© 2017 by Kosugi Kiyoshi and James Davies (Revised Edition)

Elementary Go Series, Volume 2

38 Basic Josekis

by Kiyoshi Kosugi 8 dan & James Davies

Buy the full book at gobooks.com

In the game of go, the opening moves focus on the corners of the board. Over the thousands of years of go playing, this aspect of the game has been intensively studied, and a large number of opening formulas, or josekis, have been discovered and refined. Every go player needs to have a working knowledge of the basic ones.

38 Basic Josekis cuts incisively through the labyrinth of josekis to give the reader a solid grounding in the subject. Working steadily out from the 3–3 point to the 4–5 point, it surveys the principal variations of the 38 most common corner patterns, pointing out the key ideas in each and showing the reader how to choose and use josekis in relation to other stones on the board.

The authors, an 8-dan Japanese professional go player and a strong American amateur, write so as to systematically build the reader’s understanding and help him develop a flexible approach. In the pages of this book, the road to joseki is open to all.

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About the Authors

Kiyoshi Kosugi

was born in 1939 in Tokyo into a large, go-playing family. His parents and all six of his brothers and sisters know how to play go, and three of them — his father, mother, and younger brother — are professional go players.

Under his father’s tutelage, he became a professional shodan in 1957, reached 2-dan the next year, and 3-dan the year after that. In 1967 he took second place in the second division of the Oteai tournament, which determines a professional player’s rank, and was promoted to 5-dan. In 1979 he came in second in the 23rd Prime Minister’s Cup. He became 8-dan in 1991.

Besides go, he likes to read and play mah-jong. He lives with his wife and family in Chiba Prefecture.

James Davies

was born in 1945 in Philadelphia. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1967 and entered graduate school at the University of Washington, only to have a mathematics professor interest him in the game of go. In 1970 he came to Japan, where his go playing has advanced to the amateur 6-dan level.

Copyright Page

Elementary Go Series, Volume 2

38 Basic Josekis

Kiyoshi Kosugi 8 dan & James Davies

Published by
Kiseido Publishing Company
Kagawa 4–48–32, Chigasaki-shi,
Kanagawa-ken
Japan 253–0082

© 2017 by Kosugi Kiyoshi and James Davies (Revised Edition)

All rights reserved according to international law. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic or electronic process, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or otherwise copied for public or private use without the written permission of the publisher.

ISBN of the printed version: 4978–4–906574–11–7

Converted for SmartGo Books by John Mifsud.

Contents

38 Basic Josekis

About the Authors

Copyright Page

Preface

Chapter One. 3–3 Point Josekis

Joseki 1

Joseki 2

Chapter Two. 3–4 Point Josekis, Part 1

Joseki 3

Joseki 4

Joseki 5

Joseki 6

Joseki 7

Joseki 8

Chapter Three. 3–4 Point Josekis, Part 2: Pincers

Joseki 9

Joseki 10

Joseki 11

Joseki 12

Joseki 13
3: elsewhere

Joseki 14

Joseki 15

Joseki 16

Joseki 17

Joseki 18

Chapter Four. 4–4 Point Josekis, Part 1: Invasion and Attachment

Joseki 19

Joseki 20

Chapter Five. 4–4 Point Josekis, Part 2: Approach Moves

Joseki 21

Joseki 22

Joseki 23

Joseki 24

Joseki 25

Joseki 26

Joseki 27

Joseki 28
2: elsewhere

Joseki 29
2: elsewhere

Chapter Six. 3–5 Point Josekis

Joseki 30

Joseki 31

Joseki 32

Joseki 33

Joseki 34

Joseki 35

Chapter Seven. 4–5 Point Josekis

Joseki 36

Joseki 37

Joseki 38

Glossary of Technical Terms

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Preface

To the beginner, the game of go appears as a jungle of confusion, full of pitfalls past which only Providence could possibly guide him. As he gains experience, he may learn to sort out the events of the middle and end games, recognize patterns, and play rationally, but the opening is apt to remain a mystery to him. Indeed, it remains something of a mystery even to professional go players, and there are no tabulations of go openings comparable to the books on chess openings, which tell how to play from move one onwards.

There are, however, patterns which arise in parts of the board again and again during the opening. They occur in especially large numbers in the corners, where the initial fighting of the game generally takes place. These corner formulas, which have been discovered by trial and error, and worked out through centuries of go playing, and are still being added to and discarded, are called josekis.

This is intended as a first book on josekis, so it contains only the more common of them. In choosing our material, we have taken pains to avoid the kind of long, complicated sequences that one can spend hours learning, and then go for months without using. We have also decided not to spend time on doubtful or ‘trick’ moves, although occasionally a mistaken play is shown to explain the meaning of a good one. These commissions will limit this book’s usefulness as a reference work for advanced players, but they should be welcomed by readers at the sub-shodan (1-dan) level, for whom we are writing. There are no major gaps in our coverage of josekis, and we hope that our explanations are clear enough for even beginners to understand.

With the exception of Chapter Four, we have limited ourselves to those josekis in which one player plays a stone in the corner and, before he has a chance to reinforce it with a second stone, his opponent moves in after him. The first stone ordinarily goes on one of these five points:

the 3–3 point (san-san)

the 3–4 point (komoku)

the 4–4 point (hoshi)

the 3–5 point (mokuhazushi)

the 4–5 point (takamoku)

We shall take them in that order, starting with the 3–3 point and moving out toward the center. We shall stop at the 4–5 point because, although it is not necessarily bad to start farther out from the corner, it is rather unusual, so there are no josekis built specifically around such moves.

The reader of this, or any other joseki book, may be dismayed at the large number of variations it contains. Let him be reassured that he need not worry about forgetting them; in fact, it is a good idea to forget them. Too much dependence on rote learning of josekis stifles a player’s imagination, and blinds his overall vision of the board. It is best to remember pieces of josekis – shapes of stones, individual moves, and concepts that can be put to use in many situations. Joseki books, like other books, should be looked upon as sources of ideas, not as texts to be learned by heart.

Even professional players read joseki books at the apprentice stage of their development. Watching these student professionals, we can see them using and misusing josekis that they have picked up from their reading, but do not yet really understand. This gives their games an awkward appearance. A full-fledged professional, having read dozens of go books and played and watched thousands of games, no longer studies josekis much, but relies on his accumulated experience. He plays a joseki not from memory but from his general feeling for what moves are good in any given situation. He may not know when he plays a stone exactly what makes it a good move or what is going to follow it, but he is confident that the subsequent moves will bear out his judgment. He adapts his josekis to the surrounding positions and therefore regularly produces moves not found in, or even criticized in, joseki books. He may pull new surprise moves on his opponents and they are more likely to be thought up on the spur of the moment than to be the product of secret study the night before.

Amateurs must learn josekis in the same way, starting with sequences they remember from books or from stronger players’ games, testing them out in their own games, varying them, coming to understand them, and finally being able to play on their own with confidence. This book has been designed to encourage that development: rather than just compile long lists of josekis, we have taken a relatively few number of them and tried to explain them, and show how they should be altered to meet varied situations. We expect the reader to use his head a little, applying what appears in one place to positions arising in other places without having to be told and not taking what he reads to be blanket statements covering all situations.

Concerning the authorship of this book, most of the diagrams and ideas in it were supplied by Kosugi in a series of consultations stretching from April to October, 1972. The text was written by Davies, who also contributed what diagrams he could.

We are indebted to the Japanese Go Association for the use of their facilities and to Richard Bozulich for offering suggestions on parts of the manuscript.

Kiyoshi Kosugi
James Davies
Tokyo, Japan
October 1972

Chapter One

3–3 Point Josekis

Introduction

Generally speaking, the simplest josekis start with a stone on the 3–3 point, as in Dia. 1. This used to be considered a poor move, but that belief has been dispelled in the 20th century, when professional players have come to make frequent use of 3–3 point josekis.

Dia. 1

The virtue of the stone in Dia. 1 is easy to understand: it denies Black access to the corner. If Black attacks, he will have to build his position in the center or along one side of the board, where it is harder to find security. The drawback of a move on the 3–3 point is that, tucked so far back in the corner, it does not give much help in developing into the center. The two sections of this chapter will show what happens when Black approaches the white stone in Dia. 1.

Dia. 2

＞＜ ▶︎

If Black does not get around to playing against White’s stone, then sooner or later White will want to enclose the corner by adding a stone at 1 or ‘a’ in Dia. 2. Such a move, reinforcing the corner, reaching out into the center, and preparing for wide extensions on both sides, is of great value.

Joseki 1

Basic Joseki 1

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 1 is our first example of an approach move, a move which approaches an isolated enemy corner stone from the outside. It is worth quite a lot for White to push back against this particular approach with 2. Black 3 to 5 are the standard continuation. White makes a modest amount of corner territory, while Black gets a center-facing position.

This is the basic joseki pattern, but it is often altered to fit surrounding circumstances. In particular, Black 3, White 4, and Black 5 are often played differently. We shall examine the meaning of the moves in the basic joseki, and then look at some of the variations.

The basic joseki

Dia. 1
2: elsewhere

＞＜ ▶︎

White 2 in the basic joseki is a big move. If White omits it and Black gets a chance to play 3, then, although White can still live in the corner, he will be confined much more tightly than before. (See Joseki 19.) White 4 is important for the same reason.

Dia. 2
3: elsewhere

＞＜ ▶︎

If Black omits 3 and White gets to play 4, then Black 1 becomes almost useless. This formation is better for White than just enclosing the corner would be. Therefore, Black 3 in the basic joseki is another important move.

Dia. 3

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 5 in the basic joseki is easier to leave out than the three moves which preceded it, but it does prevent White 1 in this diagram, a move which prepares both to attack the black stones and to make territory on the left side.

Dia. 4

＞＜ ▶︎

After the joseki, Black 1 here is a big move, preparing to make territory and eye shape on the lower side and stopping White from enlarging his corner in that direction. Sometimes it is best to play 1 instead of .

Dia. 5

＞＜ ▶︎

To prevent Black 1 in the last diagram, White often continues the basic joseki by playing 6, although that gives Black sente.

White 4: variations

Dia. 6

＞＜ ▶︎

Here is one variation in the basic joseki. Black 7 prepares to wall off the left side at ‘a’, so White usually plays 8 at ‘b’, leaving Black to take ‘c’ or some other point.

Dia. 7

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 1 is especially appropriate when White has made two extensions like from his corner stone. After 5, White can attack the stones Black has played, but unless by some chance he succeeds in actually capturing them, he cannot get a lot of territory here. Compare his prospects in this diagram with what they would be if he could make a corner enclosure at 3. Incidentally, this is a situation where Black might play 5 at ‘a’ for a faster get-away into the center. Either way is joseki, but…

Dia. 8

＞＜ ▶︎

Instead of following the basic joseki pattern, in this situation White might well play 4 and so on to take territory on the left side. Black can finish the sequence with 13, giving himself some room for eyes and getting ready to attack White .

Black makes a one-point jump

Dia. 9

＞＜ ▶︎

By way of introducing some of the other variations in this joseki, let’s examine this sequence, taken from a professional game. White attacked Black with 1, and Black 2 and 4 were nice replies. Against White 5, Black jumped out to 6, and White wedged in at 7.

Dia. 10

＞＜ ▶︎

If Black had played 6 here, White would have skipped out to 7 and it would have been hard for Black to do much of anything with 6 and . He could not very well attack the white stones in the middle of the lower side, because they could connect to the left hand corner at ‘a’.

Dia. 11

＞＜ ▶︎

In one variation of this joseki, White plays 7 as shown to take territory on the lower side, but in the present game that would let Black get a big point at 8 on the right side. Later Black could play ‘a’ or ‘b’ in sente, even if White first played ‘c’. And there would remain ways, such as Black ‘d’, for him to break into the lower side.

Dia. 12

＞＜ ▶︎

But it would not have been good for Black to play 8 after White 7 here, because then White 9 would have taken a large territory on the lower side and left Black very weak.

Dia. 13

＞＜ ▶︎

The actual game continued this way. Next, Black was able to live on the lower side by playing ‘a’ and ‘b’.

Dia. 14

＞＜ ▶︎

White could have secured the lower side territory by playing 11 here — the connection between it and could not be broken — but then Black would have played 12 and White would have been faced with the need to invade the right side. White 13 looks like the best point, since White does not want to be pushed toward Black’s strong wall in the lower right, but, however he invades, he cannot get the worry-free position he had in Dia. 13. White 11 is a joseki move for White, but in these circumstances it would have been an unnecessary addition to his stones on the lower side and an invitation to trouble on the right.

In conclusion

These sequences can be used not only in the corner, but whenever a stone anywhere on the third line is attacked with a shoulder-hit move like Black 1. Since such shoulder hits are one of the common ways of reducing large potential territories, the patterns of this section turn up frequently in the opening and early middle game.