player to exactly recreate a

previous board position.
komi
compensation for white (usually 5-7 points) since black gets to

play the first move. (often there is a half point komi, as in 5.5
stones komi, to prevent a game from ending in a draw)
komoku
the 4-3 point
korigatachi
inefficient shape, uneconomical, using to many stones to make

only few points (hollow wall)
kyu
rating system used for intermediate players
miai
of equal value
moyo
large framework often forcing the opponent to (try to) reduce it

drastically in order to stay in the game
ni-ren-sei two 4-4 moves one the same side of the board
ponnuki
the name of the shape when 4 stones capture one enemy stone
san-rensei
3 hoshi of the same color at the same side of the board
sente
having the opportunity to play elsewhere first leaving the

current situation. (example: He had sente so he decided to
play tenuki)
shimari
"closing" (the corner) formation, any 2 moves which effectively

seal the corner, also "enclosure".
shinfuseki "New Opening" a way of playing starting in the 1930's which

does not accept the go-theory of the 19 century as being
without its weak points.
tatami
thick mats of woven rush stuffed with straw, traditional flooring
tenuki
playing else first when judging the current situation does not
require an immediate follow up
warui
bad
Gentle Joseki, part II

by Pieter Mioch
players.
Introduction
Welcome to the second edition of "Gentle Joseki". Thank you very much
for visiting here the first time and coming back for more. Thanks to a
couple of very positive reactions it has become much easier for me to
estimate what most people want to read about, and along what lines I
should be thinking doing this. By all means, do continue sending me
feedback! I'll try to incorporate all your questions in the next "Gentle
Joseki".
Previous episode of Gentle Joseki

For everybody who has not read the first edition here's what you missed
in a nutshell. The nowadays extremely popular opening move at the 4-4
point (hoshi) was this century first used by Go Seigen and Kitani Minoru.
Of course, the play at hoshi had been around for hundreds of years, if not
longer, but these founding fathers of the so-called Shinfuseki made it into
a standard opening move. Go Seigen's idea was to stress a rapid
development of ones stones whereas Kitani was less concerned with speed
but thought that paying more importance to the center than usual at that
time (1930's~) was the key to a sure win.
However, a play at hoshi does not guarantee any territory in the corner!
If your opponent feels like playing under the hoshi stone at the 3-3 point
there's nothing much you can do to stop him. Memorizing three standard
patterns in case of an invasion at 3-3 is therefore not a bad idea. Once
your opponent has successfully invaded you automatically will get a thick
group facing the side and the center. However, to regard such a formation
as being territory is often not correct.
In many cases the proper usage of thickness is trying to avoid turning it
into profit right away! I used about 20 diagrams to illustrate and help
explaining this. The target level was about 3-5 kyu but judging from the
email I got players from anywhere between 20 kyu and dan level enjoyed
reading it.
Start of the 2nd edition of Gentle Joseki

This time I again decided to visit the Ki-In in Nagoya to see if I could find
my inspiration for the first episode, Mr. Ikezaki, 4 dan pro. As it turned
out he was too busy teaching to satisfy my thirst for professional insights.
It was a Wednesday so the professionals up to 5 dan were playing their

weekly games. Among them also was Kobayashi Izumi, daughter of the
world famous top pro Kobayashi Koichi. Her game didn't finish until late so
unfortunately I couldn't ask her about my quest for information (not
readily found in Joseki dictionaries) about the 4-4 move. Luckily my pool
buddy, Nakane Naoyuki, young 7 dan was available and willing to help me
a hand. Me: "This time I want to try to help people make up their mind
how to answer a kakari like white 1 in dia 1."Nakane: "Is that all?"
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.
Diagram 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.)
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
Diagram 3
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 3.1
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 4
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 4.1
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.
To summarize the diagrams 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

Diagram 5
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 6
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 6.1
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 6.2
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 6.3
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 6.4
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 6.5
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 6.6
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 6.7
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 6.8
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.
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.
Diagram 10
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 11
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 12
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 13
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 14
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.
Fourth and last rule: do not play a pincer where your opponent is
strong
Diagram 15
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 16
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 17
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.
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
Appendix 02
NAMES
Go Seigen (1914-) Japanese reading of his Chinese name Wu Qing-yuan.
attend study sessions at Go's house in Tokyo. Korean hopes
are high that 25-year-old Lee Changho will turn out to be the
Go Seigen of the 21st century. For more about Go Seigen
read Mindzine.
Kitani

Seigen the founder of the "Shinfuseki". For more about Kitani
read Mindzine.
Kobayashi Family name, Kobayashi Izumi (1977~ ) Professional 4 dan,

she is one of the stronger female players in Japan. She is also
the grand-daughter of Kitani.
Miyagawa Family name, Miyagawa Fumihiko (1972~ ) Professional 6 dan,
very fond of Mah-Yong
Nakane
Family name, Nakane Naoyuki (1972~ ) Professional 7 dan and

an excellent 9-ball pool player
Shusaku
Adopted name, Honinbo Shusaku (1829-1862) Go genius of

the 19th century
Yamashiro Family name, Yamashiro Hiroshi (1958~ ) Professional 9 dan,

for a long time the star player of central Japan. A record 11
times holder of the Okan title and several times challenger for
the big titles. After his clashes with Takemiya for the Honinbo
title he seems to have changed a little. He is still a strong 9
dan but he seems not as ambitious and full of energy as
before.
TERMS
atari
boshi
literally "hat", cap play to prevent your opponent from

jumping towards the center
dan
fuseki
opening
hoshi
called "Tengen" (=center/origin of heaven). Hoshi is often
used when talking about an opening move on the 4-4 point.
ikken-tobi jump (straight) of one space between also; one-space jump

joseki

kakari
keima
jump of one space between and one diagonal, also; (small)

knight's move
keimakakari
approach move to the corner at the distance of one space

between and one diagonal
ki-in
officially: Nihon Ki-In, Japanese go association located in

Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka
komi

kosumitsuke
a move combining a kosumi (=diagonal move) and a tsuke

(clamp move)
kyu
moyo
large framework often forcing the opponent to (try to) reduce

it drastically in order to stay in the game
oogeima
jump of two spaces between and one diagonal, also; large

knight's move
Oteai
year around tournament only accessible for Nihon Ki-In

professionals, only by playing well in the Oteai can a
promotion be earned also; pro ranking/ grading tournament
sagari
literally "descending (move)" stretching towards the side of

the board from the second, third or fourth line
san-rensei
sente

play tenuki)
shimari
"closing" (the corner) formation, any 2 moves which

effectively seal the corner, also "enclosure".

Gentle Joseki, part III

by Pieter Mioch
players.
Introduction
Thank you, thank you and thank you! Welcome to a brand new episode of
Gentle Joseki!
Why do I feel like a game-show host here? Well, in a way it's all the same,
I guess. Go is a form of art and a game of the mind. And although it
sometimes doesn't seem that way, go and game shows alike, in the end
it's all about entertainment and having a good time.
Maybe it is because the number of people bother to work their way
through Gentle Joseki is increasing. More likely it is just because I
repeatedly keep begging people to send me mail but the amount of
reactions has steadily been increasing since I started to do this, 3 months
ago. Thank you! Mostly the mail I get goes like this:
"Nice job, Pieter! By the way, when white plays on top of a black diagonal
clamp play is it better to do A or B, and can you further tell me why white
doesn't play C?"
I'm not lying when I say that I'd love to get on a plane, pay you a visit
and tell you all I know about this fascinating game (while doing some
sightseeing at the side, of course) but it's not going to happen. Answering
all your questions in a way they deserve is in other words impossible. The
only thing I can try to do to satisfy the reader, you, is what I am doing
here, dressing up in a sandwich board, point in the right direction and
provide a bad copy of a flimsy map.
To give an example of one such a pointer, the same one I keep repeating
from the start of Gentle Joseki 1 by the way, is:
"There is one major drawback to the hoshi play: on its own it barely
makes any territory at all!"
What I am trying to get through here is that if you want territory in the
corner fine, a perfectly common and correct way of thinking but
*** Do not treat a stone on hoshi as if it where on the 3-3 point! ***
The only way to make real territory is to place your stones on the third
line, preferably on the 3-3 point in the corner. Even if you play on komoku
(4-3) it is unlikely you'll get a lot of profit here as long as you do not play
a follow up enclosing move at the 5-3 point. Without using a bunch of
diagrams to show you I'd like you to try the taste of this concept:
By placing a stone on the 4th row you announce that you'd love your
opponent to play under your stones because then you can keep him low
and prevent your opponent's territory from expanding in an uncontrollable

fashion. If your opponent doesn't feel like playing under your stones, or if
he doesn't feel like playing anywhere near to your stones, well then you
might consider adding a stone or two and start claiming some real
territory.
I could easily write a book about the contents of this paragraph alone but
in such a book I'll basically repeat this idea over again, using game
examples, diagrams and lots of flowery speech. Books are great, of
course, but if you can get somewhere yourself, without their help, you'll
be able to find your way there for the rest of your life. I hope you can use
Gentle Joseki in this way, a means to stimulate the gray mass into getting
some sense of direction.
Insei Training
I left a couple of loose ends in Gentle Joseki II and I promise to at least
partially go over these this time. Before starting to throw diagrams at you
(my favorite past time), however, I'd like to tell you about my Insei
(=intern) days. There are lots of insei in Japan, people connected to
universities. To be an insei at the Nihon Ki-In (Japanese Go Association),
however is something quite different altogether.
The people of the Ki-in in Nagoya were surprised when they saw me at
their doorstep back in '88, asking if they would allow me to try to become
a go pro. Next, however, it was their turn to surprise me by quietly
accepting me as a go student and allowing me to compete in the Insei
league. Winning this league is the only way of becoming a pro (Well, there
is a national qualifying tournament too, but winning this is next to
impossible.). This way one contestant per district (Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka)
gets selected every season to join the ranks of "those-who-have-someclue-as-what-the-game-is-all-about", the "kishi" or go professionals.
Not knowing too much about Japan when I arrived here and knowing even
less about Insei life I had imagined a Spartan like training facility where
guys in kimono and wooden clubs mercilessly were beating bad habits out
of promising young go players. A daily strict training schedule and
hundreds of joseki to be mastered in a fortnight. Severe penalties for
those who made the same mistake twice and fierce competition to be
dealt with in any which way...?
That was what I expected, and that was what I kind of was looking
forward to. Well, as usual when imagining things without enough
information, the real thing was nothing like that, not even close. Living in
with a professional, like students at a go-dojo (old-style training school)
might be a bit closer to my runaway imagination. As it turned out, the
only special "Insei" thing is the league every Saturday and Sunday, played
during the whole season to determine the next professional. Otherwise the
insei are just a bunch of school going kids, brads if you like, who are left
on their own. This was my greatest shock after coming to Japan, the
realization that
*** There is no recipe for making professionals ***
What I was talking about earlier on, getting some sense of direction, well
as an insei you better be able to find your way yourself, and improve fast
otherwise you can forget about joining the pro ranks. One thing all the
insei had in common though is that they wanted to win badly and that
they spend the better half of every day doing something with go. If you
want to know the secret about what makes pros here it is:
*** Be eager to win every game and do "something" with go every day
***
Now, you never would have thought of that before, would you?
The patterns
Diagram 1
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 2
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 3
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 4
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.
Tenuki or not Tenuki, loose end No. 1

Diagram 5
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."
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.
Diagram 6
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 6a
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 7
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
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.
Diagram 8
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 9
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.
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.
Diagram 10
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...
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.
Title holder
Challenger
19th Female Honinbo title match, game 5

White: Chinen Kaori, title holder, 3 dan
Black: Inori Yoko, challenger, 5 dan
Date: November 22 2000

Moves: 1-27
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-flatteningmove 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)
Diagram 12
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 13
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 14
to memorize.
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
Diagram 15
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 16
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.
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.
Diagram 17
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 18
Dias 18 and 19 show moves, which are in a way
similar to 1 in dia 12.
Diagram 19
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 20
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 21
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.
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
Appendix 02
NAMES
Inori
Family name, Inori Yoko (1974~) Professional 5 dan, women

Honinbo title holder 2000
Chinen Family name, Chinen Kaori (1974~) Three times Women's Honinbo
title holder, Professional 3 dan
TERMS
atari
boshi
literally "hat", cap play to prevent your opponent from
jumping towards the center

dan
fuseki
opening
hoshi
called "Tengen" (=center/origin of heaven). Hoshi is often
used when talking about an opening move on the 4-4 point.
ikken-tobi jump (straight) of one space between also; one-space jump

joseki

kakari
keima
jump of one space between and one diagonal, also; (small)

knight's move
keimakakari
approach move to the corner at the distance of one space

between and one diagonal
ki-in
officially: Nihon Ki-In, Japanese go association located in

Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka
komi

kosumitsuke
a move combining a kosumi (=diagonal move) and a tsuke

(clamp move)
kyu
moyo
large framework often forcing the opponent to (try to) reduce

it drastically in order to stay in the game
oogeima
jump of two spaces between and one diagonal, also; large

knight's move
Oteai
year around tournament only accessible for Nihon Ki-In

professionals, only by playing well in the Oteai can a
promotion be earned also; pro ranking/ grading tournament
sagari
literally "descending (move)" stretching towards the side of

the board from the second, third or fourth line
san-rensei
sente

play tenuki)
shimari
"closing" (the corner) formation, any 2 moves which

effectively seal the corner, also "enclosure".

Gentle Joseki, part IV

by Pieter Mioch
players.
Introduction
Well, here we are, the year 2001. I wish you all good health and hope you
won't forget how important friends are, so don't go spending all your time
behind a go board talking to nobody.
By the way, the index page of Gentle Joseki has been dramatically
changed, if you haven't seen it already go ahead and have a look.
I'm afraid that this episode of Gentle Joseki is going to be a bit shorter
compared to the previous ones. You'll surely understand that I cannot
ignore my family all the time and that I have to get from behind my PC to
join the festivities. However, before carrying on with the usual diagrams
and semi-complete explanations I'd like to use this opportunity to tell you
my idea of the do's and dont's for the 21st century. This is, after all, my
only chance to do so. So,
Make it your goal to every year explain the rules of the game of go
to at least 1 person.
Try to care, be it about moves on a go board or daily life.
Keep sending me your reactions.
I'm positive that the quality if your life will improve when following the
above suggestions. Maybe you won't feel so immediately but I'm sure that
in that case people around you will benefit which in the end will certainly
reflect on yourself.
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
Diagram 1
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.)
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.
Diagram 2
Diagram 2a
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
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

Diagram 4
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.
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
Diagram4a
fighting spirit, docile answered at 3. Although black 3 is of course not

completely wasted it is a bit of slack move.
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
Diagram 6
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.
Greedy?
Diagram 7
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?
Diagram 9
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
Diagram 11 & 11a
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.
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
Appendix 02
NAMES
Go Seigen

attend study sessions at Go's house in Tokyo. For more about
Go Seigen read Mindzine.
makes people address him as "Mr. Go", or "Go Sensei" (lit.
"Go Master") in Japanese.
Liu
Family name, Liu Xiaoguang (1960-) Chinese top 9 dan, Beijin
Ma
Family name, Ma Xiaochun (1964-) Chinese top 9 dan for a

long time top rooky, Beijin
Okubo
Family name, Okubo Ichigen (1929- ) Now a veteran 9 dan of

the nihon ki-in of Tokyo. In 1956 he was a up-and-coming
talent. I actually played a few 3 stone games with him at an
Insei study trip, just after I had arrived in Japan. Okubo is a
very relaxed teacher and extremely kind. After I hadn't seen
him for a while I met him again some time ago. When asked I
had to admit that I had quit trying to be a go pro. His
reaction: "That was the best thing for you to do. The life of a
go pro is by no means something to look forward to. I'm sure
that the ideal way of doing something with go is strictly as a
hobby"?
Shimamura Family name, Shimamura Toshihiro (1912-1991) Shimamura

was for a couple of decades the pride of the Nagoya branch of
the nihon ki-in. He was one of the very few who could hold his
own against the Tokyo top pros (among which Go Seigen and
the like). He even managed to lay hands on the NHK-Cup
title, the Tengen title and the Oza title. Among his pupils are
Hane 9 dan and Yamashiro 9 dan.
Sonoda
Family name, Sonoda Yuichi (1952-) A colorful 9 dan from the

Kansai ki-In in Osaka. He has a very free spirited style
sometimes resembling Takemiya's "Cosmic Style".
TERMS
aji
atari
dan
fuseki
opening
gote
hoshi
star; any of the 9 dots one the go board, the middle one is called
"Tengen" (=center/origin of heaven). Hoshi is often used when
talking about an opening move on the 4-4 point.
joseki
a sequence of moves (in the corner) giving both players a locally

equal results
kakari
kikashi
a move which is almost impossible to ignore, also "forcing move"
ko
situation which occurs when it is possible to immediately recapture the stone your opponent played in the previous move to
capture 1 of your stones. Since there is no end to this there is
the ko-rule, which prohibits a player to exactly recreate a
komi

komoku the 4-3 point

korigatachi

kyu
miai
of equal value
moyo

ni-rensei
two 4-4 moves one the same side of the board
ponnuki the name of the shape when 4 stones capture one enemy stone
san-ren3 hoshi of the same color at the same side of the board
sei
sente
having the opportunity to play elsewhere first leaving the current

situation. (example: He had sente so he decided to play tenuki)
shimari

shinfuseki
"New Opening" a way of playing starting in the 1930's which

does not accept the go-theory of the 19 century as being without
its weak points.
tatami
tenuki
warui
bad
Gentle Joseki, part V

by Pieter Mioch
players.
Introduction
To be honest, I had this, what I thought excellent intro. Unfortunately,
after reading it over one final time, I found that I it was both, boring and
extremely heavy-handed. So, here I am, with no time and no introduction
left, giving me a perfect excuse to do something totally different, a short
go-story. Or, you just skip it and find out everything there's to know
about the attachment move.
Short story
"Playing go" he said, "Playing go will not lead to anything, it will certainly
not help your studies".
"How's that?" the girl opposite of the bespectacled man asked.
"Playing go is an addiction, the game is a drug, once you have
experienced the touch of the stones, the smell of the wooden board, the
thrill, you'll be hooked to it forever, maybe longer."
"No way! You can't be serious, professor. I know you're taking me for a
ride. Treating me as if I were a freshman who doesn't know how to play,
uh?"
The graying man took of his eyeglasses and allowed himself a smile, only
just from the corners of his mouth. While rubbing the bridge of his nose
he recalled how many times before he had warned youngsters just as the
19-year-old sophomore in front of him now, to no avail. Why would
nobody believe him, why on earth did he even bother trying to warn these
know-it-all kids? While putting back his glasses he bent from the waist
and looked the comfortably seated brunette square in the eyes, "listen,
how long have you been playing? Two, three weeks? Do you think you
mastered the rules up to the point that you're able to get a glimpse of the
infinite possibilities of the game?
"Sure, professor McLaren, no sweat, I still can't see what the fuss is all
about, trying to capture stones of your opponent while not forgetting to
look after your own stones, piece of cake"
"I take it then, that you're familiar with terms as "two eyes, a ko-fight,
seki, and approach move?" the patient professor continued, "You also
know that at the end of the game stones which cannot be saved anymore
may be removed and counted as prisoners? You know that the dame
points have to be filled in because otherwise counting the score might
become confusing? You know all that and the other tens of small details
necessary to master in order to be able to begin to comprehend what the
game is all about?"
"Oh, so now you're trying to impress me with difficult sounding stuff, very
impressive, professor? Oops, I've got to get going if I'm to make it to my
Asian culture class. I still don't understand why you try to keep me from
playing such a innocent game as go, you of all people must know that's an
important part of South East Asian culture. Well, see you next week,
professor, thanks for the tea, ciao"
Professor McLaren was alone again in his messy-in-an-organized-way
office, Caren, as the name of his pupil was, Caren would fall for the
temptations of go, there was no doubt in his mind, he'd seen it happening
over and over again. Ignoring her so far successful study, ignoring her
friends, her social live. Possibly she'd pick up a nasty habit too, smoking
or something, while she'd spent the prime of her live sitting in front of a
piece of wood, contemplating where to next put an oval piece of glass.
Trying to beat the nerdy looking opponent often burdened with jam-jar
like glasses and a bad complexion. McLaren sighed and knew that he had
done what he could to keep the girl away from such a dark future, away
from the game of go. Somehow realizing this made him feel sadder even.
Resigned he slouched in the enormous chair at his desk and spoke the
words to activate the computer at his desk "Hello Dave".
"Good day, professor McLaren, the usual I presume?" spoke the silky
computer voice while a LCD screen was sliding out of the desk top and
erected itself in front of the professor. "Let's see, where was I, oh, yes,
installment 5."
He was glad the university had signed a contract with a local catv
provider, the speed of the connection was way better than at his own
place, which was, to be sure, out in the middle of nowhere. "Ah, here we
are, thank you James". " 'Pleasure, Sir" McLaren's computer replied. "Let's
see what we can pick-up here this time, a junky might as well enjoy
himself" McLaren was muttering to himself while he started to read the
web page on the jumbo-sized screen.
"Playing go" he said, "Playing go will..."
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?
Diagram 13
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.
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
won't miss it.
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
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 allimportant. 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
Appendix 02
NAMES
Go
Seigen

attend study sessions at Go's house in Tokyo. Korean hopes are
high that 25-year-old Lee Changho will turn out to be the Go
Seigen of the 21st century. For more about Go Seigen
read Mindzine.
Kitani

Seigen the founder of the "shin-fuseki". For more about Kitani
read Mindzine.
Yasunaga Family name, Yasunaga Hajime (1901-1994) was editor for the
Nihon Ki-In and pro level amateur Go player
TERMS
aji
atari
dan
fuseki
opening
gote
hoshi
joseki

equal results
kakari
kikashi
ko
komi


korigatachi

kyu
miai
of equal value
moyo

ni-rensei
sei
sente

shimari

shinfuseki

its weak points.
tatami
tenuki
warui
bad
Gentle Joseki, part VI

by Pieter Mioch
players.
Introduction
My illustrious boss Mr. Tsuchida 9p, tired of writing game commentaries
for the local newspaper himself, was looking for a replacement writer.
"Hey Pieter, what about it, uh, I'm sure you can do it, why don't you give
it a try?"
"What, me? But Tsuchida sensei, are you sure you want me to analyze
professional games and explain them in a newspaper column? I mean, I'm
not so sure I am quite the guy you want for that.."
"No, no, no, of course not, Pieter. I wasn't thinking about pro games but
this local newspaper, the Gifu Shimbun, everyday has a short article about
some amateurs' game. They usually show one game a week, about 20
moves per day. It's easy, and anyway, nobody reads it, so who gives a ...
hum, well, whatever. I'm sure you'll do a fine job."
That's Tsuchida all right, his subtle choice of words and razor-sharp
intuition, unfailingly help him to say the most tactful thing anytime.
"Oh, okay, well I'll do my best then."
"That's what I wanted to hear, so here's a try-out game, hand it in to me
by next week and we'll see if it's good enough for the newspaper"
One week later I handed Mr. Tsuchida 6 sheets of paper. I don't know if
he actually went through the commentary himself but a little while later I
was told I got the job. So, here I am doing my first paid Go writing job in,
of all languages, Japanese.
Now I hope the people at the Gifu Shimbun are not gonna sue me but I
thought it a nice idea to translate my very first newspaper article and
show it to you here. Before I forget, Mr. T also gave me this advice:
"Whatever you do, make it readable and make it clear that you are a
foreigner."
You can judge for yourself if I succeeded in doing so, the translation is
very close to the Japanese original.
A Newspaper Column
Gifu Shimbun 2001 (English translation by the author)
Even today there are still people in
Holland who are proud of their
ancestors who enrolled in the army of
the Roman Empire centuries ago to
fight in the front lines with great
courage. Maybe this explains why,
when looking at a game of go between
two Dutchmen, you can't help but feel
that any excuse is good just as long as
it leads to fierce fighting.
In contrast, when I look at the games

which are played in Japan it makes me
think of this beautiful word:
"harmony". This week's game is no
exception: both players obviously pay
great importance to a well-balanced
way of playing. Played in January
between two Japanese amateurs, about
1 dan (igs 3k*) in strength.
Diagram I (1-20): In case of

the 3 space extension (black
5-7) usually black is reluctant
to play at 9 (see dia II).
Instead of 11 black would
like to hurry to play in the
lower right corner first, at the
triangle marked spot.
White 12 is of course a
possible way of playing, the
thee-space
extension,
however, is often a little
weak and sooner or later
needs reinforcing. Instead of
12 in dia I, I prefer the twospace jump of white 1 in dia
III.
Diagram II: When black plays at 1 and white

answers calmly at 2 white has the sharp invasion
move of A to aim at. This is why after white 2
black has to reinforce, for example at 3. Next
white extends as far as 4, making perfect shape.
On the other hand, black's shape is not optimal,
black would like his marked stone to be a little
farther, for example at B.
Diagram III: Now, if

not feel the need to
strengthening his stones
(tenuki), thus gaining a
black answers at 2, white does

spend
another
move
but he will play elsewhere
move.
<*apologies for any
historical inaccuracies, PM*>
The main reason why I like working for Mr. Tsuchida at his Go club in Gifu
is not that I can help him beating up friendly off-guard senior citizens. No,
this is not the reason. Besides, it is often the senior citizens who are doing
the beating up part, ganging up and jumping me three at once.
Every Tuesday I fold myself in my Subaru mini-car and brave the heavy
morning traffic for about one hour. I love going over to Gifu and do not
mind the distance much because in the same building where I am
teaching, a group of pros have their weekly study sessions. So while my
students are demolishing me at a mere two flights distance top level realtime go research is happening.
Among these pro's are some of my old insei (aspirant pro) buddies so
although pro-only study groups are usually off bounds for amateurs I
sneak in whenever my students let go of me and enjoy the extremely
thorough analyses the pro's are non-stop busy with.
Unfortunately, with these kinds of study groups not everybody has his say
or freely asks questions. When I spoke with the Romanian pro, 4th dan
Catalin, about this he made it clear that he particularly resents this
custom. His opinion is that anybody, regardless of rank, should be able to
openly talk about the analyses and ask questions. It is also true, however,
that Japanese pro's are much more open towards foreigners then they are
towards their fellow country men and do not mind much when asked
(silly) questions. If you ever have the chance to corner a pro at a Go
event you will see for yourself that you can get the professional to tell and
explain more than you perhaps wished for.
Anyway, ever since the first day I arrived in this country I kind of tried to
do what the Romans expect you to do when you visit their country's
capitol, i.e. not barf in the fountains and only drink more than is good for
you if you have arranged for someone to carry you home afterwards.
Not talking and just sitting beside the Go board and watching the leading
pro express his thoughts, using stones and only a few words, however are
quite nice. It took me a while but now that I'm used to it I often find that
questions which popped up in my head somewhere down the line get
answered before your eyes or turn out to be meaningless. The leading pro
was the insei trainer Ogata 9 dan but two weeks ago Yamashiro 9 dan
unexpectedly showed up for the first time. Some eight years ago
Yamashiro was the golden child of Nagoya. He had all the pro's in Tokyo
and Osaka shivering in fear, sort of. Well, this is, of course, exaggerating
things a little. Fact is, though, that he has held the Central Japan Okan
title for a record eleven times and that he did extremely well in a number
of title leagues. Sheer unstoppable he became challenger for the Tengen,
Honinbo and Kisei titles.
It was probably during this last title, the most prestigious one, that
something snapped. In a best of seven match against Kobayashi Koichi he
went all the way and everything came down on the final game, game 7. It
is not often during a pro's career that he's able to make over $300,000
winning a single game, but that's the way it was for the Kisei Kobayashi
Koichi and the challenger Yamashiro Hiroshi during the decisive game of
the 1992 Kisei title match. In spite of excellent play and favorable
predictions Yamashiro lost this game by half a point. Until the day of
today it seems as if he never regained his full strength. Although, to be
sure, he certainly is not just another 9 dan. It would be great if his
showing up at the study group in Gifu indicates a comeback of the once
formidable player.
For the moment, however, Yamashiro is content to watch the other pro(s)
analyze, he lets Ogata do the talking, and he rarely speaks.
Seriously thinking about doing one or more go books (probably until the
day I die) I half earnestly ask Ogata: "Ogata sensei, I'd like to do a go
book someday, but I need a pro to check everything on accuracy and I
also think that the name on the cover of a 9 dan professional will help to
boost the sales."
Ogata: "Umpf, a go book you say, uh. Nowadays everybody is writing
books, even this Yamashita person has published a book"
Me: "But would you be interested in co-operating, I can't do it alone, I'm
just not strong enough." (this works 99% of the time, no kidding)
Ogata: "Well, who knows, it might be time for me to set something on
paper."
That is about as far Ogata would go and as I have as yet no concrete idea
of what kind of book to do I left it at that.
Enough about me, pro study groups or writing books, it's time for this
episode's josekies. Before I continue remember: Memorizing a joseki is
the easy part. Given enough time anybody can do that. To get "the feel"
of what direction you should be playing in, to sometimes correctly judge
that you should abort a joseki right in the middle because playing
elsewhere first (tenuki) is more important than a locally equal result, to
acquire such judgment skill, that is the really, really hard part.
When writing this last sentence I honestly still had no idea what to show
you this time. But it now is crystal clear, I'll take you on a joseki /
direction of play crash-course!
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-andtumble 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 54 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 selfsufficient, you do not need to
hurry and play an extra
move. (In contrast, al the asymmetrical moves 3-4; 3-5; and 4-5 are
best completed with a second, shimarimaking 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-clicklink 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
Appendix 02
NAMES
Nakazawa Family name, Nakazawa Ayako (1971-)Tokyo 4 dan.
Nishida
Family name, Nishida Terumi (1970-) Tokyo 5 dan.
Ogata
Family name, Ogata Masaki (1964-) Central Japan 9 dan, insei

coach
Qian
Family name, Qian Yuping (1966-) Chinese top 9 dan.
Yamashiro Family name, Yamashiro Hiroshi (1958-) Central Japan, 9 dan.

TERMS
aji
atari
dan
fuseki
opening
gote
hamete
trick move; move which, if answered properly, gives an inferior

result
hoshi
called "Tengen" (=center/origin of heaven). Hoshi is often used
when talking about an opening move on the 4-4 point.
joseki

equal results
kakari
kikashi
a move which is almost impossible to ignore, also "forcing

move"
ko
komi

ko-moku the 4-3 point

korigatachi

kyu
miai
of equal value
mokuhazushi
the 5-3 point
moyo

ni-rensei
ponnuki
the name of the shape when 4 stones capture one enemy stone
san-san
the 3-3 point, the only opening move which gives you 100%
sure territory
sei
sente

current situation. (example: He had sente so he decided to play
tenuki)
shimari

shinfuseki

tatami
takamoku
the 5-4 point
tenuki
warui
bad
Gentle Joseki, part VII

by Pieter Mioch
players.
Introduction
Hello, it's good to see you here again, how's life? I'm afraid that this is
going to be the shortest introduction so far. We've been busy transferring
the jungle outside our window in to a herb-and-vegetable garden and I
have to post this now if I'm to make it inside March. So, for this time
you'll have to make due with just the straight stuff. Here goes!
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
Diagram 10
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.
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 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

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 highleveled 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 komoku (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
Appendix 02
Some Japanese words and their English equivalents:
TERMS
aji
atari
dan
fuseki
opening
gote
hoshi
joseki

equal results
kakari
kikashi
ko
komi


korigatachi

kyu
miai
of equal value
moyo

ni-ren-
sei
sei
sente

shimari

shinfuseki

its weak points.
tatami
tenuki
warui
bad
Gentle Joseki, part VIII

by Pieter Mioch
players.
Introduction
Hi there, it's very nice of you to keep taking the trouble to open Gentle
Joseki, thank you all. I am getting the feeling, though, that I am starting
to repeat myself and that is not a good sign. I therefor decided to
continue for another 3 episodes (this one included) after which I'll start
something new. I'd be thankful if you can send me some suggestions of
what to do next. Please do not forget that I am not an expert at this
game, I'm not a professional, heck I ain't even on any dan-list anymore,
sigh. Since I hate false modesty, however, I'll do some bragging too, just
to make up for the last couple of lines. For two consecutive years my
partner and I have managed to place third in the Central Japan amateur
pair-go tournament. This in spite of the fact that, Hiroko, who is an exinsei too, and I never play each other and only meet for the occasion.
Well, enough of that. And now for something different. Probably the best
known 8 dan pro from Nagoya is Masataka Saijo Sensei. He is the one
who recognized Catalin Taranu's talent first and later became his mentor.
Long before scouting Catalin from Rumania, now 4 dan pro, Mr. Saijo was
well known already thanks to his love for the game and his active
promoting go at international events all over the world. He is a very
friendly person who loves explaining the game to amateurs of any rank.
The first Saturday of April I was invited to come over and help out at
"Amusement Natsume". This was until a couple of years back a real
"karaoke snack" with girls of several nationalities singing until early in the
morning and dancing on the tables. Quite a few professionals came here
to let of steam and enjoy a glass water and whiskey. Some three years
back, however, Mr. Natsume had enough of the dancing girls and decided
to make his go-hobby his job. He always had a few go boards stashed
away under the counter but now go has become the main thing at his
place. I guess his bar must be unique in one or more ways when realizing
that you can drink liquor, play go and sing karaoke all at the same time. I
have no idea how Mr. Natsume does it but somehow he seems to be able
to make a living like this and his long time customers, go pro's from all
over Japan, keep coming to relax and sometimes play a teaching game or
two with well-to-do amateurs, doctors, lawyers, you know what I'm
talking about.
Since April a go club especially for foreigners has started at Natsume's
and every Saturday from two o'clock the teaching staff, two Chinese guys
graduated from the Beijing University, a Korean girl who started out as a
hostess/waitress at Natsume but now runs her own bar, me and a couple
of middle aged Japanese ladies gather to play with people who show up.
The first Saturday a couple of pros came to have a look too and it goes
without saying that Mr. Saijo was amongst them. My old insei buddy
Miyagawa 6 dan and Mr. Ito, 9 dan showed up escorting him. Because
there was some time to kill I showed them "Gentle Joseki". Mr. Natsume
has installed a desktop computer on his counter with a huge monitor
facing the bar chairs. "And this is my column about joseki."
"I see you call it gentle joseki, Pieter, doesn't that sound a little girlish?"
That was Mr. Saijo whose English is pretty good for a Japanese Go pro.
"Yeah, 'guess so, but calling it "Easy Joseki" didn't sound so good, I
thought". " Oh, I see, and what do you usually write about?" "Well, I try
to keep things simple but not boring, Saijo Sensei, last episode, for
example was about the 5-5 move. Here it is, what do you think about it?"
Well, I shouldn't have asked that question because the three pro's kept
grilling me for the next half hour and I felt like being tortured by a threeheaded 23 pro-dan monster. Although they were not at all satisfied with
my answers, they seemed to like it. After having talked about gentle and
not at all gentle joseki for what seemed hours (to me at least) finally the
first two beginners showed up. I had prepared an easy introduction in
English about the game. Just when I was about to start telling the two
new comers the fundamentals of go, however, Mr. Saijo tapped me on my
shoulder: "You can take over later but would you mind if I'd teach them
first?" Saijo had noticeably changed at the sight of the two foreigners and
with his glass in one hand and a cigarette in the other he started an
explanation which was at the same time entertaining and comprehensible.
After this he didn't let go of the beginners anymore and Ito 9 dan,
Miyagawa and me sat at the counter playing a couple of games on IGS.
We used my 3d* account for this and I tried approaching 4d* and 5d*
people.
In the end Ito Sensei had to play another 3d* who thought his opponent
was just an amateur. Maybe it was because it was Ito's first game on a
computer or maybe he had had one watery whiskey too much already
because at move 70 a group of him got killed and it seemed that the
game was over.
What happened next, however, was very impressive. Keeping his cool and
playing sharp but not unreasonable moves Ito managed to win the game
by a small margin. Although his opponent was by no means a walkover Ito
just knew better what the biggest points were on the board. It was rather
uncanny to see something like this to happen "live" and in front of you,
white turned around a seemingly lost game although black did not do
anything strange. Better positional judgment and a perfect live-and-death
knowledge allowing Ito to leave his stones although the lesser player
might have played a reinforcement, these were the key to Ito's win.
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 komoku 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 e 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 5hour 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
Appendix 02
TERMS
aji
atari
dan
fuseki
opening
gote
hoshi
joseki

equal results
kakari
kikashi
ko
komi


korigatachi

kyu
miai
of equal value
moyo

ni-rensei
sei
sente

shimari

shinfuseki

its weak points.
tatami
tenuki
warui
bad
Gentle Joseki, part IX

by Pieter Mioch
players.
Introduction
By now everybody is aware that people in Japan do not longer wear
Kimono's for everyday life and that the times of men in skirts with hair
tied up in a bun and with long pieces of menacing looking steel at their
sides is in the far past. Nostalgic emotions and a hunger for the "good old
times", however, have kept the population interested in traditional stuff
like the tea ceremony, sumo and yes, go for the last half of the 20th
century.
Now that the Japanese economy is only moving at a snails pace, if it is
moving at all, corporate sponsors, on which many of these traditional
sports depend, are tightening their belts and starting to pinch pennies. As
the larger part of the public does not seem to care about tradition so
much anymore less and less money is available for "antique" events and
combined with internal trouble this puts the Japanese go association (the
nihon ki-in) in an extremely difficult situation. The newspapers are not as
generous with funds as they once were although they still do guarantee
enormous sums of cash for prize money in the pro tournaments
As a first step to not "go under" the wages of professional salaries have
been cut up to 15% depending on the tournament. As far I know since the
Second World War this has not happened. At the same time that the pay
for participating in the tournaments is going down the going rate for go
classes is getting cheaper, too. As yet most pros are grumbling but not
really complaining and there does not seem to be anybody considering
giving up go and trying another profession. It feels possible, however, to
predict that in the next 10 years at least some pros will have to reconsider
their jobs and might have to start something on the side.
To make things even worse, despite the unexpected successes of the go
comic "Hikaru no Go" in Japan the number of people who play go say once
a week seems to be decreasing. The game of go is such an integral part of
the Japanese society that you do not need to worry about go vanishing
altogether or something. All the same, many young people (under 40) feel
that Go is something you pick up after retirement as a preventive
measure against Alzheimer's disease. But then again, there are also
plenty of people who start playing mah-jongg for the same reason.
To be honest, the number of participants
throughout the country has been increasing
think this means that lots of young people at
a mistake. Recently throngs of youngsters do
in youth tournaments held

the last couple of years. To
school are playing go now is
realize for the first time that
there is a game called go and that it even might be cool. Unfortunately for
99% of the parents behind possible go protg's goes that education is
the top priority in life. Video games are allowed as a necessary evil, to
help children to relax and let off steam but only few parents will
encourage their brats to put time in go. This is an extremely unfortunate
situation as everything necessary to raise a new generation of world-top
pros is still there. The know-how, the equipment and high level of pros
and amateurs ready to take talent under their wings, however this all
mean nothing without the support of the parents. If the Japanese society
does not make a 180 degree turn fast and start paying attention to
matters besides good grades and video games the level of go in the next
50 years will not be up to meet the world.
What does all this have to do with me? Well, everything, actually. My
senior citizen's class I get paid for is going steady, everybody's happy and
the number of participants does not change much. At other days, when
I'm not teaching, the number of people attending has been going down
and as a result my boss, Tsuchida 9p, is desperately looking for new
students. So, at every go event in Gifu prefecture you can find me now,
that 6'6" pink elephant standing there on the stage in front of a group of
Japanese spectators telling them why they really *must* come over, join
and start playing go at Tsuchida's club.
To end this depressing story with some good news, my elementary school
go classes are doing fine and I even got a couple of mothers playing now,
just to make sure that go doesn't stop the moment school's out and that
interested children have enough chance to play at home too.
P.S. It goes without saying that I'm trying to turn the situation in Japan
around and "father" the next generation go fanatics. As Yuki Shigeno
confessed when I spoke her a couple of years ago: "What I'm trying to do
is to help spreading the game of go all through Europe and make it so
popular that people in Japan will become interested in playing again.
Japanese people love everything foreign so I guess that what I'm saying is
that I'm trying to save go in Japan by importing it back..."
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 stonestrings 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
Black: Cheng Zengyu
White: Wang Yuan
(+resign)
Played April 1986
Dia 9. I'm glad I could
find some game from
after WW2 were the twospace
low
pincer
is
played. From my search
results I can say without
a doubt that 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

Black: Kato Masa
White: Otake Hideo
(+resign)
Played July 1978, 2nd
round Gosei title
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
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 ad
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
Appendix 02
TERMS
aji
atari
dan
fuseki
opening
gote
hoshi
joseki

equal results
kakari
kikashi
ko
komi


korigatachi

kyu
miai
of equal value
moyo

ni-rensei
sei
sente

shimari

shinfuseki

its weak points.
tatami
tenuki
warui
bad
Gentle Joseki, part X

by Pieter Mioch
players.
Introduction
Thank you for showing up so many times and sending me a lot of kind and
encouraging reactions. Gentle Joseki 10 is going to be the last episode in
this series. I will continue next month with a new series. I hope to see you
again, and your partner, your dog and your goldfish, not to speak of your
mother in law.
For now let's first play another amazingly interesting game, truth or dare.
"You start" you say? Well, okay I suppose I could do that. "Truth". You
want me to tell you the naked truth about go? Er.., assuming that I would
have an answer, which part of it did you have in mind and in how many
details?
Okay, let's do this, I'll answer three of your questions if you promise to
not chicken out if I dare you next, deal?
1. Why should we believe one word of what you write about go, are
you any good anyway?
Now, that's an easy question, two easy questions actually but all
right. I sincerely think that trying to find flaws in what I write will
help you much more than to just take it for granted. And, no, I'm
not any good anyway. I didn't know much about the game before
coming to Japan. Playing without thinking too much was my
specialty, fast games and stuff like that. And, I didn't learn much
while being an insei.
But wait, there is one thing which I picked up in Japan and made my
coming here on an Aeroflot airplane with very cute flight attendants,
most of whom were male and had thick grizzly forearms not to
speak of bad breath and ditto temper, worthwhile.
Being as unreasonable cocksure as any spoiled youngster I thought
I knew it all and had seen it all and that becoming a professional go
player would only be a matter of time. Well, it took me long enough
but I finally got it that I was totally wrong. While playing in Europe I
often answered go questions from weaker players with confidence
and a complete believe in my own abilities. After being crushed off
the board for three years in a row I realized (finally, sigh, am I
thick-headed or am I thick-headed) that my former confidence was
not based on concrete knowledge and talent but just my positive
win/lose score (until I started playing with pros, that is).
What I learned was that for every answer I had ever given to
queries of other players I had at best given an incomplete answer,
conveniently leaving out all the "buts" because those would lead to
hard to explain and tricky variations, which I felt were there but
didn't understand myself.
At worst my answers were just plain wrong, for example showing a
variation which heavily depended on poor counter play by the
opponent. I learned that giving a complete answer to even the
easiest one of questions requires a very profound understanding of
the game. There are only very few players among the European top
who have such highly developed skills. All the others are just
masters at another necessary ingredient for becoming a dan player;
a rock-steady confidence in one's own abilities, more often than not
based on hot air and an abundance of chest hair. One former
European Fujitsu cup representative seems to have built his entire
go-career, if not his complete life, on this (confidence, not chest
hair, that is). Every now and then he beats a pro on even. I guess
making confidence your field of expertise is well worth considering.
2. How do I get stronger without really trying all that hard?
Ah, that's an honest question which I would have answered honestly
even if I were not under oath. You cannot get much stronger
without putting a lot of effort into it. It is, of course, possible to not
feel as if you're trying very hard but that's not the same thing as
doing nothing, right?
Getting stronger at go is as riding your bicycle up a slope which gets
steeper the farther you get. In other words, you need to go for it in
the beginning if you want to get anywhere later on. If you don't
gather momentum in your first year or two I think it will become
harder and harder to improve as time goes by. To put it in bicycleslope terms: without momentum you cannot really expect to get a
lot of back wind on your way up.
Many, if not all, players who made it all the way to the amateur 5-6
dan level had at one moment or another a "growing spurt". This
phenomenon is extremely enjoyable for the person who's
experiencing one. It is as if your grade, which was not changing all
that much suddenly, does not mean anything anymore. For example
during such a grow spurt you still cannot win against your old buddy
"A" who gives you 6 stones but player "B", who is at least as strong
as your friend "A" cannot beat you on even anymore. A little while
after that you'll be giving friend "A" 3 stones without ever having
brought the six-stone handicap down stone by stone first. In a
month' time I've seen it happen that people got stronger anything
from 2 to 6 stones. The very first year of your go career especially
seems to be the time to have such a rush. Not to say that you
cannot expect one if you are already playing go for over 5 years but
it will be more difficult and won't come "naturally". This is what I

mean by "effort". In order to "ride the wave" you'll have to drown
yourself in go, play tournaments, do problems etcetera. The most
important thing is that you have to get so far as that the last thing
you think of before turning out the lights is go and the first thing
which comes to mind the next morning is go too, not school, not
your job or your family. This and a cheeky attitude which enables
you to be completely unimpressed by the moves of supposedly
much stronger players will usually do the trick. Don't forget your
health though as the above approach easily might make you feel
dizzy and sick. Nothing long walks on the beach or in the forest
can't cure.
Doing anything with go is good but I have to warn against using
English written books (other than game or problem collections, and,
sometimes, joseki dictionaries). As an adult you'll try to completely
digest the contents of any given book before you get the feeling you
can move on. If you're a genius, fine, perfect, excellent remind me
to ask for your autograph the next time we meet. If your just an
ordinary person like 99% of us hairless apes than you will create an
excellent opportunity to get stuck on some ill digested extremely
important theme without realizing it. The niceness of most books is
exactly what's wrong with them. And I feel that books which sell
well are enjoyable reads and are so well written that anybody who
reads them imagines himself at least 3 stones stronger, which is
more often than not an illusion.
A book gives you the feeling that you understand more, the feeling
that you really got stronger. I honestly believe, however, that there
is a tremendous gap between what you actually need to know in
order to improve and the ability of written speech to transfer this
information. Whether this is because the ineptness of language itself
or the low level of understanding of even top players I am still busy
figuring out for myself.
To take this one step further - (this paragraph is killing me, I keep
adding to it every time I try to check it) - I vaguely got the feeling
that for many beginning and intermediate players rationalizing
moves too much and trying to put thoughts into words is not such a
hot idea. The "yes, but what if" attitude will often bring answers
which are way too complicated and more often than not inaccurate.
The question itself is, of course, necessary. To voice it, however, will
rob you of the opportunity to figure things out on your own. The
realization that trying to get "it" without help is more beneficial to a
player than trying to voice ill formulated questions is in my eyes a
gigantic step in the right direction.
Clear-cut capturing sequences, live and death problems, that kind of
stuff is a field that has a watertight solution and therefor can be
treated with more liberty as not to see that here you *need* to be
as rational as you can. But once you leave the field of straight
tactics it is once again the best thing you can do to keep an open
mind, at all times.
(I know that I just keep on writing if I go trough the above again, so
I won't. Hopefully Jan will protect me from bad grammar and
spelling mistakes as well as incomprehensiveness.) - That's the nice
thing of going over pro games: everybody knows that you cannot
expect to understand even half of their moves. So right from the
start you can give up on "I have to understand in order to be able to
move on" idea and you just stare at the board and enjoy the
patterns which sometimes resemble animal shapes and can look
very nice. Besides, all the information you'll ever can expect to find
about the game is all in the top pro games of the last 400 years or
so. It's up to you to distillate this vast source of wisdom and get
something useful out of it. Every professional in the world managed
this in his/her pre-pro days.
3. Last question: "Pieter. Is it true that you love the movie "The sound
of Music" and that you watch it at least once a month?"
Although this is not a go question I will address it anyway.
I was afraid this would happen, somebody got the old rumor out of
the closet and here I am again. I cannot deny it because nobody will
believe me when I do, but I also cannot admit to this acquisition
because
I
would
be
telling
a
lie!
Well, if you're still here I suppose I can tell you what movie I do
like. Restricting myself, for no good reason, to flicks shot in the
nineties my favorite movie by far is "Dead Man" although I saw
"Fight Club" a few times too many, too.
Now it's my turn.
I dare you to play your first two moves of your next ten games on the 5-4
point. No matter if you're black or white, as long as it's not a handicap
game just do it.
Playing two moves on 5-4 will almost surely give your opponent a
comfortable lead in territory. You, on the other hand will have a lot of
stones facing the center which you have to put to good use in fighting or
in moyo making in order to stay in the game.
It is very important to not panic and hurry to do one thing or another.
Keep your cool and try to display healthy doses of confidence. Often your
opponent will feel ill at easy playing against two 5-4 stones. Always a
good idea but especially for less well known opening moves goes: give
your opponent the chance of playing questionable moves. Trying to force
things will usually not do this and you're gonna be the one playing strange
and doubtful moves.
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 nonstandard 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 6 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

Black: Iwata Tatsuaki, 9p
White: Kobayashi Koichi,
9p (+0.5)
of the result as just a minor detail.
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
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
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
Be sure to drop by next month for the first episode of a new series of
articles by Pieter Mioch.
Cheers!
Natsume's Go Club for foreigners in Nagoya

The high school student looking guy with the glasses who sits next to me
(I'm the yellow shirt) is Fumihiko Miyagawa 6p, we studied together
Appendix 01
Appendix 02
TERMS
aji
atari
dan
fuseki
opening
gote
hoshi
joseki

equal results
kakari
kikashi
ko
komi


korigatachi

kyu
miai
of equal value
moyo

ni-rensei
sei
sente

shimari

shinfuseki

its weak points.
tatami
tenuki
warui
bad

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Gentle Joseki, part I

In dia 4 and dia 5 you can see

(Ikezaki) "Go Seigen for his part

Dia 8 As long as black has not any stones in the

Realizing this white should

Black 1 in dia 11 is on its

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

Note that the cut at 9 is

Dia 15 White 1 and 3 are testing black's

Dia 16 shows how to keep things simple and get a

Dia 18 If white has to defend with 2 and 4 then

Dia 19 When white tries to fall back on the

Dia 20 This diagram shows

Black 1 in dia 17 is sometimes possible but shouldn't be played lightly.

Index of joseki's mentioned in this episode:

(1914-) Japanese reading of his Chinese name Wu Qing-yuan.

Family name, Ikezaki Tokinori (1956-) is a 4 dan pro from

Family name, Kitani Minoru (1909-1975) was, together with Go

taste; remaining possibilities, however distant they may be

"check" on at least 1 stone

ranking system for stronger players

a sequence of moves (in the corner) giving both players a

approach move to the corner

a move which is almost impossible to ignore, also "forcing

is the ko-rule, which prohibits a player to exactly recreate a

compensation for white (usually 5-7 points) since black gets to

the 4-3 point

inefficient shape, uneconomical, using to many stones to make

rating system used for intermediate players

large framework often forcing the opponent to (try to) reduce it

3 hoshi of the same color at the same side of the board

having the opportunity to play elsewhere first leaving the

"closing" (the corner) formation, any 2 moves which effectively

shinfuseki "New Opening" a way of playing starting in the 1930's which

thick mats of woven rush stuffed with straw, traditional flooring

Gentle Joseki, part II

Previous episode of Gentle Joseki

Start of the 2nd edition of Gentle Joseki

It was a Wednesday so the professionals up to 5 dan were playing their

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

Answering a keima kakari; the extensions

Game example 1: Takemiya Masaki

42nd Honinbo title match, game 1

Answering a keima kakari; the pincers

Game example 2: Kobayashi Izumi

Oteai grading tournament,

Family name, Kitani Minoru (1909-1975) was, together with Go

Kobayashi Family name, Kobayashi Izumi (1977~ ) Professional 4 dan,

Family name, Nakane Naoyuki (1972~ ) Professional 7 dan and

Adopted name, Honinbo Shusaku (1829-1862) Go genius of

Yamashiro Family name, Yamashiro Hiroshi (1958~ ) Professional 9 dan,

"check" on at least 1 stone

literally "hat", cap play to prevent your opponent from

ranking system for stronger players

ikken-tobi jump (straight) of one space between also; one-space jump

a sequence of moves (in the corner) giving both players a

approach move to the corner

jump of one space between and one diagonal, also; (small)

approach move to the corner at the distance of one space

officially: Nihon Ki-In, Japanese go association located in

compensation for white (usually 5-7 points) since black gets to

a move combining a kosumi (=diagonal move) and a tsuke

rating system used for intermediate players