Life In 19x19

I was looking through some old posts and thought this was a cool opening concept.
And how lucky that an example appears twice in the same game.

By blocking move I mean a move like var: . Or Game: following the variation with intent to tenuki.

Bill Spight wrote:A few comments.

(;FF[4]ST[2]AP[GOWrite:2.3.46]GM[1]SZ[19]CA[UTF-8]DT[2015-09-03]C[Hero \[7k\]\: Hi GG]BR[7k]WR[6k]RE[W+Resign]TM[600]PW[Villain]PB[Hero]RU[Japanese]KM[0.50]FG[259:]PM[2]PC[The KGS Go Server at http\://www.gokgs.com/]OT[5x20 byo-yomi]GN[ ]
;B[pd]BL[598.115]
;WL[596.771]W[pp]
;B[dc]BL[595.592]
;W[dq]WL[594.291]C[*** Not so good.]
(
;B[ce]C[*** Misses an opportunity. See variation.]BL[592.023]
;WL[590.908]W[co]
;B[jd]C[Villain \[6k\]\: hi]BL[588.323]
;WL[586.632]W[pj]
;B[jq]BL[577.542]
;WL[583.305]W[lq]
(
;B[gq]C[*** See variation.]BL[574.572]
;W[oq]WL[580.22]C[*** Only defensive.]
;B[dj]C[*** Black has the edge.]BL[563.842]
;WL[574.173]W[nc]
;B[oc]BL[554.834]
;WL[570.347]W[nd]
(
)

)
(
;B[dj]C[*** Black makez a double wing, and a huge framework.]
;W[hq]C[*** Black has prevented an ideal development by White.]
;B[pg]C[*** Running would be premature. ]
;W[jo]C[*** Maybe not best.]
;B[pm]C[*** The K-03 stone still has aji. ]
)

)
(
;B[co]
(
;W[ce]C[*** If White restores symmety, . . .]
;B[ci]C[*** Black gets a big play.]
)
(
;W[dl]C[*** If White pincers, . . .]
;B[ce]C[*** Black has prevented the White enclosure with sente, but gets his enclosure.]
;W[do]C[*** If White attacks this stone, . . .]
;B[jq]C[*** Black has a good play here. The Black corner stone still has aji.]
)

)

)

So to test the value of the blocking plays we should compare Game: //Variation: and Variation with Diagram .



Never really thinking about this in my games before, initially I'm kind of skeptical that Game: is better than Variation: .

In Game: : The corner enclosure already has aji. There are a few different attachments that can be made. And K3 already looks like a good play for black without the C5 Aji.

Variation: : White has the extra reach to D8. Is this over concentrated? D8 wants to be closed off but b/c C15 is low white doesn't have a good move on the left.
Now black has a good move at C10 that he didn't have before.
Is K3 a better move in Variation because it's splitting a taller wall? D8 becomes even less effective?
D2 aji is more severe b/c C5 threatens bigger life in the corner?

Thinking like this it seems the variation is better.
I guess I was skeptical because it looks like white's corner is more "complete."
White wanted to play in that corner anyways so it seems like a thank you move.

Maybe it's just a matter of sente/gote?
Maybe I'm missing benefits of Game ?

Personally I'm not sure how I would find these moves haha.
Maybe they are more common when there is miai.
Maybe I will think more creatively about "The enemy's key point is yours"

Any examples in your games?

edit: clarification

What exactly do you mean by a blocking move?

I mean a move like var . It looks like a play just to block whites enclosure and then abandon the stone.

Idk what it's called so i just called it a blocking move.

Game would be another example in the variation but not in the actual game.

Unusedname wrote:I mean a move like var . It looks like a play just to block whites enclosure and then abandon the stone.

Idk what it's called so i just called it a blocking move.

Game would be another example in the variation but not in the actual game.

Ah, that makes sense. I suppose they have a lot in common with probes, in that you put down a stone to see how your opponent reacts, and base your game plan off that without necessarily putting too much stock in the stone itself... it may just be aji later, or open up an invasion that it's too early to play. By extension, if your opponent protects against the invasion or aji too early, you gain on the rest of the board.