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REDUCING TERRITORIAL
FRAMEWORKS
Attacking and Defending Moyos
byFujisawa Shuko
Translated byJohn Power
Kiseido Publishing Company
Tokyo, Santa Monica, Amsterdam
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PREFACE
The aim of a reducing move is similar to that of an invasion, in that
it tries to prevent the opponent from enlarging his area. Limiting theexpansion of his territorial framework (moyo) or reducing its size may
not bring you actual profit locally, but in the overall context it main-
tains territorial balance, so it is a large-scale strategy. That means that
you have to make a cool assessment of the overall position and that you
have to articulate a strategy of defence and offence that applies to the
whole board.
The reducing move is not directly a fighting technique. However, it
often serves as preparation for fighting elsewhere or provokes a counter-
attack that makes fighting unavoidable. In contrast to the concreteness
of an invasion, both the aim and the execution of a reducing move are
abstract. Rather than local tactical skills, an overall strategic vision is
called for, but for this very reason it is necessary to master its basic
concepts and techniques. It may not be a fighting technique, but you
must always be ready to fight.
The first chapter of this book discusses the basic concepts of the re-
ducing move. The next three chapters give a systematic presentation of
the important patterns or josekis. The fourth chapter attempts to give
the reader a feeling for how reducing manoeuvres function in the con-
text of whole-board planning by examining the strategic choices involved
in deciding between reducing and invading, between surrounding andexpanding territory. The final chapter looks at examples, presented as
pick-the-next-move problems, taken from my games. The most diffi-
cult stage in a game of go is the transition from the opening to the
middle game. To steer your course safely through this stage, a sound
grasp of the theory and practice of reducing and invading is essential,
and acquiring such a grasp is the first step towards giving your game
greater profundity.
I would like to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of the go
writer Aiba Kazuhiro in putting together this book. I would also
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like to express my gratitude to the Ishi Press for making an English-
language version available to go fans around the world. I hope that it
can make a contribution to your understanding and appreciation of the game.
October 1977 and June 1986 Fujisawa Shuko
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
With the publication of this book, the Ishi Press comes one step
closer to achieving its goal of providing a complete coverage of the
various fighting techniques of go. Reducing Territorial Frameworks
is intended to complement the coverage of invasion techniques pre-
sented in Enclosure Josekis. The two books are closely related because
in the fighting of the early middle game a player usually has to make a
direct choice between the two techniques of invading and reducing.His choice, of course, profoundly influences the subsequent course of
the game.
This book was written by Aiba Kazuhiro, a leading go writer, in
close collaboration with Fujisawa Shuko, Honorary Kisei. In my
opinion, it presents the best and most systematic analysis of reducing
techniques available in Japanese. It should serve not only as a valuable
reference guide but also as a textbook in the techniques involved inreducing manoeuvres and in the underlying strategic concepts. Not
only does it explain the tactics involved in reducing moves, it also
attempts to provide the reader with the theoretical understanding
necessary for making the correct choice between reducing and invading.
As Shuko points out, there are intuitive elements involved in any
strategic decision that can only be learnt from actual play, but I am
confident that this book will provide the reader with a firm basis for
experimentation in his own games.
June 1986 John Power
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface v
Translator's Preface vi
Glossary of Japanese Terms viii
Chapter One: The Basics of Reducing 1
Reduce or invade? 1
The objectives of reducing moves 2
Where to reduce 16
Priority in reducing 21Making preparations for reducing 23
Conclusion 25
Chapters Two to Four: Reducing Move Josekis
Chapter Two: Reducing the Side 27
1. The Simple Shoulder Hit 28
2. Shoulder Hit Against the Two-Space Extension 35
3. The Capping Move 424. The Knight's Move 65
5. The Large Knight's Move 72
6. The Ear 75
7. The Side Contact Play 78
8. Attaching on Top 88
9. One's Best Guess 93
Chapter Three: Reducing Corner Enclosures 1021. The Small Knight Enclosure 102
2. The One-Space Enclosure 114
3. The Large Knight Enclosure 120
4. The Star-Point Enclosure 124
Chapter Four: Reducing the Chinese-Style Fuseki 129
1. Reducing the Low Chinese-Style Fuseki 129
2. The High Chinese-Style Fuseki 137Chapter Five: Attack and Defence 144
Chapter Six: Problems 170
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GLOSSARY OF JAPANESE TERMS
aji: potential
atsui: thick, strong
furikawari: trade, swap
gaisei: outward influence
hasamitsuke: clamp
hiraki: extension
kakari: approach move against a corner stone
karami: a splitting attack; a move which attacks two groups simul-taneously
karui: light (of stones with a flexible shape or which can easily be
sacrificed as they have seved their purpose)
katachi: correct shape
kata-tsuki: shoulder hit
kogeima: small knight move
kyusho: the vital point
leaning attack: see motaremiai: points of exchange of approximately equal value — if the op-
ponent takes one, one can always take the other
motare: a 'leaning' attack, i.e. applying pressure to one group in order
to build up strength to attack another
moyo: a territorial framework — potential, not actual, territory
nozoki: peep
ogeima: large knight move
sabaki: settling a group by making a flexible and resilient shapeshimari: corner enclosure
shinogi: saving an isolated group under attack
tsume: a checking extension, i.e. while extending from one's own posi-
tion, one prevents the opponent from extending from his
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CHAPTER ONE
The Basics of Reducing
Reduce or invade?
The traditionally established order of priority in the fuseki is:
1. empty corners, 2. enclosures or approach moves, 3. extensions,
4. checking extensions (tsume), 5. jumps. This traditional order is not
always observed nowadays, with the popularity of moves such as the
3-3 and 4—4 points that occupy the corner in one move and dispense
with the need for enclosures. Such moves arise from Black's desire tostart early fighting. Nevertheless, in fundamentals, fuseki strategy still
hews to the traditional order.
A reducing move (keshi — also known in English as an 'erasure') has
the same value as the fifth move listed above, the jump. In the same
sense in which an enclosure and an approach move have the same value
(with the difference that the former is steady, the latter aggressive), a
jump and a reducing move have the same value. The jump expands
territory, the reducing move cuts it down in size. Likewise, a defensivemove surrounding territory and an invading move have the same value.
Dia. 1. When White has played the
marked stone, expanding territory with
Black 'a' and solidifying it with Black 'b'
have the same potential value. If it is
White's turn to move, reducing with 'a'
and invading at 'c' or 'd' are worth thesame.
When the opponent neglects to expand
or defend his territory one takes advan- Dia. 1
tage of his omission to invade or reduce his moyo. Both sides have to
take the whole board into account when planning the local strategy. In
most games, an invasion or a reducing move will mark the transition
from the opening to the middle game, from the fuseki to the fighting.
Since the chances are that you'll be fighting inside your opponent's
sphere of influence, you have to be very careful about your timing.
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In Chapter 5, we will refer to the problem of judging whether a
reducing move or an invasion is called for, but for a detailed treatment
of the latter, see the Ishi Press book Enclosure Josekis. Here we would
just like to compare the basic features of the two techniques.
The objectives of reducing moves
We indicated earlier that the aim of an invasion is to destroy terri-
tory and that of a reducing move is to hamper the expansion of a moyo,
but that is no more than a superficial analysis. By its very nature, a
reducing move is likely to lead to a much wider-scale clash than an in-
vasion, involving much more of the whole board, so in most cases it
will have a large variety of secondary objectives. For example —
Dia, 2, White 1 prevents Black from expanding his moyo. However,if White had a stone at 'a', it would also serve to expand White's own
moyo. If Black had a stone at 'b', White might try using 1 as a foothold
for setting up an invasion of the right side. Depending on the overall
position, the same pattern can have different implications.
The following is a list of some of the secondary objectives of an eras-
ing move that come to mind.
1. Maintaining territorial balance
2. Limiting a moyo
3. Probing the opponent's response
4. Expanding one's own moyo
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Dia. 2
5. Creating a foothold for an invasion
6. Mutual reduction
7. Building centre territory
8. Taking aim at defects in the opponent's shape
9. Maintaining the balance of influence
10. Reinforcing weak stones11. Making preparations for an attack
12. Following a shinogi strategy (i.e. leaving a weak group
exposed to attack).
The above by no means exhausts the list of possibilities. In most
cases, a move will probably combine several of these objectives. How
these tactics work out in actual play will be analysed in Chapters 5 and
6; here we will just make a quick survey of the above list. The positions
are taken from professional games.
Dia. 3 (maintaining territorial balance) (next page)
White has secure profit in four corners, but Black has a large moyo.
Considering the menacing influence of Black's thickness in the upper
right, his moyo would probably turn into untouchable territory if he
were allowed to enclose it with 'a'. This is the right time to play 1.White has to maintain the territorial balance; rather than preventing
Black from expanding his moyo, he is preventing him from expanding
his secure territory.
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Dia. 3
Dia. 4 (the continuation)
When Black attaches at 1, he is hoping for a fight with White 4, Black 8, White 9, Black 3, White 'a', Black 10. However, White makes a hane
at 2, in spite of the fact
that the ladder is un-
favourable, then makes
shape with the crude but
effective sequence to 12.
Instead of Black 13, at-tacking with Black ´b´-
White 'a'-Black 14 is
probably better.
Dia. 4
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Dia. 5 (limiting a moyo)
Black has moyos in
two places, White just
one, but if White wereable to jump to 1 the
scale of his moyo would
dominate . the whole
board. Now is Black's
chance to limit the scope
of White's moyo by strik-
ing a blow at 1. This may
help White to solidify his
territory, but Black's
own moyos are so thick
that they are virtually
certain territory, so Black
is quite capable of com-
peting territorially. Dia. 5
Dia. 6 (the continuation)The solid extension of White 1 restrains Black from attaching at 'a'.
Consequently, Black
makes another reducing
move at 2, nipping in the
bud any attempt by White
to expand his moyo on
the left while also build-
ing up Black's centre
thickness. When White
defends at 3, Black con-
tinues at 4, loosely sealing
off the centre. With his
implied threat to attack
the two white stones on
the right side, Black hasturned the centre into a
moyo majestic in scale. Dia. 6
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Dia. 7(probing the opponent's response)
White 1 reduces Black's left-side moyo. White is now interested to
see whether Black an-
swers at 'a' or 'b'. If
Black 'a', a black invasionat the top becomes a
severe threat, so White
would extend to 'c'; if in-
stead Black 'b', then en-
closing the right side with
White 'd ' feels right. Black
will answer 1 differently
if White leaves it till later,
as Black 'e' and 'f' are
more or less sente.
Dia. 7
Dia. 8 (the continuation)
Black counterattacks with 1, aiming to make White heavy. White
slides into the side with 2
and 4, laying waste to
Black's moyo and cutting
off a stone. He is satisfied.
However, the fact that
Black's position on the
left side has been strength-ened means that the white
stones at the bottom have
been weakened, so White
now does not have time
to spend a move enclos-
ing the right side. This
was the aim of Black's
strategy.
Dia. 8
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Dia. 9 (expanding one's own moyo)
In the local context, White 1 and 3 are
ever, if one surveys the
whole board it becomesclear that they indirectly
serve to expand White's
centre moyo. If White
bluntly set out to enclose
the centre with a move
like 'a', Black would
counter with 'b', andWhite would probably
lose out in the territorial
contest.
Now it is Black's turn
to make a reducing move.
simply reducing moves. How-
Dia. 9
Dia. 10 (the continuation)
Black 1 is so slack that it can be called the losing move. White com-
pletes his moyo with 2;
when Black belatedly in-
vades at 3, White force-
fully blocks his way with
4 and 6. Black 2 instead
of 1 was the vital point.
If White 'a', Black could
continue at 3, threatening
to swallow up the whole
right side, and the game
would be even. Note that
White 2 at 'b' would be
too greedy: White would
not be able to attack
strongly enough if Black
invaded at 'c'. Dia. 10
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Dia. 11 (creating a foothold for an invasion)
Black 1 makes threats in all directions: it aims directly at the invasion
at 'd', but it also rein-
forces Black against the
threat of White 'a' and inaddition aims at cutting
White into two with 'b'
or 'c'. If White answers
by defending at the top,
Black can use 1 as a foot-
hold for launching an in-
vasion on the left side.
His strategy will be to eli-
minate his thinness in the
centre during the course
of the ensuing fight.
Dia. 11
Dia. 12 (the continuation)
Black 2 threatens to attach at 'a', so White is forced to make anotherdefensive move. Black
then invades with 4 and
6. White judges that jump-
ing out to 'b' would just
help Black to strengthen
his centre group, which
in turn would weaken
White's large group to the
right, so he contents him-
self with moving out with
7 and 9. Black takes a
firm hold on the white
stone with 8 and 10, so
his invasion has been a
success. This sequence hasstrengthened his scattered
stones in the centre. Dia. 12
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Dia. 13 (mutual reduction)
The aim of White's invasion at 1 is mutual reduction. If White played
'a' or 'b', the game would become a contest in surrounding territory.
Even so, if Black answer-
ed 'a' or 'b' with a move
around the centre point,
White would be compelled
to make a reducing move
anyway. That would lead
to a straightforward fight
inside
which
want.
White has a large se-
cure territory on the left
side, so if Black attacked
Black's moyo,
White does not
Dia. 13
White 1 from above, he
would run the risk of fall-
ing behind in territory.
Dia. 14 ( the continuation)
When Black answers at 1, White forces with 2, then switches to 4,
making the maximum reduction possible. If he had simply played 6
(omitting 4), then later on
Black might attack at 'a'
and turn the right side
into an unassailable terri-
tory. Black defends at 5instead of trying to split
the opponent's forces as
the two white stones at
the bottom are light (once
Black has answered them
underneath with 1 and 3).
Black is pinning his hopeson his own reducing
move at 7, but he has
been just a little out-
played by White. Dia. 14
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Dia. 15 (building centre territory)
White has an overwhelming lead in territory, so Black's only hope is
to make effective use of
his influence at the top.
Reducing with 1 is the
first step: Black plans to
make this stone the start-
ing point for turning the
centre into a moyo. Black
1 aims directly at the
crosscut of Black White 'b', Black 'c' If
Black played 1 at 'd' or
thereabouts, he would
probably be headed for
defeat when White jump-
ed to 'e'.
Dia. 15
Dia. 16 (the continuation)
Black switches to 2 once he has forced White to defend at 1. When
White plays 3, Black ex-
tends at 4, taking direct
aim at White's weak point
at 'a'. He succeeds in
turning the centre into a
moyo while White is keptbusy securing the right
side. The depth of the
moyo is impressive. Mak-
ing 30 points in the centre
will be quite enough to
maintain the territorial
balance. After 11, Black
forces with 'b' etc., thenexpands his centre with
Dia. 16 'c'.
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Dia. 17 (taking aim at defects)
White 1 might look vague and purposeless, but actually it is a severe
invasion; it aims at push-ing through at 'a', then
cutting, and also at at-
tacking at 'b'. Moreover,
it provides a foothold for
a deeper invasion. If
White plunged right in at
'c' with 1, he would pro-
bably be able to escapecapture, but while attack-
ing him Black would build
up his outward influence,
which would have a harm-
ful effect on White's
neighbouring positions. Dia. 17
Dia. 18 (the continuation)
Black first strengthens himself at
would probably be better
for White to treat the bot-
tom lightly and switch to
'a', but even so Black can-
not hope to launch a full-
scale attack unless he firstreinforces himself with 5,
so White is able to attain
his objective by settling
himself with 6 to 12. The
only drawback is that the
addition of the black
stone at 5 has painfully
weakened the whitegroup above.
the bottom with 1. Instead of 2, it
Dia. 18
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Dia. 19 (the balance of influence)
The marked black
stone is too wide an
extension: holding back
at 'a' would have created
better balance. Be that as
it may, when the op-
ponent overextends in a
moyo contest you have
to make a reducing move
to maintain balance in
the scale of the respectivemoyos. The bottom right
is Black's biggest poten-
tial area, so White comes
in at 1.
Dia. 19
Dia. 20 (the continuation)
Peeping at 2 after Black defends at 1 is nicely timed. When Black
emphasizes the right side
by blocking at 3, White
forces with 4, then moves
towards the right with 6.
If Black emphasized the
centre by playing 3 at 'a',
White would develop at'b' after 4. When Black
plays 3, 'c' is the only aji
White has in the corner,
but if Black 3 at'a', White
can aim at 'd', which
would give him a foothold
for invading the right side.
Dia. 20
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Dia. 21 (reinforcing)
White 1 reduces the right-side moyo and, if Black 'a', also aims at
strengthening the white
group above with White'b ', Black'c', White'd'. If
White settles that group
he will at one stroke take
the lead: a group which
should have become a tar-
get for attack would have
instead been transformed
into thickness. White 1 at
'e' would be more solid,
but Black would probably
ignore it and play at 'f'.
Dia. 21
Dia. 22 (the continuation)
Defending on the side would only help the opponent, so Black counter-
attacks, splitting White
with 1. Plunging in at 2 is
natural. Black looks like
getting a double attack
(karami) with 5 and 11,
but the game should befavourable for White if
he can rescue both his
groups without suffering
serious damage. Fights
following from reducing
moves often develop into
whole-board warfare.
Dia. 22
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Dia. 23 (preparing to attack)
Black 1 not only limits White's moyo at the bottom but also prepares
to attack the two white
stones on the left side. If White reinforces them,
Black can make a severe
invasion at 'a'. If Black
can lay waste to this terri-
tory, he will go into the
lead; his adjacent groups
are rock-solid and thewhite group on the upper
right is still unsettled, so
Black has no reason to
fear a fight.
Dia. 23
Dia. 24 (the continuation)
White therefore chooses to defend with 1 and 3, whereupon Black
attacks on a large scale
by blocking at 4. White
then cleverly makes shape
with 5 to 9; Black in turn
builds thickness up to12, then turns the top
into territory with 16.
White cannot hope to
invade at 'a'.
If Black had not played
the marked forcing move,
a white jump to the samepoint, threatening to at-
tack the black group on
the left, would probably
be sente. Dia. 24
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Dia. 25 (shinogi strategy)
Tactically, Black 1 is a reducing move, but considering the depth of
White's large moyo, it is
more like jumping into
midair from a precipice.
Moving out slowly and
solidly with 'a', letting
White defend at 'b',
would be bad. Black
probably felt that if he
played 1 at 'b', it would
be harder to find a wayto settle his stone after
White 'c'.
Dia. 25
Dia. 26 (the continuation)White attempts to capture Black by intercepting with 1. White would
probably fall behind in
territory if he defended
at 8 with 1, letting
Black backtrack to 'a'.
Considering how tightly
hemmed in he is, a ko
with 2 to 8 is probably
the best that Black can
hope for. A trade fol-
lowed later, with White
playing a ko threat at 'b',
then capturing the four
black stones there.
Dia. 26
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Where to reduce
As mentioned earlier, reducing manoeuvres are made during the tran-
sition from the opening to the middle game. At this stage the player has
to choose, taking careful stock of the whole board, among the four op-
tions open to him: surrounding, expanding, reducing, and invading.
If you play a reducing move too early, you may just help the opponent
to strengthen his position; if too late, the opponent may counterattack
instead of defending.
At the same time, the success of a reducing manoeuvre is determined
by where you choose to reduce and by the overall state of the game. If
you miss the vital point, so far from achieving your objective, you maybecome subject to an attack; if you go wrong in your evaluation of the
overall position, you may miss the decisive moment or have your lead
upset.
From the point of view of the player whose moyo is being reduced,
you have to judge where to obtain compensation for the interference
with the expansion of your moyo. If you make the wrong decision, you
may give the opponent more profit than he deserves. The success or
failure of a reduction depends upon the evaluation of time, place, andoverall position. To keep the loss suffered from a reduction to a mini-
mum, you have to devise the most appropriate defence.
Dia. 27. White 1 is the key point for reducing: it stops Black from
expanding his moyo by jumping to 5. If Black 2, White 3: White keeps
one step ahead, so he is
in no danger of being
attacked. Since the mark-ed white stone is not at
'a', White does not ap-
preciably weaken his own
position on
Instead —
the side.
Dia. 27
Dia, 28. A move like 1 will get White into trouble, as it invites Black to attack with 2 and 4. However, playing 1 at 3 would let Black secure
a large territory with 'a'.
How, then, does one establish the vital point for reducing?
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Dia. 28
The vital points for reducing moves can be categorized according to
their locations in the corners and on the sides and also according to the
criteria of shape.
Reducing moves are most often played on the side; moreover, they
are usually directed against the opponent's extensions along the third
line. This is because the third line is the key line for extensions; the aim
of reducing is to prevent the opponent from proceeding to the next
stage in the formation of a moyo, namely, making a jump towards thecentre.
Dia. 29. White 'a', preventing Black from jumping to the same point,
is the vital point for reducing. White 'b' and 'c' are points with a direc-
tional bias, so the choice
of these moves would be
determined by the lo-
cation of Black's moyo.White would only attach
at 'd' in special cases, as
that move makes it easy
for Black to counter-
attack. Dia. 29
Depending on the position, moves at 'e' and 'f' are also possible.
Dia. 30. (next page) If the opponent's extension is on the fourth line,
an invasion rather than a reduction is more likely to be called for. Even so,
when the opponent has a large, box-like moyo, you may have no choice
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but to make a reducing
move. The main candi-
dates are White 'a' and
'b'. In most cases, treat-ing the black stone like
one on the third line by
playing 'c' or 'd' invites a
loss, as it helps Black to
secure fourth-line terri-
tory. Dia. 30
When the opponent has a deep moyo you may have to make a high
move, reducing from 'midair' — the kind of move professionals refer to
as 'one's best guess' (see Section 9, Chapter 2). However, most reducing
moves are aimed at an extension by the opponent. The fighting these
moves start is analysed in Chapters 2 to 4.
The basic principles of reducing moves in the corner are exactly the
same as those on the side. For example, in Dia. 31 both White 'a' and'b' treat the marked black stone as a third-line stone, and the same can
be said for White 'c', which strikes at the shoulder of the stone below.
Dia. 31 Dia. 32
Dia. 32. When the marked black stone is on the fourth line, White 'a'
or 'b' would let Black take too much territory. White usually plays at
'c', hoping to be able to exploit Black's open position on the side, White
of course varies his approach depending on whether there is a white or
black extension in the neighborhood, but if you bear in mind that an
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invasion has the same value as a reducing move, there is no need to insist
on making a reducing move.
Even when playing in the centre, the same points may be valid for a
reduction when one is concerned with a solitary opposing stone. To wit —
Dia. 33. In confronting the marked black stone, White 'a', 'b',and
'c' are the vital points for reducing, just as they would be if the black
stone were on the side. However, when the moyo is of this scale, White
'd' to 'g' are also worth considering. The vital points for an invasion are
very limited, but in contrast there are a large number of possible reduc-ing moves; moreover, as long as you don't go in too far, no reducing
move is going to be a
fatal mistake. However,
the feature of the reduc-
ing move is that you will
be able to evaluate it
quantitatively and judge
whether it was the most
appropriate move in the
light of the overall posi-
tion. Dia. 33
When the opponent has a deep moyo, the question of depth takes
precedence over finding the vital point. If you go in too deep, you will
come under attack; too shallow and you help the opponent secure
enough territory to upset the territorial balance and spoil your game.
Dia. 34. White 1 is too
deep. When Black plays
on top at 2. White will
get a bad result even if he
lives.
Dia. 34
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Dia. 35. When the opponent has no particular weakness in his moyo,
the safety zone ends with the outer rim of his moyo, that is, the linelinking the two marked
stones. However, if a
black answer at 'a' is go-
ing to put White behind
in territory, he has to
take the plunge and in-
vade, attaching at 'b', for
example, rather than re-ducing.
Dia. 35
Dia. 36. From the point of view of shape, White 'a' becomes the vital
point when White has the
marked stone close up to
the marked black stone.
Even without the markedwhite stone, 'a' will often
be the vital point, seeing
that Black does not have
a tight connection. Simi-
larly -
Dia. 36
Dia. 37. White 'a' is the vital point vis-a-vis the marked black stone,
but if there is no need
for White to go in so deep,
he can treat the black
stone like one on the third
line and reduce with 'b'
or 'c '. When Black's moyo
is located on the left side,'d', 'e', and 'f' become
the vital points. Dia. 3 7
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Dia. 38
Dia. 38. When Black
has played the large
knight's move, 'a' is the
move; anything deeper
feels like an invasion. For
a moyo on the left, the
vital points would be 'b',
'c', and 'd'.
Dia. 39. Against the
diagonal move, White
plays 'a', 'b', etc.; against
a black moyo on the left,
White 'c' or 'd'.
Dia. 39
Priority in reducing
Priority is, of course, determined by the whole board, but as an aid
in making up your mind, it may help to learn how to evaluate relative
size in the local context.
First, what is the scale of the moyo or territory the opponent will
get if you don't reduce?
Dia. 40. (next page) White 1 obviously becomes a much bigger move
if Black has a stone at 'a'. Needless to say, the value of 1 changes again
if there is a white or a black stone at 'b'. In other words, the size of a
reducing move depends not just on the size of the enemy moyo being
reduced but also on the moyos in the background.The next factor determining the size of a reducing move is the value
of the follow-up moves it creates for you or, conversely, the follow-up
aims it creates for the opponent.
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Dia. 40
Dia. 41. White 1 not only limits the size of Black's bottom moyo butalso provides a foothold for invading Black's position on the right side.
If Black had a stone at 'a', meaning that White had nothing to aim at
there, the value of White 1 would be greatly reduced, for then it would
only affect the bottom.
Moreover, if White had a
moyo around 'b', provok-
ing Black 2 and 4 would
be a minus, as Black could then aim at plung-
ing in on the left. In that
case, White 1 would
clearly be too deep.
Dia. 41
Another factor affecting the value of reducing moves is the relative
thickness (strength) and thinness (weakness) of the neighbouring posi-tions. White 1 in Dia. 43 is much more severe than White 1 in Dia. 42.
The presence of the marked white stone in Dia. 42 might seem irrelevant
at present, but it will turn out to have a bearing on the problem if
White 1 comes under attack.
In conclusion, however-, one must repeat that the key factor deter-
mining the suitability of a reducing move is the whole-board position.
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Dia. 42
Dia. 43
Making preparations for reducing
In the basic sequence of fuseki operations, reducing moves are pre-
ceded by checking extensions (tsume, i.e. extensions that check exten-
sions by the opponent). At that stage, you need to start mapping out
your strategy and to decide whether you are going to aim next at
reducing or invading.
Dia. 44. If Whitemakes the conservative
extension to 1, he is
clearly aiming at the
shoulder hit at 'a'. If he
played 'a' after extending
to 'b', Black would push
up at 'c', whereupon
White 'b' would becomea bad move too close to Dia. 44
— 23 —
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a strong enemy position. Furthermore, White 1 has the effect of mak-
ing Black 'd' less attractive for Black; in contrast, if White 1 were at 'b',
Black 'd' would have good follow-up moves, such as jumping sideways
to 'e' and invading at 'f'. The conservative extension of 1 makes thesemoves uninviting for Black.
Dia. 45. White 1 aims
at invading at 'a'. If
Black subsequently ex-
pands his position with
2, White either competes
territorially with 'b' orreduces from a different
direction with 'c'.
Dia. 45
Before reducing, you may want to make preparatory manoeuvres to
make the reduction most effective. In Dia. 46, beginning with the
shoulder hit at 3 is bad;
Black builds thickness by
pushing up at 'a'. How-
ever, if White first forces
with 1, strengthening his
corner, then 3 is good.
Black 'a' now would
probably make Black
overconcentrated. Dia. 46
There are also standard probes that one can play.
Dia. 47. White 1 is a typical probe (see Enclosure Josekis, page 2).
White intends to switch elsewhere, but first he wants to see how Black
responds, so that he can decide whether to aim at reducing or invading
later on. If Black 'a ', White is satisfied with getting 'b' for later; he would
probably stop worrying about the black moyo and switch to 'c', strength-ening his position there.
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If Black answers 1 at 'b', the hane at 'a' becomes possible; that makes
it easy to invade at 'e', so White can switch to 'd'.
If Black answers 1 at 'f', then White can use the contact play at 'g'
to reduce Black's moyo;
if instead at 'h', White
crosscuts at 'a', setting
up various forcing moves.
Naturally White has to
watch the timing of 1; if
he gets it wrong, he just
helps the opponent to
strengthen himself. Dia. 47
Dia. 48. The 3-3 contact play
Black 'a', White aims next
at 'b' or 'c'; if Black 'b',
White will be satisfied
with having created the
aji of White 'd', so hewill now focus on the
side, reducing at 'e', for
example.
is another well-known probe. If
Dia. 48
There are many other possible probes. For example, you can peep
at the opponent's weak points to see whether he connects or counter-
attacks, or you can play on the outer margin of his moyo to see whetherhe defends it or counterattacks.
Whatever you do, you should at least investigate the possibility of
making preliminary manoeuvres or playing suitable probes in order to
maximize the efficiency of your reducing moves. Just because it is safe,
a reducing move should not be played too facilely.
ConclusionTo round off our discussion, let's review the main points.
First, it is only natural to observe the basic fuseki priority of playing
extensions and checking extensions (tsume) first; if the opponent has
defects in his defences, you have to decide whether to invade or reduce
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or whether just to watch developments a little longer. Then you have to
evaluate the overall position and decide where you are going to reduce
and with what objectives. If you can, you should make preparations to
maximize the effectiveness of the reducing move, then force your op-
ponent's hand by striking at the vital point.The actual patterns involved in reducing manoeuvres are straight-
forward, and since you are approaching the opponent's stones from the
centre, there's a high degree of safety. However, reducing also entails
helping the opponent to solidify his territory, so if you have set your-
self the wrong objectives in the context of the overall position, you
may just give the opponent a helpful push into the lead. If you go
wrong in the depth of the intrusion, your reducing move could reveal
itself as slack or as an egregious overplay. Whenever you are consider-
ing a reduction, you must carefully compare it with the alternative in-
vasion, basing your analysis on a hardheaded appraisal of the whole
board.
Footnote: a large life-and-death problem
Plunging headlong into
a deep moyo sometimescreates a large-scale life-
and-death problem.
White counters Black
1 by making a determined
attack with 2 and 4. That
lets Black lay waste to
the side territory with 5,
but White continues hisattack with 6. If Black
were not confident of
saving his group, he would
have to flee to 'a' with 5,
leading to White 5, Black
'b'. White: Otake; Black: Fujisawa Hosai
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REDUCING MOVE JOSEKIS
CHAPTER TWO
Reducing the Side
As we have explained in the first chapter, reducing moves have a
wider range of objectives than invasions and are keyed more to the
overall position. Consequently, even though the patterns are quite
simple, it doesn't pay to follow a certain pattern blindly without care-
fully thinking out the objectives behind it and investigating the follow-
up moves.However, it is often possible to analyse systematically the local
variations. To some extent, josekis have been developed for such basic
reducing techniques as the shoulder hit, the capping move and others.
The large number of examples from actual games of fighting in large
moyos built up from corner enclosures has yielded many local set pat-
terns. The aim of Chapters Two, Three and Four is to present system-
atically these set patterns in the corner, but there is no reason why theycan't be applied to sequences on the sides and in the centre. The main
difference, of course, is that corner josekis are usually the opening
moves of the game, whereas reducing-move josekis appear well into the
game. In the sense of 'a set sequence made up of the best moves for both
sides in the local situation', however, the concept is identical.
Reducing-move josekis do not have as many variations as invasion
josekis. However, they must be chosen in the context of the whole-board strategy, that is, they must take the overall position into account.
In Chapters Two to Four, we will look at the three main categories of
reducing moves — on the side, attacking a corner enclosure, attacking
the Chinese-style fuseki — and we hope to show how one's play varies
according to the background and the objective of the reducing move.
Of the three categories, reducing moves on the side are the proto-
type of the reducing move. Learning their basic patterns is the starting
point for mastering this technique. Moves such as the shoulder hit and
the cap may look simple, but the opponent can make a wide variety of
responses, so these moves require a sound knowledge of the different
patterns to gain success.
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1. The Simple Shoulder Hit
Basic diagram
What action should White take against the black moyo? At this stage,
with the game so open, there are plenty of possibilities, including the
extension to 'a', the approach move at 'b', and the reducing moves 'c',
'd', and 'e'. Here we will limit the discussion to 'c', the deepest reducing
move; we will deal with 'd' and 'e' later, but here let's just note that
these two moves would also aim at expanding White's own moyo.
Basic Diagram•
Joseki 1
White 1 aims not just at reducing the bottom area but also at holding
Black's right-side moyo in check. When Black has just one solitary stone
being attacked, he first pushes up at 2 to make White heavy, then plays
4 to stop him from getting a base on the side. This is the set pattern.
Extending at 3 gives
White a foothold for at-
tacking the right side, so
he is content to back-
track with 5, which helps
his left-side moyo, or al-
ternatively to jump to-
wards the centre with 'a'
or 'b' . Joseki 1
The subsequent fighting depends on the overall position. Black muststrive to make the three white stones a target for attack; for his part,
White will be very happy if he can make them operate as thickness.
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Dia. 1 (after the joseki)
In the local context,
defending at 1 makes
good shape. Another
powerful strategy is to
play Black 'a', White 'b',
Black 'c', so that Black
can aim at the cutting
point at 'd'.
Dia. 2(White's follow-up)
White aims at the 1-3
combination, fixing up
his shape while splittingBlack. In the context of
the overall position,
plunging into the right
side or jumping to 'a'
might also be a good
strategy.
Dia. 3 (an extra push)Pushing up an extra
move with 1 before slid-
ing to 3 is a quasi-joseki.
Black has to weigh the
plus of his augmented in-
fluence against the minus
of White's additional rein-
forcement. Note that 3
at 'a' would leave bad aji.
Dia. 4 (disagreeable)
If Black omits the
sliding move, extending
to 3 instead, he doesn't
like the result when
White blocks at 4. Thismove affects the base for
both sides and also re-
duces Black's liberties.
Dia. 2
Dia. 4
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Dia.3
Dia. 1
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Dia. 5 (Black keeps
pushing)
Black should only
keep pushing up when hecan put his influence to
really effective use. That,
in turn, would imply that
White's original shoulder
hit was misjudged.
Dia. 6 (keeping one step
ahead)
Black plays 3 when he
wants to move into the
centre ahead of White.
White is left with 'a',
however, so this is not
really proper shape for
Black.
Dia. 7 (the question of the right side)
If Black turns at 3, he
can take sente and switch
to 5. White will aim at 'a'
after 4. If White 'a' is
painful, then 3 is prob-
ably bad. If White 4 at'b', Black still plays 5.
Dia. 8 (imperfect shape)
If White jumps to 2,
his shape crumbles after
3 and 5. If White 6 a t 'a' ,
Black 'b' becomes the
vital point.
Dia. 8
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Dia.5
Dia. 6
Dia. 7
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Dia. 11 (simple extension)
If Black 1, White plays
lightly with 2. If Black
later pushes in at 'a',
White won't answer at 'b'.
White could, of course,
also play 2 at 'a'.
Dia. 11 Dia. 12 (heavy)
Black 1 is heavy. If White 2, Black gets an ideal development with
Black 3, White 'a', Black
'b', but there is a strong
possibility that White willignore Black 1. Even if
White does play 2, there
is no guarantee that he
will answer Black 3 at 'a'.
Dia. 13 (concentrating on defence)
The aim of Black 1 is
solely to defend the bot-
tom area. Playing 2 im-
mediately is unreason-
able, but Black must
realize that there are vari-
ous ways that White
could attempt to utilizethis aji.
Dia. 14 ( giving way)
If White 2, having to
answer submissively at 3
is painful for Black. White
can also play 2 at 'a'. In-
stead of 3 -
Dia. 12
Dia. 14
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Dia. 15 (sabaki for White)
Black 3 here gives
White good moves at 4
and 6. This hurts Black's
right-side position.
Dia. 16 ( thick but.. .)
Cutting at 1 is about
the best move Black has,
but White now breaks
into the right side. The
question is how much
use Black can make of his
centre thickness.
Dia. 17 (crawling)In most cases, crawling
at 2 is submissive and in-
sipid. Black may connect
underneath with 4, but
he gets a low position and
bad aji. He can no longer
expect to be able toattack White.
Dia. 18 (just territory)
If Black keeps crawling
with 1 and 3, his territory
is unimpressive. Now it
is White who builds thick-
ness.
Dia. 15
Dia. 16
Dia. 18
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Dia. 19 (a natural se-
quence)
Black 3 and 5, which
give the same result as
Dia. 12, are a morenatural sequence. In this
position, White would
probably invade at 6
next.
Dia. 20 (bookish)
White 2 and 'a' make
correct shape for connect-
ing, but after defending
at 3 Black aims at a
fierce attack at 'b'.
Dia. 21 (hard to link up)The aim of White 3 is
to settle the group lightly
and also to make it diffi-
cult for Black to link up.
If Black settles the shape
with 4 and 6, White plays
7; Black can play 'a', buthe gets a thin shape.
Dia. 22 (light shape)
If Black 1, White 2
makes a light shape; the
idea is to make miai of
'a' and 'b'. He can be
satisfied with his re-duction.
Dia. 22
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Dia. 21
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Dia. 23 (keeping White
heavy)
Black attaches at 1 to
stop White from settling
himself lightly. If White
2, we get the same re-sult as in Dias. 15 and 16.
White has cut Black's
moyo down to size.
Dia. 24 (precondition for
the clamp)
Black only plays the
clamp at 1 when he can
face the fight after 2
with confidence.
Dia. 24
2. Shoulder Hit Against the Two-Space Extension
When you make the shoulder hit, you have to accept that unavoid-
ably you are going to help the opponent to strengthen his stones. If it
so happens that this makes him overconcentrated, that's just what you
want. In view of this, the shoulder hit is most often deployed against a
two-space extension on the third line.
Basic diagram
Shallow reducing moves like 'a' and 'b' let Black make a large territoryat the bottom. In some positions, that might be perfectly acceptable,
but in the local context
the shoulder hit at 'c' is
more attractive. White
wants to secure a foot-
hold for attacking the
right side while reducing
the bottom.
Basic Diagram
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Joseki 1
Black 2 is the stan-
dard reply to White 1. If
White 3, Black does his
best to avoid becoming
overconcentrated by
moving out with 4, which
makes correct shape.
Playing 2 or 4 at 'a' would Joseki 1
make Black overconcentrated, as the space between the two-stone wall
and the marked stone would be too narrow.
White moves out with 5: he has his eye on an invasion of the right
side. Depending on the surrounding positions, White might also play5 at 'b'.
Black usually switches elsewhere next, as White 5 is considered as
concluding the joseki, but continuing here immediately by harrying the
white group might be a powerful strategy. Territorially speaking, Black
'c' is a big move, as it links up the black groups and stops White from
getting a base; however, Black's group is already settled, thanks to the
marked stone, so linking up a safe group would be a little slack. Dia. 1 (spoiling White's shape)
One standard proce-
dure for attacking White
is to try to spoil his shape
with 1 etc. The aim is to
make White heavy and to
reinforce the right side
during the course of thesubsequent fighting.
Dia. 2 (steady)
Black 1, at the 'ear' of
White's shape, is a vital
point: it menaces White's
connection. If White de-
fends at 'a', Black con-tinues with 'b'.
Dia. 2
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Dia. 3 (the alternative jump j
If White makes the other jump (the marked stone), Black forces with
1 and 3. Black's aim after
making White heavy is tocontinue by attacking
with 'a', in the hope of
denying White an oppor-
tunity to
right side.
invade the
Dia. 3
Dia. 4 (the 'ear')The less precipitate at-
tack with 1 .which presses
White to decide his stra-
tegy, is also a strong
move.
Dia. 5 (low position)Solidifying Black's
territory with 1 and 3
takes the pressure off
White. The marked black
stone is now overcon-
centrated.
Dia. 4
Dia. 5 Dia. 6 (light connection)
Black 1 and 3 also make Black overconcentrated, so they are not to
be recommended. White
defends lightly with 4 or
'c' or 'd', assuming that
the Black 'a'-White 'b'
exchange may be madeat any time. If Black
omits 3, White 3 makes
White strong. Dia. 6
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Dia. 7 (the jump )
If White jumps side-
ways to 3, Black settles
the shape with 4 and 6.
Peeping with 7 before
connecting with 9 is
correct timing.
Dia. 8 (a severe attack)
However, Black 3 is
the vital point for attack;
White's position looks alittle cramped. White 3
in Dia. 7 is probably
dubious, at least in this
position.
Dia. 9 (depending on the right side)
Black 4 is a strongmove if Black has a solid
position on the right side.
In this position, counter-
attacking with 5 at 6
would probably be un-
reasonable because of the
marked black stone. After
1 0 -
Dia. 10 (attacking on a
large scale)
The sequence to 16
follows. The marked
black stone is overcon-
centrated, but Black can
look forward to making alarge-scale attack on
White.
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Joseki 2Even when Black has
the two-space extension,
2 and 4 still make good
shape. If White 5, Black
jumps to 6. White 5 aims
at reducing Black's lib-
erties; jumping to 'a' in-
stead would be a little Joseki 2slack. The hane at 'b' instead of 6 would, in most cases, just help White
to strengthen himself with 'c'.
Compared to Joseki 1, this joseki takes more territory and scoops
out White's base; the drawback is that Black cannot expect to mount
much of an attack on White later. Even if White tenukis after 6, Black
has no severe follow-up. However, White can make good shape with
White 'd', Black 'e', White 'f'. If White is feeling really aggressive, he
might stake the game on an invasion of the right side instead.
Dia. 11 (preparing for an aerial attack)Pushing up an extra move with 1 before sliding to 3 is also a powerful
strategy: Black is aiming
at attacking on top at 'a'.
This threat may persuade
White to jump to 4. As
always, the drawback for
Black is that the marked
stone is overconcentrated.
Dia. 12 (beware the ladder)
The presence of the
marked black stone robs
White 2 of forcefulness.
What is more, Black cancounterattack with 3 and
5 if the ladder favours
him. Dia. 12
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Dia. 11
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Dia. 17 (ignoring the bottom)
Black can cap at 2 if
he wants to build up a
strong centre position and
is prepared to write off the bottom. If Black's
neighbouring positions
are solid, he might even
have a crack at capturing
White.
Dia. 18 (encirclement)
Black's attack at 2 isan attempt to encircle
White. This drives the op-
ponent into Black's own
moyo, so he has to know
what he is doing.
Dia. 19 (wrong choice)
When Black has made
a three-space extension
(the marked stone), the
shoulder hit is a mis-
take. Black 2 and 4 eli-
minate the possibility of
a white invasion at 'a'.
Dia. 20 (target for attack)
If you make a shoulder
hit against a really strong
position, you just create
a target for the op-
ponent to attack. Leaving
aside positions in whichsuch a deep reduction is Dia. 20
the only way to avoid losing, this strategy will get you into needless
trouble and lead to a disadvantage.
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3. The Capping Move
One way to nip a moyo in the bud is to cap at precisely the point
the opponent would like to jump to. The capping move works well in a
great variety of positions and actually seems to be more common thanthe shoulder hit. As a rule, it is used against a stone on the third line.
The opponent has vari-
ous ways of answering the
capping move. Here we
shall just look at some
simple positions, restrict-
ing ourselves to the seven
answers from 'a' to 'g' in
the basic diagram. If you
include the corresponding Basic Diagram
moves on the left side and tenuki, that makes a total of 13 answers.
Incidentally, in addition to reducing, the cap also serves as an
attacking move.
Dia. 1 (an example from a game)
In actual games, the
position will usually be
more developed than in
the basic diagram. Here
White 1 forces Black to
defend at 2. White then
makes light shape by
moving out into thecentre with 3, which
also aims at attaching
at 'a'.
Dia. 2 (example of an
overplay)
When the marked ex-
change has been made,capping at 1 is unreason-
able. White is in trouble
after Black 2. Dia. 2
Dia. 1
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Joseki 1
Black 2, which follows the proverb, 'answer the capping move withthe knight's move', is the standard answer. Black of course has toanalyse the neighbouring positions or the overall position when deciding
whether to play 2 on the right or on the left. The following are someof the criteria influencing his choice:
play on the side where you can take the bigger or the more secureterritory;
play on the side where it would hurt you more to have the opponentdrive a wedge through your territory;
play on the side where you want to develop towards the centre.Experience in actual play is the only way to develop your ability to
make the correct decision.Black 2 aims at attack-
ing White with 'a' or attaking territory with 'b'.White's follow-up is tobreak up Black's territorywith 'c' or to emphasize
the centre with 'd' or 'e'. Joseki 1He could also flee lightly with 'f', postponing his decision about whatto do at the bottom. We shall examine all these options in order.
Dia. 3 (shallow)
If Black has solid neigh-
bouring positions, White
will be satisfied to force
once more with 1 beforedropping back into the
centre with 3. In some Dia. 3
positions, this might be sufficient to maintain overall balance.
Dia. 4 (the ladder?)
White plunges boldly
into the side with a view
to keeping the black groupsto the left and to the right
separated. If the ladder is Dia. 4
unfavourable for White, then Black has the threat of 'a'.
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Dia. 5
Dia. 5 (invading)
White 1 is the correct
point at which to invade.
Black 2 is the standardresponse. If White con-
tinues with 3, however,
his group becomes heavy
after Black 4.
Dia..6 (extending sideways)
If White 3, Black 4
spoils White's shape. If White 'a' next, Black
plays 'b'.
Dia. 6
Joseki 2Once having attached at 3, White must continue with the crosscut of
5, which is a tesuji for settling a group. This enables White to fix up his
shape; the drawback is that Black also strengthens himself. Ideally, White
would like to play 3 and 5 after making some preparatory manoeuvres
to lead Black into an overconcentrated shape.
Black 6 is the usual
answer to 5. White's sacri-
fice gives him two forcingmoves at 7 and 9, so next
he can fix up his shape
with 11. There are, of
course, other ways of
connecting besides 11,
and on occasion White Joseki 2
might even switch elsewhere.
There are other sequences, but this is the most basic pattern. How-
ever, the result to 11 is ideal for White, so Black might make one of the
various counterattacks available to him along the way.
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Dia. 7 (depending on the
ladder)
Black ataris at 1 only
when the ladder is favour-
able. White will havetrouble settling himself
if he can't atari at 'a'.
Dia. 8 (switch in strategy)
White will most likely
switch to the atari at 2
when the ladder is un-
favourable. Black's bot-tom area is broken up,
but he has the conso-
lation of being able to at-
tack at 7. He could also
fight the ko instead of
connecting at 5.
Dia. 9 (unattractive)
The atari on top at 1
is not appealing. Even if
White just submissively
follows orders with 2 and
4, Black loses too much
territory.
Dia. 10 (reverting to
Dia. 8)White can also counter
with 2, aiming at the re-
sult in Dia. 8. If Black 3
at 4, White is happy to
extend at 3. Note, how-
ever, that playing 2 at 4
would give Black the op-
tion of connecting at 2.
Dia. 7
Dia, 10
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Dia. 11 (the thrust)
Thrusting with 1 can
be a very strong counter.
If White 2, Black im-
proves on his result inDia. 9 with 3 and 5. If
White plays 2 at 3 or at
5, Black extends at 2 and
welcomes the fight.
Dia. 12 (pulling back)
Pulling back at 1 is alittle submissive. White
plays 2 and 4, or, if that
is uninteresting, 2 at 4.
Dia. 13 (fight the ko?)
If Black answers 2 at
3, he avoids giving White
the two forcing moves in
Joseki 2. The drawback
is the bad aji he gets after
White 4. If next Black 'a'
or 'b', a ko fight follows.
Dia. 14 (gote)
If Black 1, White takes
sente with 2. If Black
doesn't add a stone at 3,
his bad aji will be un-
manageable.
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Dia. 15 (refusing to fol-
low orders)
White plays 2, expect-
ing Dia. 13. If Black cap-
tures the white stone, he
gets it, but Black might
counter with 3. After 6,
the continuation from
Black 'a' to White 'd' is
natural. Instead of 5 -
Dia. 16 (heading for a fight)
Black can also capture
at 1. That will probably
lead to a fight, with Black
cutting at 5.
Dia. 17 (strongest)
If the ladder is favour-
able, Black can make thespectacular counterattack
of 2. A difficult fight will
follow.
Dia. 18 (regardless of the
ladder)
Black can counterat-
tack even when the ladder
is unfavourable, provided
that he ataris at 1 before
extending at 3. White has
to choose between build-
ing a base on the left
with 2 here and making
a counter-atari with 2 at3, in which case he tries
to build a base on the
right. Dia. 18
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Dia. 19 (crude)
In most cases, cutting
bluntly with 2 and 4 does
not work well. Whitebuilds a base with 5 and
7: he is taking territory
during the course of the
fight, so his prospects
look good.
Dia. 20 (frontal clash)
Resisting directly with1 and 3 is just what Black
wants. White's moves are
too blunt.
Dia. 21 (avoiding a fight)
Black 2, trying to take
sente without fighting,
may sometimes be a good
strategy. White 3 makes a
light shape, White 'a' a
thick one.
Dia. 22 (tenuki)If the centre takes
priority, Black may ig-
nore 1 to attack at 2. If
Black 2 is a good move,
that means that White 1was a bad strategic mis-
take.
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Dia. 23 (a rap on the
head)
White 3 is a positive
move which forestallsBlack 'a' and attempts to
direct White's strength
towards the centre. It is a
special strategy which
gives priority to central
influence over reducing
Black's moyo.
Dia. 24 (solid)
Black 2 is solid but a
little submissive. White
will move out around 'a'
and aim at playing 'b'
later.
Dia. 25 (unreasonable)Attaching at 3 immedi-
ately is usually an over-
play. When Black counter-
attacks with 4 and 6, he
gets a stronger position
than in Dia. 19 and
White is heavier.
Dia. 26 (satisfactory for
White)
If Black 4, the result
to 11 is painful for Black.
The 1—2 exchange is a
gain for White. Instead of
connecting at 10, Black
will probably choose to
fight the ko.
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Dia. 27 (also good for
White)
Making the hane un-
derneath at 4 gives White
a good sequence from 5.In the result to 9, Black
has been forced to play
much more submissively
than in Joseki 2.
Dia. 28 (sente for Black)
Capturing at 2 is cor-
rect. In this result, themarked exchange has re-
moved Black's bad aji.
Even if White plays 1 at
3, capturing at 2 is still
good enough for Black.
Dia. 29 (gote for Black)
If Black 2, Whiteusually extends at 3.
Black 4 is a little slack:
Black has let White build
influence in sente.
Dia. 30 (sente for Black)If Black pushes up
once more, then connect-
ing at 3 becomes sente.
However, White 4 is thick
and the threat of White
'a' has become more
severe. White 2 at 'b' isout of the question be-
cause of Black 2. If Black
3 at 'b', White plays 'c'.
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Dia. 31 (aiming at the
cut)
Black 4 is a strong
answer to 3. White might
turn at 'a' before playing
5; the latter move at 'b'would also make light
shape. White controls the
centre, so he is reason-
ably satisfied.
Dia, 32 (staking every-
thing on the centre)
Forcing with 3 stopsBlack from playing 4 in
Dia. 31, but White can
no longer aim at 'a', so
there is an advantage
and a drawback.
Dia. 33 (leisurely)
In most cases White 3will be too mild. Black
aims at 'a'.
Dia. 34 (lightly, lightly)
White plays very
lightly with 3, keeping all
the aji on the side in re-
serve. This is a good
strategy when 3 serves to
expand a centre moyo.
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Joseki 3
Black attaches at 2
when he wants to expand
his bottom territory onthis side. He accepts that
White is going to get
centre influence.
White 3 is the standard
answer. Black 4 rein- Joseki 3
forces the bottom area and forces White to defend at 5. Later Black can
enlarge his territory with 'a' or secure the bottom with 'b', giving Whitecarte blanche in the centre.
If Black does nothing, White can make a thick shape with 'c'. He can
also aim at reducing the bottom area by attaching at 'd'. The point to
bear in mind about this joseki is that Black attaches at 2 when he
doesn't mind letting White strengthen himself in the centre.
Dia. 35 (simple expansion)Black 1 and 3 build
territory on the 6th line,
but White gets so much
extra influence that this
might not be profitable.
If playing Black 5 at 'a'
is feasible, White will
keep 4 in reserve.
Dia. 36 (good shape)
White 4 and 6 make
good shape. In this posi-
tion, however, White 4 at
'a' feels right.
Dia. 36
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Dia. 37(seizingsente)
The two-step hane of
1 and 3 is an aggressive
measure to take sente.
White 4 and 6 are good
style, but Black achieves
his aim with 7 and 9.
However, White builds
thickness, so the evalu-
ation of this result de-
pends on the overall
position.
Dia. 38 (protecting terri-
tory)
The exchange of Black
1 for White 2 is also com-
mon. Black 1 at 'a' or 'b'
is also possible.
Dia. 39 (diagonal con-nection)
White 1 works better
in the centre, though it
weakens the threat of
White 'a'. The continu-
ation to 10 is possible,
in which case White 11
looks good.
Dia. 40 (large-scale)
Black 2 is just right
for defending the side.
White will aim at attack-
ing with White 'a', Black
'b' , White 'c' later.
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Dia. 41 (checkingBlack's
expansion)
White extends at 1 if
he wants to stop Black from expanding the bot-
tom area, but then Black
2 is severe. If fighting
with White 'a' is not
feasible, then White 1 is
probably dubious.
Dia. 42 (compliant)
Black 2 is just what
White wants. White makes
light shape with 3 for an
ideal result.
Dia. 43 (extending side-
ways)The merits of Black 4
are determined by
whether or not White 7
is feasible.
Dia. 44 (what Black
wants)If White has to com-
promise with 1, Black ex-
tends at 2 and is satisfied.
If White wants sente, he
plays 1 at 3, followed by
Black 1, but then the
bottom becomes so large
that the value of sente
is diminished.
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Dia. 45 (passive)
If Black continues
after Dia. 43 by defend-
ing at 1, White is more
than satisfied. In most
cases, White 2 rather
than 'a' will be the pro-
per reinforcement.
Dia. 46 (strengthening
White)
Black can take terri-
tory with 1 and 3, but
strengthening White like
this is reprehensible.
Black cannot expect to
do well in the fight
when he cuts at 5. The
aji of White 'a' remainsa nuisance.
Dia. 47(challenge)
Will cutting immedi-
ately work? When White
counters with 2 and 4,
Black resists with 5 and7. The result to 11 is
satisfactory, providing
the ladder works.
Dia. 48 (centre fight)
If White 2, Black
reduces his liberties byconnecting at 3. Every-
thing will be decided by
the centre fight.
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Dia. 49 (avalanche)
Sliding into the bot-
tom area with 3 and 5
effectively reducesBlack's
territory. White is happy
with his shape after 7. If
Black 6 at 'a', White plays
'b', Black 6, White 7.
White 7 at 'c' is bad be-
cause Black 7 makes his
position cramped.
Dia. 50 (most unreason-
able)Cutting at 1 is un-
reasonable. White can
settle himself with 2 and
4 (or 2 at 'a') regardless
of the ladder relationship.
Dia. 51 ( hane on top)
Black 1 leads to a diffi-cult fight after 2 and 4.
If the fight is unreason-
able for White, an alter-
native is to make shape
with 2 at 3, Black 2,
White 'a'.
Dia. 52 (counters to the
contact play)
White can choose be-
tween 'a' and 'b' when
Black attaches at 2, but
before making up his
mind one feasible strategy
is to do something in the
bottom right corner witha view to making the
hane at 'c'.
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Joseki 4
Joseki 4
The aim of thrusting
up at 2 is to secure the
profit at the bottom and
to deny White the chance
to create any aji. White's
only option is to extend
in either direction, but
then Black will play 4
and 6 on the other side.
In this shape, there is nothing tricky that White can try. Locally, his
continuations are to split open the bottom with 'a' or 'b', to push alongon top with 'c', or to reinforce his shape with 'd'.
Black 2 is not very aggressive, however, so there is a strong possi-
bility that White will ignore it and switch elsewhere. In this position,
for example, a good plan would be for White to invade at 'e' the instant
Black starts to surround the bottom territory.
Thrusting at 2 is not a move one plays unless one has to.
Dia. 53 (very submissive)
If Black 1, White
jumps to 2. Black may
secure the bottom terri-
tory, but White gets cen-
tre influence.
Dia. 54 ( two-step hane)
Black 3 (instead of
the extension at 4) is also
possible. White 4 and 6
are the standard answer,
but in some cases Whitemay be able to resort to
force by extending at
'a' with 6. Dia. 54
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Dia. 55 (an overplay)
Cutting at 3 is un-
reasonable even when the
ladder favours Black.
White makes shape with4 to 10 and can face the
fight with confidence.
Dia. 56 (White becomes
heavy)
If White 1, Black
always hanes at 2,making
White heavy. Black 2 at
'a', letting White jump
again to 'b', would be
unbearably submissive.
Dia. 57 (one-space jump)
Black may be content
to play at 2, submissivethough it be, as it miti-
gates the threat of 'a'.
White will probably
switch elsewhere, as Black
has no strong follow-up.
Dia. 58 (the vital point)If White 1, Black
counterattacks with 2
and 4. The marked black
stone now reveals itself
as a contact play at the
vital point.
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Dia. 59 (good shape)
If White 5, Black de-
scends at 6. The marked
black stone is now muchmore useful in the fight
than one at 'a' would be.
N e x t -
Dia. 60 (the threat of the
ladder)
White plays 1 to 5,hoping to use the threat
of the ladder at 'a' to
settle his stones. If that
ladder is bad for Black,
he connects at 3 with 2
and should be able to
handle the fight.
Dia. 61 (the two-space
extension)
Unless White has in-
fluence in that direction,
extending to 2 is likely
to be a slack move.
Black has no prospect
whatsoever of being able
to attack White.
Dia. 62 (making shape)
White 1 works easily.
Even if Black counter-
attacks with 2 and 4,White has no trouble
making shape up to 11.
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Dia. 63 (squashed flat)
If Black answers un-
derneath at 2, White can
be content to pull back at 3. If Black 4, White
squashes Black flat with
5 and 7.
Dia. 64 (helpless to resist)
Crosscutting with 3 is
also good, of course.Black has virtually no
way of resisting.
Dia. 65 (the diagonal
move)
As a rule, Black 2 iscrude; Black's shape is
spoiled when White
pushes along at 3. If
Black 4 and 6, White
attaches at 7; the best
Black can do is to hane
at 'a'.
Dia. 66 (thickness)
Extending at 1 stores
up strength. Reducing
with 2 is the safety-
first move for White.
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Dia. 67(counter-cap)
If Black has strong
neighbouring positions,
he may return tit for tat
by capping at 2. In somepositions he might even
have a chance of captur-
ing White.
Dia. 68 (attacking from
the outside)
Black might also ig-nore the bottom in favour
of building strength in
the centre by attacking
with moves like 2.
Dia. 69 (where to defend)
The capping move hitsat the centre of a more-
or-less symmetrical shape,
so the defender is faced
with the problem of de-
ciding which side to
answer on. With the
knight's move we enunci-
ated some principles for Dia. 69the defender: surround the larger or more secure territory, leave open
the side where a splitting move won't hurt you, play on the side where
you want to move out into the centre, etc. (see page 43).
The problem in the position here is that the position is not perfectly
symmetrical. Black's answer will have a big effect on the development
of the game, so we should review the possibilities. A further compli-
cation is that one has to take into account the subsidiary aims of thereducing move, such as reinforcing the opponent's position, preparing
for an attack, and so on. These aspects will be analysed in detail in
Chapter 5, but here we can look at the basic points.
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Dia. 70 (taking secure
territory)
Black 2 is the standard
answer. If Black had a
stone at 'a', it would bemore than that: it would
be essential. Invading at
3 the instant Black de-
fends is natural. This is
the result White was hop-
ing for.
Dia. 71 (seizing theinitiative)
However, Black takes
sente with 1 and 3. Black
7 or 'a' then parries or
mitigates the threat of
White 'b' and seizes the
initiative for Black.
Dia. 72 (the larger side)
If Black 2, White in-
vades at 3, leaving 'a' and
'b' as miai (those weak-
nesses make the right
side the smaller one).
N e x t -
Dia. 73 (going on theoffensive)
The correct counter
for Black is to recapture
sente with 1 to 11 so that
he can switch to attack
with 13. This is a sure
and steady developmentfor Black, though terri-
torially the result is just
a little slack.
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Dia, 74 (attaching)
Black can also take
sente with 2 and 4, then
defend at 6. However,
the overall picture is notso interesting for Black:
White builds centre thick-
ness and continues at 7.
Dia. 75 (attaching on the
other side)
If Black 2 and 4 on
this side, White shouldextend at 5. If Black
cuts at 'a', White sacri-
fices with White 'b' to
Black 'e', then invades
at 'f'.
Dia. 76 (thrusting up)
If Black 2, then Whitehas to choose which side
he wants to play on. The
left side looks bigger, so
White 3 is correct. White
waits for Black to sur-
round territory with 4
and 6, then invades at 9. Dia. 77 (giving up the
right)
If White 3, Black
abandons any idea of
turning the bottom right
corner into territory (be-
cause 3 has limited itspotential). Black 6 at 'a'
also looks good.
Dia. 77
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Dia. 78 (ideal develop-
ment)
White 1 reduces
Black's moyo and ex-
pands White's. If Black 2,
White immediately in-vades at 3. His strategy
is working perfectly.
White also threatens to
strengthen himself by
attaching at 'a'.
Dia. 79 (correct for Black)
Consequently, in this
kind of position Black
must move out towards
the centre with 2.
Reference diagram
If Black 2 at 'a',White can play 'b', Black
'c', White 'd'. Given that
Black needs to answer on
the left, Black 2 is
superior to 'e' because it
makes it harder for White
to play 'f'. White can con-tinue his reducing ma-
noeuvre by moving out
with 3, but Black main-
tains territorial balance
by laying waste to White's
territory with 4. In this
example from profes-
sional play, the proverb, Reference Diagram
'answer the capping move with the knight's move', does not apply.
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4. The Knight's Move
Basic diagram
We have already
looked at White 'a' and
'b' in this position, which
is so open that there are
many possibilities. In
some games, White 1
may well be the best
move. How do you tell? Basic Diagram
The only answer is by having a good look at the whole board.
White 1 is halfway between the capping move and the shoulder hit.
White 'c' is a more severe follow-up with 1 than with 'b', so Black may
defend at 'd'; if so, White enters at 'e'. Note that White's left-side moyo
has not been weakened, as he can aim at pressing down on Black at 'f'.
Dia. 1 (what White wants)
If Black 2, White in-stantly invades at 3. The
result to 14 is ideal. Next,
White can aim at develop-
ing his left-side position
with 'a'. Instead of 8 -
Dia. 2 (Black must resist)
If he has any pride,
Black should make some
attempt to resist. If Black
plays 1, he can probably
take sente.
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Dia. 3 (a joseki for the
overall position)
Since White is aiming
at pressing at 'a', Black
forestalls that by extend-
ing to 2. This permitsWhite 3, but Black
switches to defence at 4.
He is thinking of the
whole board rather than
the local position.
Dia. 4 (forcing moves)
From the same stand-point, Black might try
attaching at 2, the idea
being to get in some
forcing moves before
making the kosumi at 8.
Joseki
The kosumi is a stan-dard shape move in re-
sponse to the knight's
move. It prevents White
from pressing down on
Black at the same point
while aiming at press-
ing down on White at Joseki
'a'. White can break up the bottom area with 3 and 5, but Black doesn'tmind as he was reluctant to defend at 'b' to begin with.
Black 6 is the vital point: Black must crawl here to stop White from
getting a base on the side. If White plays 7 to forestall a black hane be-
tween 5 and 7, Black can choose between attacking on top at 'a' and
defending territory while attacking with 'c'. Either way, in playing 2
Black bases his strategy on attack; during the fighting he hopes either
to defend his right-side moyo or to slide into White's left-side moyo.The position would, of course, be all the better for Black if he had an
extension at 'd ' and it is with this in mind that he plays Dia. 3 or 4 above.
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Dia. 5 (emphasizing the
centre)
If the centre is more
important than the side,
White might prefer toplay 1, even at the cost
of permitting Black 'a'.
If Black dislikes the pros-
pect of White 'b', he can
answer 1 at 'c'.
Dia. 6 (Black counter-
attacks)When White plays 1,
he hopes for Black 'a',
White 'b', but in almost
all cases Black will do
better to counterattack
with