But after B8, although White has gouged out most of the territory from Black’s underbelly, Black is quite safely led out into the center, and what might have been White’s thickness in the center, with which he hoped to compensate for the two big Black corners above and below, has been effectively negated.
So playing this way would be very inferior for White.
Solution 8B From the principles enumerated earlier we know that as things stand this still unenclosed group can’t simply be killed, so if White desires to attack it his only sensible option is to begin by trying to confine it from the outside. So White correctly began his attack from the outside with the capping move of W1.
B2 is the best way for Black to try to expand his space, and after the expected hane of W3 and draw back of B4, W5 is necessary to prevent Black’s strong ”outside hane” at this same point.
When B6 cuts, W7 is necessary to prevent Black’s atari on W1 at this same point. And then Black has a big decision to make!
If Black now plays at 9 to make shape, W8 will assure the capture of B6 and connect White, while providing him with the powerful thickness he sought.
` That was unappealing to Black, so with B8 he chose to keep White separated. But in return, now that Black is enclosed, it does make sense for W9 to occupy Black’s key shape point!
Whether or not Black can live after this will be a function of the respective fighting skills of the opponents. Given that Black allowed W9 it’s reasonable to assume that a player as strong as the 5D who contested this game correctly pre-calculated his chances in that regard, and in the end he did in fact live here. (Although the result of that local fight was obviously critically important to the game’s outcome, from our present perspective it’s a “detail” which lies outside our concern with the proper way to play in such situations, so we won’t go into it further.)