Kudo Joseki

Let's talk about Kudo joseki today.

What is a Kudo joseki anyway? Well, here is the example of Kudo joseki:


The main idea of Kudo joseki.

Kudo joseki is a joseki that was developed by Kudo Norio, the former Tengen title holder. It is a variation from joseki invented by Fujisawa Hosai. The main line of this joseki is the placement of white 4, which is one line further than the actual joseki where white 4 is placed at A.

The idea of this joseki is to get a better aji from white 4, since the pressure on the stone is not as big as white A.

Many think about black plays iken tobi in this situation. If black play iken tobi, the usual continuation is:


Black played iken tobi instead of the attachment

Above is the peaceful variation. Black solidly take the corner, while white get the outside.

If you prefer to fight than playing peacefully, you can try the aggressive variation below:


Aggressive continuation.

The variation is aggressive and lead to a battle. The sequence above came from the game between Hane Yasumasa (father of the current Honinbo title holder, Hane Naoki) and Ishigure Ikuro. A similiar situation arose in 2004, in the game between Cho U and Yoo Changhyuk at LG Cup. Hane played the variation above, while Yoo prefer solid move at A.

I think the two spaces jump that Cho U played is better than the one Ishigure played (he played tsuke at black's stone). White's position is not as hard in the diagram above. Here is the position from Cho vs. Yoo game:


Cho U vs. Yoo Changhyuk

Another sequence is white to played keima tsuke exchange before played the sequence above.


A trap from white.

This move seems to be a trap in the variation. The intention of this move is to trap black to play 1 in diagram below.


Not really good for black.

The black's groups is separated, while the two white stones has a great aji. White can gain 1 eye by capturing the black stone, or sacrifice them to get his group out.
When blocking, black must not block from A, since the position will be bad for him.


Uh-oh for black.

Now black must defend the group on the right, then white will split black's groups in the right.

Since the keima tsuke is a trap move, of course there is a way to avoid it. By playing nobi.


The proper way for black.

The position is good for black, since he got the corner and still has access to the center. The variation came from the 1st Nongshim Cup, where Kudo used it to played Luo Xihe from China (but Kudo who played white was unsuccessful. He lost by 3.5 points).


Try this joseki sometimes and have fun guys :)

Kudo Norio was born in August 2, 1940. He turned shodan in 1955 and became 9p in 1976. In 1975 he won the 5th All Japan #1 tournament. Two years later, he won his first big title, Oza. The last title he hold was Tengen in 1997. In 2005, he was the elected president of the International Go Federation, succeeding the late Kato Masao.


Kudo Norio.