Lesson 132: Popular Openings (3)
By Nam Chi-hyung
We've studied the Kobayashi Opening with Black's low pincer. The variations derived from the high pincer will not be difficult to understand, since you already know what to consider when you evaluate the final position of a sequence of moves.
Diagram 1
Here, Black plays the high pincer with 1, rather than the low one at A. But that's the only substantial change in the sequence up to 11, and the resulting situation is still quite favorable to Black, as he gets both the right and the lower sides. Obviously, this is what Black wants.
Diagram 2
However, the same as his reaction against Black's low pincer, White can play the brilliant tiger's mouth with 6 instead of jumping toward the center with A. Owing to this move, White is not only able to gain territory along the right side, but also to provoke Black's territorial framework on the lower side by threatening Black's weakness at B.
Diagram 3
As you've seen so far, whether with the low pincer or with the high, it is impossible for Black to have a better outcome than White after White's discovery of the good tiger's mouth, which led Black to make a change in the sequence, namely Black 5. The intention behind Black's peeping with 5 in advance of playing A is very apparent. If White answers with B, Black will return to the favorable sequence of Dia.1 by playing A without giving White a chance to play the good tiger's mouth. This sounds very promising, but White is not as stupid as Black expects.
Diagram 4
Instead of connecting at 3, White attaches at 2, asking for Black's answer. Whether he plays A or B, answering White 2 is clearly bad for Black because White gets the corner territory as a bonus, when compared to the final position of Dia.1. Consequently, to cut at 3 is the only option for Black after he chooses to play 1.
Diagram 5
What troubles Black is that the attempt to get the better outcome by changing the order of moves is foiled, not by a brilliant move, but by a simple one like White 3 here. As you see, the two △-marked black stones are much less useful than before.
Diagram 6
In addition, White doesn't need to spend any more moves on the lower side to prevent Black from making territory there. It is just redundant for Black to play 2 to 6, and the △-marked stone is still useless.
I'm afraid that you may get the feeling that the Kobayashi Opening is not as powerful as before, since Black's results weren't better than White. One thing for sure is that we should not expect more from Baduk. If your opponent answers correctly, the best you can get is a balanced result. Or, perhaps there can be another innovation for Black. This is what the young Korean professionals are working on these days.
The writer is a baduk professor at Myongji University and a professional player of the game.