Lesson 104: Patterned Sacrifice (1)

By Nam Chi-hyung

Sacrifice is a method of deliberately giving up stones or territory. Since people usually don't want to give up their stones or territory without proper reason, many of the sacrificing tactics are emergency measures.

However, we can also find that many josekis are formulated through a sacrificing method. Because a joseki is a sequence where both Black and White get balanced results, it is important to get the corresponding benefit when a player sacrifice his stones.

Diagram 1

The sequence up to White 3 is a 5-4 point joseki that appears often. A to C are Black's possible answers to White 3, but here let's look at the variations with Black B, which are related to the sacrifice tactic.

Diagram 2

After pushing with 1, Black cuts at 3 and extends at 5. There, 3 and 5 are sacrificing stones which White can capture with 4 and 6. Black will not try to save those, but make an influence by using them.

Diagram 3

As you see here, even though the two black stones are dead, Black can have a wall outside.

Diagram 4

Black 4 is a variation of the basic 4-4 point joseki. This can be useful when Black wants to build outside rather than keep the corner by answering at the 3-3 point. If White bends with 5, Black will cut with 6 and accept its sacrifice.

Diagram 5

White capturing Black's cutting stone is exactly what Black wants. Black will happily give up the stone and build a wall with 2 and 4.

Diagram 6

Of course, the result in Diagram 5 is also acceptable for White, but if he doesn't want to let Black have what he expected, another option can be to give atari to the other stone with 1. That results in a big trade between Black and White. However, this is only possible for White when the ladder with 7 is favorable for him. This result not bad at all for Black, since he can use the ladder break later.

Diagram 7

The sequence Black 1 to 9 is a way to avoid complicated situations when White approaches from both sides. Obviously Black chooses this only when the White's wall isn't too large. During the sequence, Black 9, which looks simple and easy, is a very important move.

Diagram 8

If Black omits capturing with 9 in Diagram 7, White will come out with 1. This is not an attempt to save the stone in atari. Still, Black can capture them by blocking with 2. However, this time, White can make an invincible influence by playing 3 and 5 in sente. Because of this, Black cannot omit Black 9 in Dia.7, even though he has to yield sente to White.

Diagram 9

In the same context, White 8 in Diagram 7 cannot be replaced with White 1 in this diagram. White 1 not only lets Black be able to play elsewhere, but also leaves a big hole in White's wall at A.

The writer is a Baduk professor at Myongji University and a professional player of the game.

chihyung@mju.ac.kr