The following is one joseki on two space high pincer from Kogo's joseki dictionary.

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[go]$$W Two space high pincer
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 5 . . . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 6 . . 1 . . 9 . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . 2 , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 8 , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

One question I have is whether B8 is too wide or not -- it seems to give an easy invasion point for white at a.

Another question I have is that, in real game, more than one white player did this:

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[go]$$W What should black do?
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . b . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . d . . 2 , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . a . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

In the joseki, white plays at a first. Of course, as black, I can play at b, and when white jumps out at a, I can play at c, reverting back to the joseki sequence. My question is: is there a better move for black? I've tried to play at d, but it didn't end up favorable to black.

Hi GoStudent,

Meta-discussion: "B8" is ambiguous because it could mean , which is want you meant, or a coordinate, like A8, C8, D8, etc.

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[go]$$W
$$ -----------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . o . . o . B . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . o X . X o o . , . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

This is a joseki shape.
This is only a moyo; it's not solid territory yet.
Of course, there are still local points of interest for White --
a few shown above -- depending on the global situation.

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[go]$$W
$$ -----------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 4 . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . 2 , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . e d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

After the - exchange, your corner is now stronger,
so you can consider to jump farther than the joseki (c),
to (d) or (e) -- so W's exchange - has helped you.
This is why W wants to jump out to first.

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[go]$$W Two space extension
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 5 . . . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 6 . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . 2 , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

There may be times when the two space extension for will be appropriate.

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[go]$$W Boshi
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . 2 , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

There may be times when the boshi for will be appropriate.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Yes there is an invasion point at a, but 8 may also make a good relationship with the lower left corner, for example if there is a black 4-4 stone there then 8 is a good extension from it which means white cannot make a comfortable inside approach. If black played at b instead of the marked stone then white's approach of 1 would have more room. If the lower left on the other hand was a strong white group, then the tighter extension Bill mentioned could make more sense. Don't just think of the relationship of your stones in the joseki, look at how they relate to your (and your opponent's) stones on the rest of the board too.

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[go]$$W White cramped
$$ +----------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . O . . . . O . .
$$ | . . X . . O . . . . .
$$ | . . . X . . . . X , .
$$ | . . . . . O . . . . .
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . a . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . b . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . B , . . . . . , .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . 5 . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . 1 3 . . . . . . .
$$ | . . 2 . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . X . 4 . . . , .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ +----------------------[/go]

What happened which wasn't favourable? Maybe the mistake wasn't d but later. One simple, though 4 has a crude feeling, idea is to build a wall like this:

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[go]$$W Simple wall
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . 4 1 7 9 . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . 6 8 0 2 , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

Black would prefer to have this:

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[go]$$W Hoped for wall
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 1 5 7 . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . 4 6 8 2 , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

But if white hanes black can now push in, if white answers then if the ladder is good for black it's great for him. if not it's still ok as can squeeze the outside but there are 2 cuts afterwards.

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[go]$$W
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 7 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . 6 1 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . 4 5 . 2 , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

But maybe white resists with this atari which gives black an ugly empty triangle and the pincer gets separated, but black gobbles up 3. This exchange is harder to judge and is why black might want to play the crude push I showed first to make sure it doesn't happen.

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[go]$$W
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 3 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . 6 1 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X 8 4 5 . 2 , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

White could also play 9 at 10 as black can no longer ladder, so this would probably happen. White might then cut at a, or play elsewhere.

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[go]$$Bm10
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O O 2 . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X O 1 6 7 . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X X X O 4 X , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . O 3 5 a . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

Thank you for all your responses!

In the actual game, my opponent did not choose the variation as Uberdude has worked out in great details (thanks!) My opponent got sente, though, and he immediately reduced the influence of my wall. So this is really a problem of wrong direction of play -- I chose a wall in the wrong direction.