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When playing White, my KataGo 28b-network likes to insert the Kikashi of the attachment , instead of continuing the Nakade Sequence with KataGo's Atari at .

Karl's 40b Network rates this move as clearly advantageous for Black, which is likely due to the fact that this variation has not been analyzed as thoroughly as 28b has been in the meantime.

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This is the only move !

Black must solidly connect directly above White's intruder to ensure that neither his two -stones on the left edge nor his two -stones in the upper left centre will be captured by White.

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Black only begins to reduce White's top-right corner "late", just before the start of the Crosscut Sequence (with ) in the top left centre.

Both the Hanezeki Exchange ( / ) and the Guzumi Exchange ( / ) have already been played.

White's responses include the moves , and (although would be a possibility, it is not used in practice due to its lower probability of success compared to the other options).

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: (C 2700, 76 2700)
White blocks immediately, following the line of Fujisawa Hideyuki.

Since the Hanezeki Exchange has already been played, White also has the option of retreating with () instead. Both KataGo nets rate its Self-Play Success Ratio as equivalent to that of the "classic" move.

Responding immediately with a move at is a recent discovery by 28b, which estimates the chances of success for this move (i.e. the "Self-Play Success Ratio") to be more than twice as high as those of 40b.

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For quite some time, at the end of the "classic" reduction sequence, 28b has liked connecting at instead of playing the Hasami-Tsuke of if Black (as here) started the reduction of the top-right corner "late". That was the precursor to the variation described above.

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: ( 2700)
White jumps back, not affecting the outcome of the game.

However, 28b had to learn the hard way that this move cannot always be played; rather, the effectiveness of this alternative depends on the presence of the Hanezeki Exchange ( / ).

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: ( 2700)
This highly unexpected move is 28b's latest discovery.

This gives White the opportunity to bring the outcome of the Semeai Variation into line with that of the Capture Variation.

However, similar to the previous variation, 28b had to learn the hard way that this move cannot always be played; rather, the effectiveness of this alternative depends on the presence of the Hanezeki Exchange ( / ).

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40b likes to start the reduction of White's upper right corner "very early".

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This is the only move !

Please note that the Hanezeki Exchange has not yet been played () !

Apr 12, 2026

Initial content for this section of the website.