Episode #76 A powerful descent
The year is 1975 and the players are Sakata, playing black, and Ishida, playing white.
It's a game from the Honinbo tournament.
Sakata plays here in the other corner and the main idea is to approach at [A].
So when Ishida plays in the corner that is open, black immediately plays this approach.
However, Ishida does not answer and approaches the corner of black himself.
But ofcourse black pincers this stone.
This pincer works well with his approach in the top left corner.
White has several ways to defend against this pincer, but if white plays tenuki, let's first have a look at that..
..then black will connect his stones like this.
If white tries to cut now, it's important to know that it is not possible for white because black is a step ahead. He can play this atari.
And after that capture the two white stones.
So this woul be good for black.
So after tenuki black can connect.
And it is usual for white to prevent this connection by for example playing here.
After this move the connection does not work anymore.
Now white can slice through and his one stone helps him a lot because white can not be cut. And now it is black that is cut.
This would be a good result for white most of the time.
Another strategy to prevent black from linking up his stones would be to attach here in the corner.
There are also a lot of joseki's which start like this.
However, in the game Ishida decided to play like this.
It's another fighting variation and it is very clear that it cuts the black stones off.
The joseki continues like this and white plays this kosumi. This looks very slow don't you think?
Yes, it looks a little bit slow, but it's a typical example of the saying: [your enemy's keypoint is your keypoint].
Because if white would play tenuki, black would very much like to play here. I see, so white takes the vital point.
After this black defends the left side.
And it is good to notice that if white jumps out it would be a bad result for white.
Black plays on the lower side and he gets both sides. He gets territory on the lower side and on the left side. And white has a weak group.
So instead white starts to attack.
This is the joseki.
Black tries to split the two white groups apart.
And after these moves the white marked stones seem to have been hurt, they're lonely. But white has a nice way to settle them.
And that's by this sacrificing technique. White hopes to sacrifice this one stone in order to get some moves in the corner and to make eyes there.
When black cuts and white also cuts, the most common joseki for black is to capture the white stones.
However, this enables white to settle himself in the corner.
Like this.
White was hoping for this in this case, and in this game this would be preferable for white. It's slightly better for white because black has difficulties finding a good move at the bottom.
So after the joseki has been played out, when black plays here, white has a very nice pincer.
So this would be a bit better for white. Yes, this attacks the one black stone and it also helps the other two stones of white that were weak.
If black instead tries to attack the two white stones, then white is happy to simply play this shimari.
It's very solid and there's also still a lot of aji left in the two marked white stones.
For example, when black plays tenuki's, white can consider playing this move later to take away all the territory, or to simply escape.
So there's still a lot of aji left in white's two stones.
And that's probably why black did not play like this in the game.
Black did choose to play this move.
Right, there is also a more modern way of playing, right? Which is like this..
Right. So when white plays this move, instead of blocking here, black can block from the other side.
White answers by playing here, making miai of playing at [A] or [B].
Now black can actually choose to revert back to the other joseki by playing here.
And this is the same as the joseki we just showed.
But, instead of playing here, black can also consider to cut here. This is more usual nowadays.
White gets a very big corner and black gets a solid position on the lower side. This is a joseki.
But in the game black played this extension! This was a surprising and special move and the idea is not to give white any forcing moves in the corner.
Like we just saw, white can in the normal joseki make eyeshape in the corner, but in this case that is more difficult.
The drawback of this black move however is that white gets stronger on the lower side.
White often answers by playing here. This is one way of playing and it gives him a solid position on the lower side. Black needs to capture the cutting stone.
And when white draws back, black captures. This is a way of playing and is an equal result.
It is funny to see that instead of this move, this gives exactly the same result.
Black has to play here to capture the white stone and we come back to the same position.
Also, white can consider to play here, but this is most often an overplay.
Black will try to capture all the white stones and will actually succeed in that.
However, white gets the chance to play some moves on the outside and to get something by squeezing black.
However, this is not recommended for white.
After this move, in the game Ishida played here!
The advantage of this move is that now there will be a cut at [A]. So white is a bit more vulnerable at the lower side, but he also gets to play a cut later.
Black ofcourse blocks here and now white jumps out. This is again a point where both players would like to play, so a keypoint.
Black had a decision to make and he can jump from this side, it's one consideration, but in the game black chose to play from this side.
These two moves are miai in a way.
Let's first see what can happen when black would play like this. It seems that this move for white is very nice and he will get stronger on the lower side because black has to push from behind like this.
This is a bit painful for black, to have to push like this.
Black can keep attacking white, but the lower side is now very nice for white.
This is another idea, but again white can maybe strengthen his lower side a bit and then escape into the centre. It's also possible.
In the game black did choose to jump from this side. This gave him the opportunity to attack here.
In this case white first pushed up, which looks like a bit of a strange move, but it was necessary.
And he followed it up by afterwards jumping here. If white omits this push and immediately jumps here, it is dangerous.
Because black can cut.
When white blocks from this side it is catastrophical. He is cut into two and [A] and [B] are miai for black.
So white will have to cut and play from the other side. But this is also good for black.
White can not capture the black stone.
If white plays like this, which is the most straightforward way, there is a ladder.
After this extension [A] and [B] have become miai. If white saves his stones at [B] then black can play a ladder at [A].
White can also choose to connect here. This is more difficult, but it's still good for black.
First of all, if black tries to capture white straightforwardly like this, it will go wrong.
Like this black will die because white can play here. White has 4 liberties and black has 3.
When black plays here there is again a ladder. White can go through and again play the same. This is not good for black.
So instead, in this position when white defends by solidly connecting, black should first push here.
When white blocks, this cut of black is a tesuji. It seems strange because white can capture the stone in a ladder, but this is a sacrificing technique that black uses to make the ladder work.
After this black can play here and now this cutting move by white doesn't work anymore.
The ladder is now good for black because of the one stone that he sacrificed.
If white blocks from this side, again he also dies, because of a lack of liberties.
White is captured.
So that's why white didn't play this jump but first pushed and then jumped.
It is also good to note that this move would be a mistake.
In this kind of shape black can cut here.
And white is cut into pieces.
So remember that this is the correct shape.
With this good shape we will end the game commentary. In the end Ishida Yoshio, who plays as white, won the game. And Sakata Eio, as black, wasn't happy with that.
But we recommend that you check this game out because the fighting in the middle game in the centre was really interesting.
Please have a look. See you next time.