Life In 19x19

I want to expand my opening repertoire a bit. I've been playing Low Chinese almost exclusively in my games, and I've been seeing 4-4 stones everywhere, so I want to mix things up. I am going for a territorial style this game. In fact, I am going for my old style, just for fun.

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[go]$$Bcm1 Fujisawa's Fuseki
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I used to play this opening up to back when I first learned go in middle school. I later discovered that this fuseki was originally used by the legendary Fujisawa Hosai.

This fuseki is considered somewhat dubious nowadays, but so is the Kobayashi that I see from time to time. This is an amateur game, so I'm not too worried about my efficiency in the opening.

I've never played Hades12, or seen any of his games, so I have no idea what to expect. If he responds with 3-4 stones I will definitely play this way. If he plays a 4-4 or 5-4 in the lower left then I may want to consider not playing . We'll see how I feel when the time comes.

Also, I'll make a prediction of how the game might go just for fun. This assumes my opponent plays a 4-4 and I deviate from my plan.

I'm assuming my opponent is going for a territorial style. 3-3 kind of throw me off as my strongest part of my go I believe is invading and fighting aggressively. the san-san point makes fighting harder because its so solid. ill probably open up with dual komoku or 3-5 to play a territorial game as well.

Posting this here so Hades can quote the previous post without uncovering this.

So sticking to the plan. The 3-5 is unexpected, but I'm not upset. My goal is still to play a territorial game. I wonder if he will play another 3-5? If so, I wonder if he will reduce my enclosure on the bottom or perhaps take a move on the top side to try to build from the 3-5. I will treat these points as miai, either getting me an extension or getting a 3-3 enclosure on the top.

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[go]$$Bcm1 a-b miai
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$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

For beginners.

Hades12 wrote:my strongest part of my go I believe is invading and fighting aggressively.

As the game progresses, we may see the accuracy of Hades' belief.

Hades12 wrote:the san-san point makes fighting harder because its so solid.

It's difficult to make sense of this statement.

it seems as though moyoaji wants a territorial game. So I'll oblige with a 3-4. I imagine he'll approach one of my corners. If he does it will be the top left. And I'll ignore to approach the bottom right.

Hades12 wrote:

$$Bcm1 Prisoners -
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[go]$$Bcm1 Prisoners -
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it seems as though moyoaji wants a territorial game. So I'll oblige with a 3-4. I imagine he'll approach one of my corners. If he does it will be the top left. And I'll ignore to approach the bottom right.

Maybe I'm reading this differently, but it would seems like an approach to the lower left 3-4 would be bigger than the upper left? If black approaches high, he has potential to build on the bottom side, which has the huge center point around K4, and if white tenukis that for the right side, black should be advantageous by virtue of being one move ahead. If white pincers, black can take the outside and look to build on the bottom. If white attaches underneath, black could avalanche, but the standard attach-hane joseki should be fine, since it ruins white's potential with a shimari in the top left, and if white does the same on the bottom right with his sente, the bottom becomes small and black takes sente to approach the top left from his group.

Honestly, I feel like white's two corner moves are unbalanced with each other, as they leave black a lot of scope for action on the left and are both aimed at low positions on the right. This might be fine if white has a plan to make these two work together, but there has been no commentary on that. I wonder if white should have approached the lower right directly, or played another 5-3 point, but I don't think I'm strong enough to give a definitive answer.

I think taken together, Hades12 is suggesting that he likes to invade and start running fights, but that he can't invade the 3-3 or make it weak to start the running fight easily. Beyond that, I can only speculate... perhaps he doesn't feel comfortable with reductions, or likes to play to ruin anything the opponent is making.

So far my plan is going, well, just as planned.

If my opponent encloses the top left I will approach the bottom left.

If my opponent encloses the bottom left I will play between our two enclosures at K3 to grab that big point.

If my opponent takes K3/4 I will approach the bottom left.

If he approaches the top right I will likely respond - and will almost certainly gain sente afterwards.

And if he plays tengen I will resign because, clearly, that's the biggest point on this board. [/sarcasm]

this fuseki is interesting. I think it was played more commonly in the middle of the last century, by Sakata eio or Fujisawa hosai or something. I think it's considered slow and hard to develop from. I'm playing l4 to take away the good extension from black. I expect moyoaji will approach my lower left 3-4. I think I'll pincer or attach outside.

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[go]$$c This is a label for the diagram.
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$$ | . . W 7 8 . . . . . . . . . . . B . . |
$$ | . . W , 0 . . . . , W . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . W . . . . . . . . . . . B . . . |
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Maybe something like this.

Something's off with the formatting and numbering of your last diagram. Also, if you don't want to have circles on each stone, use X for black and O for white.

I find to be sort of strange. It is 6 spaces from when you'd usually want a 5 space extension. This also makes it less useful in helping , so I feel comfortable approaching more normally. I might consider a two-space low approach if was on the star point. If white doesn't pincer me here I'd be surprised.

I approach high to make the pincer less of a problem. If I approached low I would expect to play something like this joseki:

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[go]$$Bcm1 Feels too good for white...
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$$ | . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
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$$ | . 5 . O . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
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$$ ----------------------------------------[/go]

My group is settled, but I feel like this works quite well with the stone white just played because he doesn't have to turn around and follow up on the bottom. Since he can turn around and help the stone on the left, it also makes approaching the top at 'a' harder because a pincer at 'b' would also work quite well. in this diagram could basically be considered a 5-space extension from his 3-5 stone.

I do have other joseki options from a low approach, but they also don't appeal to me.

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[go]$$Bcm1 Doesn't work that well...
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$$ ----------------------------------------[/go]

I suppose I could also do this joseki, but because the top corner is white it doesn't seem to work out so well for me. I feel like needs more support. I know you can tenuki from but I've never liked the results I've gotten from that.

So I approach high, still expecting to be pincered, and I hope it is going to be a Magic Sword joseki so I can use the knowledge I have gained from The Chinese Opening's chapter on the Two Space High Pincer.

Probably going to go for this joseki:

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[go]$$Bcm1 Seems to make sense.
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$$ | . . . , . . 3 . . , O . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
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$$ ----------------------------------------[/go]

just seems right to me. It seems to split white apart on the bottom, and separating your opponent is one of the key ideas in go. I obviously don't know every joseki stemming from these stones, but hopefully I'll be able to hold my own in any fighting that occurs.

For those wondering, yes, I am willing to play the famous ladder joseki if white wants to go for it. My plan is to play for territory after all, and that joseki gives plenty of territory. I have the upper right corner as well, so the ladder works for me. On the downside it would make white's off star-point stone look well placed, but it seems like that stone looking good is inevitable. It is just a matter of making sure it doesn't look too good.