Lesson 135: Popular Openings (6)
By Nam Chi-hyung
One of the dominant openings of the 1980's was that of the Japanese 9-dan professional Takemiya, which was played by everybody who liked the influential style. His opening, called the "Cosmic Style," is now remembered as a direct expression insisting on the importance of the center. Takemiya's contemporaries were not wholly convinced by his play at the time, and that allowed the player who claimed the center to do whatever he wanted. Nowadays, however, everybody knows the danger of letting your opponent gain the initiative in the center area, and therefore plays more shrewdly. Because of this, a simple joseki went through a big change.
Diagram 1
Less than 20 years ago, White 2 against Black's approach at 1 was considered a bad move because it allows Black to take the corner up to 11. Players of the past thought the uncertainty of White's influence was inferior to Black's secure territory. On the contrary, players of the present appreciate the value of White's influence more than Black's territory. They think they should not give up an influence so easily to the opponent.
Diagram 2
The choice of the sequence in Diag.1 would be a mistake, especially when Black intends to play an opening emphasizing the influence by playing the two star points as shown. The ideal process would be something like White's answering with A instead of 2, and Black's expansion with B.
Diagram 3
Black 3, jumping out toward the center, expresses that Black wants to have the initiative in the center as he originally intended. Now the corner is under White's control, but Black doesn't care. Against Black 5, there are two possible answers for White, A and B.
Diagram 4
If White attaches at 1, Black will block at 2. Up to 6, White gets the corner and Black gets the influence on the lower side, which is quite well-balanced. Don't be frightened by the size of White's corner territory, since there are weak points such as A and B in this shape and the whole area cannot be considered territory as it is.
Diagram 5
If White pushes with 1, then the sequence up to 8 is a joseki. Again, Black can build a wall toward the center by allowing White to have territory in the corner and on the side. If you are worried about the weakness at A when playing Black 8, look at the next diagram.
Diagram 6
White 1 to 5 is the harshest way to press Black, but it would give only small profit to White, and let Black make a huge territorial framework on the right side. Since Black can invade the lower left corner with A at any time, what White gains in that corner is not so big.
Diagram 7
Therefore, White cannot but come into the right side with 1, and then Black protects the weakness with 2. The normal sequence after this is White 3 and Black 4, and the overall situation is fair for both players. White cannot omit 3 in order to add a move on the left side, which is why the △-marked black move is better than A. The details of this situation will be continued in the next lesson.
The writer is a baduk professor at Myongji University and a professional player of the game.