The Orthodox Fuseki
- on Thursday, March 25, 2010
Dia. 1: The Orthodox Fuseki
I didn’t make time this week to put together a set of problems (I’ll try to get ahead of the game this weekend), so I’ve posted an article about one of my favorite openings — the orthodox fuseki.
Orthodox has been a popular opening throughout the modern era, but has surged in popularity among professionals since about 2001, now appearing in in about one in four professional games. It has also seen a number of recent innovations. Orthodox is a solid, steady opening, balancing influence and territory. It’s also relatively easy to understand — a good choice for novice players who are want to start studying specific openings.
Take a look at the extended entry for a more detailed examination.
Dia. 2: This is the most common sequence in current professional play after the wedge at 1. White often chooses simpler variations by making a two-space extension with a instead of 3.
The basic formation is shown in diagram 1. Black opens with 4-4 and 3-4 stones in adjacent corners, then completes the formation with a low shimari (the particular order of moves shown is most common, but not fixed). Black need not play 5 immediately; for instance, black might first approach a white corner as a probe.
The first two black moves are also the same as the mini-Chinese fuseki, so this formation can also appear when white plays to prevent the mini-Chinese. If the placement of the lower left white stone is such that a normal approach is disadvantageous, or white pincers the approach to the lower left, black always has the option to simply finish the shimari, creating an orthodox formation. This makes 1 and 3 a very flexible opening for black.
White can, of course, prevent the orthodox or the mini-Chinese opening by approaching the 3-4 stone with 4, but that permits black to take the open corner.
Dia. 3: This is the second most common sequence after the wedge. Black presses from above, white makes an extension and black gets thickness by attacking the small white group. 4-13 might not be played out immediately. If white plays here first instead, an invasion at a or b is common.
Dia. 4: This is the most common variation after the inside approach at 1. This is the most popular approach to the orthodox fuseki in current professional play, and this joseki is the modern choice by black in response. Black gets a solid corner and white gets thickness.
White will usually waste no time in breaking up the right side. If black were allowed to get in a move at z in dia. 1, the resulting formation would be difficult to deal with. The aim is to establish an easily settled group and prevent black from taking the whole side. With black already having played three moves here, white can’t expect to get a large amount of territory in this part of the board.
Historically, the wedge at 1 in diagrams 2 and 3 has been the most popular choice, appearing in more than 60% of all professional games with this opening. Black will then press firmly from below (2 in diagram 2), from above (2 in diagram 3) or more loosely from above (one point higher) or may just play elsewhere, considering the two approaches as miai.
Dia. 5: The close pincer is also a common choice after the approach, and this elementary joseki is the most common continuation. The wider pincer at a is more common in professional play recently, and coordinates better with the enclosure in the lower right, but the variations can be more complicated. 12 might not be played immediately; if not, white will play a reducing move, such as a shoulder hit on 2.
If white gets the next move on this side, an approach to the 4-4 stone from the outside is common, as are several possible extensions from the wedge stone, or both.
The inside approach at 1 in diagrams 4 and 5 used to be much less common than the wedge. However, with the recent surge in the popularity of this opening, it’s seen more interest, unseating the wedge as the most popular move by white for the first time in 2009. An alternative wedge (c in dia. 1) was also common in the past, but waned in popularity starting in the 1990s and is now extinct at the professional level today. The alternative approach at d is seen, though it is not common. White may choose that direction when there is a particular interest in the top. Other moves are fairly rare and may be considered special-purpose.
The following SGF was generated from the GoGoD game database, summer 2009 edition, and shows the relative popularity of different variations in 3607 professional games where this opening has appeared since 1950. A number of sequences are joseki, having appeared in a many professional games. Try navigating the variations to get some ideas for how to handle this opening, and then give it a try in your own games.
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