Lesson 125 : Opening Evolution (1)
By Nam Chi-hyung
An opening formation is a patterned sequence of moves in the opening stage. Since it is usually composed of josekis, people often have difficulty in understanding the difference between an opening and a joseki. However, the opening formation is a much larger concept, composed of not only josekis, but also extensions, enclosures, etc.
In Baduk history, there have been a lot of famous opening formations, such as the ``New Opening,'' ``Shusaku's Opening,'' ``Three-Star Formation,'' ``Chinese Opening'' and many more. They were extremely popular when first invented, and some of them are still the objects of professional study. Their frequent use in many games at the time can be explained, not only by the players' preference of new things, but also by the logics guaranteeing their power and efficiency.
However, they are not insurmountable, and players have been trying hard to build new methods in order to overcome the dominant formations. I want to call this kind process in which an opening formation is invented and modified by new ideas, the evolution of a formation. The main structure stays the same, but each part keeps changing and developing.
Diagram 1
Black's formation on the lower side, composed of Black 1, 3 and the △-marked stone, is the famous Kobayashi Opening. As you see, there is no way for White to approach from the lower side, and he has to approach the △-marked stone from the right.
Diagram 2
However, White's one-space high approach is what Black wants. Black's pincer with 2 is a powerful attack in this situation. While White is running out toward the center, Black secures the lower side by peeping at 6 in sente, and turns to the right side with 8, forming a territorial framework.
Now, it is not difficult to know that the result of Dia.2 is much more favorable to Black. However, when this formation was first introduced, though feeling that something was wrong, players holding White didn't realize where the undesirable result came from. Since an opening is a mixture of various technical concepts, it is always helpful to examine as many things as possible. In this case, the answer was the way of the approach.
Diagram 3
However, the result is almost the same even if White tries a one-space low approach. Again, Black's pincer with 2 is a good move. As you see, the combination of Black 4 and the △-marked black stone is helping Black perfectly to make a strong territorial framework on the lower side, and the two White stones 1 and 3 have to seek safety without making a substantial profit.
Diagram 4
Changing the joseki doesn't help either. Still the △-marked stone is correctly positioned, and the joseki itself ends up with White's gote.
Dia.5
Diagram 5
The answer, which overwhelms Black's intention, is actually simpler than we thought, namely White's two-space low approach. Compared to the weak white group in Dia.2 helping Black to build territory on the lower and the right sides, here White easily gets enough space to extend and doesn't allow Black to strengthen the lower side.
It is surprising that it took players such a long time to find this plain method to avoid Black's blade, but maybe that's the nature of an evolution.
The writer is a baduk professor at Myongji University and a professional player of the game.