Lee Sedol, 9p - Shin Jinseo, 9p 2018-10-06 small avalanche

[Gomoto]

This game features the small avalanche. The small avalanche is quite popular in recent pro games.

Lee Sedol, 9p - Shin Jinseo, 9p, B+R (Komi 6.5)
year 2018 Korean League, round 14, 2018-10-06

[Gomoto]

Elf has a strong opinion on the small avalanche:

smallavalanche1.jpg (167.79 KiB) Viewed 5068 times

[Gomoto]

The pros don't seem to care, there are > 85 recent pro games whith this position:

(Winrate in this pro games is 61% for black, and when you only look at the top pros this trend is even more pronounced.)

What do you think?

$$Bc
$$ . . . . . , . . . |
$$ . . . . . O . . . |
$$ . . . X O . O . . |
$$ . . . O X O O X . |
$$ . . . X X X O X . |
$$ . . . O . O X . . |
$$ . . . O . O X X . |
$$ . . . . O X O O . |
$$ . . . . X X . X . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . |
$$ -------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Bc
$$ . . . . . , . . . |
$$ . . . . . O . . . |
$$ . . . X O . O . . |
$$ . . . O X O O X . |
$$ . . . X X X O X . |
$$ . . . O . O X . . |
$$ . . . O . O X X . |
$$ . . . . O X O O . |
$$ . . . . X X . X . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . |
$$ -------------------[/go]

[MikeKyle]

I'd love to hear some strong players opinions but I always thought that move 16 should be at o3 if you have the ladder?
Seems like better shape to me.

I also find Q4 hard to justify in this context given that white can settle in what looks like Black's broad sphere of influence, but I'm happy to put that down to my poor sense of direction of play and/or modern trends.

Avalanche is fun, I'm glad it's back.