Concept notes

Yoritsuki 寄り付き

Yoritsuki is not only a Japanese concept, but is also much more likely to occur in Japanese games. That is because it is associated with the concept of thickness, which has long been a characteristic of the orthodox style of play in Japan when time limits for games have been generous.

It refers to a kind of slow harassment of the enemy, rather than a full-blown attack, to pick up profit, but it is used in a specific context and with specific overtones.

It presupposes a game where one side has opted for thickness (= strength) rather than early profit. On the face of it, that side is behind. However, in the latter half of the game he uses his strength to poke and prod at the opponent and with the gain of a point here or a couple of points there, he eventually pulls back (yorimodosu) and maybe pulls ahead. It is a very satisfying strategy when it works, partly because it's sente, sente, sente and partly because of the virtuous feeling of applying patience. Patience is required in two ways when using yoritsuki. In the first place it is necessary to watch patiently as the opponent accumulates territory in the early part of the game. In the second place, typical use of the technique is to pull back only in bits and pieces. It may seem more like skirmishing or guerrilla war rather than a pitched battle, but it is important to bear in mind that it is "hit and hit" rather than "hit and run" and that you are attacking this way because you are strong, not because you are weak. In boxing terms it may be likened to absorbing an aggressive opponent's early blows while you get your jab working, and then you keep that going to win on points.

Clearly timing is an important element. It is also important not to be lulled into a false sense of security by one's own strength. It is still possible to overplay, or to start the harassment in the wrong place (one's weakest area). If you stop jabbing and try for a knockout, you leave yourself open to a nasty uppercut. In go, you can usually tell you have erred in yoritsuki if you lose sente prematurely.

Note that this is a different kind of harassment from ijime. There the harassment is ad hoc or fortuitous - exploiting an opening mistakenly left by the opponent. In yoritsuki, the harassment is systematic and planned.

References to yoritsuki tend to occur only in commentaries for stronger players and so does not appear in proverbs, which are usually aimed at beginners. It often appears in the passive form (yoritsukareru) if you are the victim, and it also comes up in the phrase ishi ni yoritsuku, which may perhaps be best rendered as "crowding the opponent's groups."

© John Fairbairn & T Mark Hall (GoGoD), London 2007.