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Chapter Fourteen. Haengma

The final two chapters of this book have something in common. They both touch on more advanced topics that can be said to require middlegame thinking. That is, they push on beyond the circle of ideas in the Introduction and early chapters, to deeper aspects of fighting. They also concern ways of playing that may appear dangerous to those who haven’t studied them.

This chapter looks at examples of what Korean players call haengma (literally, the moving horse), a kind of distillation of the feeling of movement on the board that accompanies the development of groups.

14.1 The next shapes

We shall look at the “next” shapes after those of Chapter 3.

From left to right these are: the large knight’s move, the diagonal jump, the two-point jump. These shapes are hard to handle. Typically they may be cut, in a number of ways. They do have advantages: they develop rapidly (important in a running fight: jumping one line further may bring an instant gain); they maintain flexibility in your position and are inherently light plays; and they offer chances to construct good shape with one or two more plays.

14.2 The large knight’s move

A typical piece of shape reasoning can be seen in this example. (Left) This sequence makes light shape for White (the big bulge, shape J of 3.5). White will be able to treat the stone 1 lightly if Black tries to cut here. (Right) What about jumping directly to 1, holding back the peep at A (123 principle)? After all, forcing plays generally lose something; and one can’t be entirely certain that the opponent will answer as predicted.

These two diagrams are typical of what one must consider. On the left Black cuts, making strong shape for the stones to the right. White 7 ought to be a good play for White; if not, White’s plan is bad. The right-hand diagram is a crude cutting sequence for Black, and normally White’s result will be fine.

💡 Haengma as dynamic shape

The looser shapes may become fixed in a number of ways. A successful use of haengma may depend on your opponent’s best choice of how to fix it also being good for you, looked at from the point of view of overall fighting.

Here in a professional game the shape is fixed immediately. Black 2 is at a key shape point: a white stone here would make good shape too. White 3 connects safely and now White 1 is well placed (White wishes to move towards the black group on the lower side, and away from the marked stone on the right to avoid a double attack). In this case making one-point jumps out into the centre isn’t so interesting for White.

Here in another top-level game White combines attack with defence, by treating the marked stones lightly. White hopes to cover the weak points ‘x’, by attacking the Black group.

💡 The Go Seigen style

These examples are taken from the games of Go Seigen (b. 1915), the Chinese player Wu Qingyuan who became naturalised in Japan where he moved in his early teens, and who is generally considered to have been the outstanding player of the twentieth century. Alongside his numerous innovations in opening play, Go Seigen cultivated a light middlegame style. The free use of the large knight’s move is typical of his brilliance.

The Korean player Cho Hun-hyeon, like Go Seigen a pupil of Segoe Kensaku, is the top current haengma exponent.

14.3 The diagonal jump

There is an immediate and natural tactical query (left) over the use of the diagonal jump: what if the opponent plays through the middle? (Right) Here White 3 tides over the crisis; Black has no decisive continuation.

For example (left) one way for Black to cut leads to capture of the initial stone; and (right) another gives up the corner.

This example shows a classic use of the diagonal jump (it is taken from the games of Meijin Shusai, the protagonist in Kawabata’s novel The Master of Go). White has played away once from the position. Black attacks with the diagonal attachment 1. White 4 is one way of handling the group. Up to 11 White has made some sort of shape.

Then White cuts across Black (cf. 3.5H). Both sides live on the left edge. With the capping play 33 fighting returns to the centre.

This example is from a more recent game (Cho Chikun-Yamabe). This time the pincer stone is one the fourth line. Black tries to wreck White’s shape. However the result to 16 is balanced; White can aim to cut at A.

Here are two variations to explain these manoeuvres. (Left) White doesn’t want to play the contact move 1. After Black answers at 2, there would be little chance of White using the play at A to cut across Black. In the game sequence White is still threatening this at 14; which is why Black with 15 chooses to make solid shape. (Right) White shuns the chance of making the table shape like this, preferring the empty triangle at A. Besides the reason just explained, White wants to make the cut on the outside atari.

14.4 The two-point jump

The two-point jump may be cut in quite a number of ways. (Left) This ends up like a cross-cut fight. (Right) White occupies an ear point (others marked ‘x’); this is a good preliminary to cutting (cf. final diagrams in 1.4).

(Left) This is generally the way for White to cut in good shape, taking A or B next. (Right) With the wrong order, Black may be able to resist at 2 (later there is the possibility of Black C, White D).

This use of the two-point jump may seem loose. However while Black A, White B, Black C remains in the corner it isn’t very dangerous for Black. (Right) This continuation is good shape for both. Now White has to consider carefully before cutting across the jump, looking at the pincer stone.

If White wants to cut immediately, 4 and 6 in the left-hand diagram are correct. (Right) This way of playing 6 damages the marked pincer stone.

14.5 Quadrilaterals as ideal shapes

The looser haengma may be used to construct shapes that are very good, even excellent, if the opponent doesn’t prevent their formation. This trapezium is an ideal way to strengthen a two-point jump or extension.

(Left) A normal opening sequence, after which White will be able to block off the left side, or attack on the top side. (Right) These peeping plays for Black will make an important difference in the running fight, making shape for the marked stones. White should therefore resist, playing 2 at A.

(Left) This play 1 aims for the trapezium shape at A; if White B Black C. (Right) White 1 is on the key point of this shape, and Black may now have difficulties with these stones.

(Left) White 1 makes miai of 2 and 3 for a parallelogram based on the marked stones, generally an efficient way of covering the weakness at A. (Right) This large square has occurred in pro play; it is a light shape.

These further examples are of robust, influential shapes that do happen occasionally in real games. Normally one’s opponent will intervene to stop their completion. The left-hand one is a combination of two ‘big bulge’ shapes based on an initial large knight’s move. As a general comment on strong shapes: their efficiency depends on the state of the fighting.

Chapter Fourteen. Haengma#

14.1 The next shapes#

14.2 The large knight’s move#

💡 Haengma as dynamic shape#

💡 The Go Seigen style#

14.3 The diagonal jump#

14.4 The two-point jump#

14.5 Quadrilaterals as ideal shapes#