kikashi
A good forcing move outside the main sequence played to gain a specific advantage which if left to later would become unavailable. If played too early such a move would be aji keshi and so must be carefully timed. The advantages gained from a kikashi are often minor and usually quite subtle, but to illustrate the principle, a more obvious example is shown below. In the first diagram White's group is in trouble. Although he can make one eye at the top of his group, White desperately needs another eye for life. White has just played a move that threatens to destroy one of Black's eyes and thus the life of the corner black stones, hoping that Black will reply with a block at A. The continuation sequence shown in the second diagram lets White obtain the second eye at B. All that Black can catch are two white stones in gote by cutting at C. By treating white 1 as kikashi he has blundered! Instead, he should have replied with his own kikashi at black 2, as in the third diagram. White 3 is forced. Black 4 returns to secure the black eye but now, although White can wriggle, there is no way for him to gain the second eye. |