I have a question which also relates to lovelove's latest post in his series. It concerns the following san-san variation (ignoring the rest of the board for the moment):

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[go]$$Wc double hane
$$ -------------------------
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . 6 5 . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . 4 3 1 . . |
$$ . , . . . . . X 2 7 . |
$$ . . . . . . . . 9 8 . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . , . . . . . , B . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

I learned it just as lovelove, that white absolutely cannot play this way when the marked stone is on the third line. However I got the second volume of the Takao dictionary for christmas that I'm browsing through now and then. There the following variation is given:

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[go]$$Bc continuation
$$ -------------------------
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . X O 8 . . . |
$$ . . b . . . X O O 2 . |
$$ . , . . . 3 . X X O . |
$$ . . . . . . . 1 O X . |
$$ . . . . . . . . 4 5 . |
$$ . . . . . . . . 6 7 . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . a . . |[/go]

It just says this is "playable for black". I quote: "For the time being, white will live with and aim at setting his three stones in motion later. That will start a fight."

Can anyone stronger comment on this? The way I see it white is at a big disadvantage which will only get worse if he starts a fight here, except maybe in rare cases when he's really strong nearby (with groups in the a and/or b area, for example). Am I/are we underestimating the aji white has at his disposal?

Let's ask GoGoD...
Is there even one game where White exchanged for and then connected at ? Answer: no! I assume that Black would automatically hane at "a" and never look back. This seems like a superficial and incorrect comment in the book.

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[go]$$Bc How about this?
$$ -------------------------
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . X O 8 . . . |
$$ . . . . . . X O O 2 . |
$$ . , . . . 3 . X X O . |
$$ . . . . . . . 1 O X . |
$$ . . . . . . . . 4 5 . |
$$ . . . . . . . . 6 7 . |
$$ . . . . . . . . a . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

So what does White do, if anything? There are several games where White extends one space further with before connecting at . The results, however, seem rather questionable. (Note that there are only a handful of games so it really isn't easy to draw any conclusions.) Black does not have a sure capture but Black has sente to decide how to handle the White stones, playing from the top or from the side. Since the White stones have no clear shape yet Black may even choose to ignore them for now and play elsewhere.

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[go]$$Bc This exists
$$ -------------------------
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . X O 0 . . . |
$$ . . . . . . X O O 2 . |
$$ . , . . . 3 . X X O . |
$$ . . . . . . . 1 O X . |
$$ . . . . . . . . 4 5 . |
$$ . . . . . . . . 6 7 . |
$$ . . . . . . . . 8 9 . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . , . . . . . , X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

For example O Meien tries it against Takao...

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[go]$$B Takao Shinji - O Meien, 32nd Hayago Championship, 1999-09-02
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X X O O O 2 6 . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X O X X X 1 5 O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . 3 X O O . . . . 0 . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . X O . . . 4 7 . 9 . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . O . O . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . O , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . O X . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . O . . O . . O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . X O . . . O O X . |
$$ | . . . . . X . X . . . . . . O X X . X |
$$ | . . O O . . . . O , X . O . . , . X . |
$$ | . O X O . X . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . X X X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

What seems more reasonable is the case where the stone on the side is one space further down (see below). There are a few games where White comes all the way out to below before connecting. Based on a very quick look at the games, this seems more reasonable with White having an easier time escaping and thereby splitting Black's position.

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[go]$$Bc This exists
$$ -------------------------
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . X O 8 . . . |
$$ . . . . . . X O O O . |
$$ . , . . . 1 . X X O . |
$$ . . . . . . . X O X . |
$$ . . . . . . . . O X . |
$$ . . . . . . . . 2 3 . |
$$ . . . . . . . . 4 5 . |
$$ . . . . . . . . 6 7 . |
$$ . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . B . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

For example...

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[go]$$W Seo Pong-su - Cheong Su-hyeon, 27th Wangwi League, 1993-03-16
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . . . . . X O 3 . . . |
$$ | . . O . . X . . X . . . . . X O O O . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . , . . . X . X X O . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X O X . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . . . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . 1 2 . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . 7 . , 4 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . O . . . . . O . . O . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

_________________
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21