Episode #27 Stone tower tesuji
Hi everybody! Today we're going to make stone towers!
Ah well, let's just do the tesuji instead.
This position is from a professional game. Black aims at cutting white at [A].
White could ofcourse connect at [A], but he has a better move available. Let's see it.
White cuts here and black has no other choice than to atari from this side. If he tries to atari from the other side white can extend and black has no way to capture white.
So black atari's from this side and white extends.
This is the stone tower tesuji!
Yes, this sets up a big squeeze. So white throws in again.
And can now capture the 3 black stones.
Black can't connect, because then all his stones would be captured. In this case attacking was the best defense. White succeeded in not having to connect at [A].
Another position from a professional game. White tries to live in the corner and kill the 3 black stones. Black has to rescue those stones. What to do?
Again black does the same kind of technique and cuts here and then extends.
It's the stone tower tesuji again!
Now white captures the two stones but black can throw in.
And white can connect with some of his stones, but the 3 are captured and black is connected.
So black saves the day.
This is another example of the stone tower tesuji in action in a pro-game.
Black and white are fighting in the corner. Black would like to rescue his stone like this.
However, this enables white to link up.
So instead black blocks from this side.
He has the stone tower tesuji in mind.
Now black throws in to reduce white's liberties. White can't ofcourse play here, because else he would be captured.
So white captures instead and now black is able to capture the tail of white's group.
The stone tower does not appear in local fights only. It also appears in joseki's.
This pincer has a normal follow-up like this and the usual way to respond for black is to go through with a keima.
However, when black bumps here, he has a special tricky strategy up his sleeve. This used to be some sort of a joseki, but nowadays people agree that this is a little bit better for white.
White can choose this cut, which is the main variation. And then if both players play correctly you can expect the following joseki pattern.
And black cuts here, which looks surprising, but he's aiming for the same tesuji again!
And he can squeeze white and connect his three stones to the rest, like in the previous variations we showed.
But in this case white can also link up his stones very comfortably, because of a lack of liberties for black, so this result is considered a little bit better for white.
Now for the final joseki choice, we showed this in episode #3, it's one of the first episodes of BadukMovies. It was in the episode [Expect the Unexpected].
We will show another variation that we didn't show before. And again you can get this kind of stone tower tesuji.
Here usually black extends on [G3], but black can also go down to [F2] like in this pro-game. And you get an interesting situation.
Again black cuts, the stone tower! And he can give his opponent a lack of liberties.
And now he throws in, which is crucial because white has to capture, and then black takes away the second eye and can again capture some of white's stones.
And, well, I wouldn't be comfortable with saying that this is a joseki, but it seems to be playable for both sides.
The extension on the first line is a common tesuji. Try to spot it in your own games.
And try to build some towers.
See you next time.