pragmaticleas wrote:
I find pincers especially those after high approaching a 3-4 or 4-4 stone rather troubling to deal with at my level. If I make a low approach, I often have the option to just attach at or invade the 3-3 point. However, with a high approach that is pincered, it's harder to find a base and baseless chasing, cutting, sacrificing and fights may occur.
Your approach is thoughtful, which is a fine start.
pragmaticleas wrote:
Baseless cutting, sacrificing and fights are areas I am currently weak at. I considered my options which seem to be:
1. use low approach moves only
2. study pincer joseki
There is also
tenuki. In other words, refine #2 to the relatively limited number of
tenuki variations. This is not a complete answer, but it is better than "blind fighting". A subclass of
tenuki ideas is to play a counter-pincer of some sort.
As for #1, it is better in a sense than "use high approach moves only", which is quite a common (but deprecated) idea for 4-3 points. That is because low approaches can be shown to be the pro choice for certain kinds of positions: those where quick life is the natural goal.
The 3-6 approach to the 4-3 point can also be recommended as relatively easy to study.
For a more complete view, you have to study the strategy of the opponent who pincers you, and try not to go along with it. The strategy is different in the 4-4 and 4-3 cases. For a 4-4 point and a normal 3-6 approach, a pincer simply places emphasis on one side.
With a 4-3 point, 3-5 approach, a pincer is the classic response, and does try to put pressure on the approach stone. So you are tested on your defensive options, or willingness to trade away the stone, or ability to handle a running fight. What you are mainly trying to avoid is clumsy or heavy plays. But you don't need a huge repertoire, if you aim for a quick life.
"Strategy" here does mean looking at sides as a whole, i.e. stones in adjacent corners. So I would recommend some study, using modern databases, of whole-side pincer patterns, not just the numerous corner diagrams you find in
joseki dictionaries.
Some pincers, e.g. the "dogleg", get overused by players around 1d. That would be because none of the above mitigate the need to study them. It is not because they are superior plays.