I've just played a tournament where in one game I did very well with the Chinese against a somewhat stronger player, so I return to this game with heightened spirits about my formation.
In that game (as I remember it), white made an enclosure with move three, I took the lower side star point, and white then made a low approach to my 3-4 stone. That approach worked out poorly for him, leaving him living with some points but entirely surrounded. White then did the natural extension to the middle point of the side aimed at by his enclosure (I think on the third line), and I replied with a long knight's move from my 4-4 point, after which we both made one-space jumps towards the center. For reasons that are unclear to me -- perhaps to gain points without invading uncomfortably, but at what cost? -- white then made the 3-3 point invasion under my 4-4 stone, leaving me with sente and a strong wall facing my other stones (that had surrounded the first approach). As the game went on, white eventually saw a need to break into the large black (rather solidified) moyo, and was cut off and killed in a fight where all the center influence proved very useful.
Now, that probably gives me a bit of a rosy view of how this is going to work out. (White, though somewhat stronger than me, was not very familiar with the Chinese fuseki.) But it does give me an idea of how I want to play. When white approaches or enters my moyo, I want to chase him, or surround him completely if possible, gaining influence while not worrying very much about denying my opponent territory or comfortable life. Ideally, I also want one middle point along a "neutral" side, preferably the lower side (where I have my 3-4 non-enclosure).
Now, white has approached my 4-4 from outside with a low knight's move. I will be addressing this somehow, not trying to prevent their unfinished enclosure from forming, as I want to build a framework of my own, rather than prevent anything at all from getting built.
Now, what are my choices? The low one-space pincer is the countermove I'm most familiar with. This seems tempting, as a common response to that pincer is jumping into the corner, and at that point, I get almost exactly what I want:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bc Great! For me, anyway
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . O . 4 2 . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . 5 X 3 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
Unfortunately choosing this
variation requires cooperation from white, which I'm unlikely to get. (I also have a sneaking suspicion that there are alternatives to 6 for white in joseki that I am not familiar with that are more appropriate for this situation.) White could also just make a one-space jump, in which case this is pretty much the only joseki I know:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bc Not so great
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . a 9 . 7 5 X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . 8 6 2 3 . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . 0 . . . . 4 . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
This is exactly what I don't want: white gets lots of influence towards the center, and black gets a little bit of territory (and the opportunity to make some trouble with a damaging cut later). I can't give white the opportunity to make me play this.
Digging around a little bit in my joseki resources (Eidogo and SL), I've found the
large low knight's move extension. (The initial move is what the name would indicate; a low long keima away from white's stone.) The point, as I understand it, is that this move makes a claim of what might be understood as an unreasonably large corner. The only (?) thing white can do to prevent this is to invade, so it's a move that is likely to force an early white 3-3 invasion. If this happens, the main line seems to end with black building a humongous wall, in a direction of their choice.
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bc Black to choose direction
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . 3 2 . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . . X 4 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 6 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
Here's one alternative, assuming this joseki is played "by the book" all the way, which is vanishingly improbable.
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bc Alternative one
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2 4 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 5 X O . . |
$$ | . . O , b c . . 0 , . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 6 . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 . . 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . f . a X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . d . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . e . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
The great thing about this variation is that the joseki really calls for me to play a move at a; since I already have a stone almost exactly there (famous last words, I know), I will instead take sente. I might play at b, c, d, or e. If I feel like a high stone around a is actually really important, I might play f, going by the principle that the stone on the third line and the stone on the sixth line should sort of average out to perform the work of a stone around the fourth line. (As well as performing the function of establishing a rather fearsome moyo that white will have to invade.)
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bc Alternative two, wishful thinking
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . X O . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . , 9 . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X 4 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 6 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 8 . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]
This is the result of the other line. (Actually not the end result; in the line white establishes a low group along the top and black covers it and gets a lot of central influence.) This
looks great, but I think it's wishful thinking -- I don't think this is optimal play for white when the Chinese formation middle stone is in place. I expect my opponent to deviate from the joseki I'm playing at some point (I'm sure I will all the time, too) -- but I don't want them to be
right when they do.
Alternative one looks attractive and, fuzzily, in the sense that I'd be hoping for a similar but not equal result, realistic to me. I'll play the large knight's move extension and hope that white invades.
If they don't, I can probably leave the possibility open for a while playing other moves. If they settle instead of invading, I'll just get a large corner, which is not terrible. I'd like to find a sequence to get whatever I get in sente, though, so I can make a side extension.
Things I'm worrying about: so far, I've played all of my moves on the right side of the board. I need more than one side of the board to win, so I should play some moves elsewhere as well to be sure white can't attain total dominance of the rest of the board. If white loosely pulls back towards their enclosure-to-be, I might jump in to split and create some trouble. Otherwise I might just play an approach to their 4-4 stone; possibly an inside approach for "splitting power".
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)
).
& 
are suporting each other, making an invasion on the bottom a bad move (as in the proverb, don't play close to strong stones), while attacking 
black can pincer at a/b. (probably "a" because it makes a more solid connection with 
is generally bad, because the weakness at 'a' is open from two sides (centre and side).
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