Episode #84 Elephants
This shape is called ハザマ飛び (hazama tobi) or Elephant's jump and it is the topic of todays episode.
A common example of this shape comes forth from a 3-4 point joseki.
When black pincers here, this shape is one form of joseki.
It looks like a strange jump, but this jump is often good when [A] is not a good move for black.
In this case, when black plays at [A], which looks like the vital point..
..white has a good way of dealing with it.
White can first lean here and afterwards white can cut here.
This would be good for white.
Instead of first leaning, white can also quite vulgarly go through like this.
This would also be a good result for white.
But if you can trick your opponent by leaning it is ofcourse even better.
Because in this result black is captured.
That's why in the joseki black does not play at [A] but can for example play here.
This is the most usual shape for black to play after the [hazama tobi] but black can also play some other options.
The shape also appears in a trick-play.
The following game is a game played on KGS between Galileo and Danoontje.
It was played a long time ago, I think maybe ten years ago.
And at that time I liked this trick-play a lot.
It's a very weird move but it's tricky for white to respond.
Extending here seems obvious, however this does not give a good result for white.
White needs to come back to take care of the stone and black gets a big corner.
White can ofcourse also tenuki here, but there still would be a lot of bad aji which black can exploit.
For example crawling at [A] or attacking at [B] would be good moves for black.
Instead of pushing through like this, white can consider playing hane.
However, black will cross-cut. And with this cross-cut black aims to squeeze white.
First black plays atari from this side and then from the other.
Black is happy with this influence and white is slightly overconcentrated.
However, black's corner is still quite weak. There's still a lot of peeping points.
But still this is good for black.
Instead of playing this atari, white can also consider extending here.
This is a fighting variation and it is probably good in this case because white is already a bit strong in the lower left corner.
Black comes out here
and white creates a base in the corner.
This is a complicated fighting variation and a ko appears.
Now black needs to find a ko threat.
And in this case this is probably the best one.
Invading here will result in a very complicated fight.
When black plays the trick-play we've seen that it is bad for white to go through..
..playing the hane is possible but complicated..
..and if you want to keep it easy as white you can also play tenuki.
This is a good option and black's stone is very low.
Locally this is a big move for black, but it is also a little bit slow. And again white can play tenuki.
In this kind of opening white develops fast and black is very solid but slow.
In the game white pushed here. And black got a good result.
After this white approached the other corner and black played the same move.
Again the same result appeared on the board.
Black was happy again.
Black got two big corners.
Let's go to the next game.
Black is played by Okuda Aya 3p and white by Xie Yimin Female Meijin.
In this position the [A] group of white and the [B] group of black are battling against eachother.
It is white to play and white found a really nice move.
First let's see what happens if white would play a normal move.
This is very big. White takes territory and also attacks black's base.
But it is not good here.
Let's first point out that black can not move out like this. There is a big weak point in black's shape here.
And white can connect under like this and black still needs to connect.
Instead of here black should protect this weakness by playing here.
Now, when white extends upwards, black can jump out.
The marked white stones have become weak and white can not strike on the vital point anymore.
This is no longer a vital point. Black can cut the white stone off.
So, this has become a good result for black. That is why white does not play the normal way in this situation.
But white found a tesuji! The elephant's jump.
In this case black has to extend to connect to his group.
But white destroys black's eyeshape.
White pushes once more, forcing black to connect and to run.
White was happy to continue the attack.
A great result!
It looked like black was quite comfortable, but now black is weak.
So appreciate this elephant's jump in this shape.
Let's see another game in which both players played an impressive elephant's jump.
Black in this game was played by Huang Longshi.
Do you remember him from episode 30 and 31?
He was a Chinese master player, back in the day.
White is played by Xu Xingyou.
At this moment white capped black's stone on the right side.
A nice elephant's jump.
[A] is a natural move for black to move out, but white prepared a move.
White played the elephant's jump in order to follow it up with this tesuji.
With this move white settles his top right group.
And white attacks black.
If you're interested in this fight, please have a look at the game that we will put in the bonus tab.
A few moves later, in the endgame, at move 129, black also played a nice elephant's jump on the left side.
Huang Longshi waited for a long time but now he got the chance to play here.
A strange jump, but very effective.
White can not block from this side because black has another tesuji.
He can jump here. Like this white's corner would be cut off. A very big loss.
So white was forced to block from the other side.
This gave black a few nice sente moves.
This is all profit in sente.
Let's skip to another game.
In this professional game, it is white to play.
If we look at the overall position on the board we can see that the left side and the centre are becoming most urgent.
Black built up a big framework on the right side and at the top.
White has a few more or less loose stones at the top left.
Let us point out that there is a weakness in white's shape at the top left.
When it's black's turn black can push here and when white blocks, black can cut.
This cut is very severe.
So white somehow needs to protect this cut.
And in the game white did it in great style.
He played the elephant's jump!
This move has several purposes here. First of all, it defends against the cut, but it also reduces black's moyo at the top right.
And it creates somewhat of a moyo for white himself. This is the stepping stone to a bigger framework.
In the game black answered here to keep a kind of moyo on the right side.
This allowed white to approach here and create a big framework for himself on the left side.
Let's have a look at a final game. It is a handicap game played between professionals.
At this moment white played the elephant's jump and sometimes this move is also a great tactic for light escape.
This creates a miai situation.
Attaching at [A] settles white and also white can escape at [B].
This is kind of the positive side of this symmetrical jump.
Let's have a look at what happened in the game. They played a few moves and after this white attached here. This makes good shape and takes care of his weak stones.
We hope you liked the elephant's jump and we will see you next time.