How to respond to Tengen soon after opening

Teaching Reviews requests
1

In a situation like the following game (https://online-go.com/game/6463026), what is the best way for white to respond to black’s tengen? (Move 11)

I’ve seen this type of move played in other games too, usually after the board is split into 2 roughly equal sides for each player. It seems overly optimistic for black, but it does make invading quite difficult for white and leaves black to solidify his side territory while chasing white across the board.

I still ended up winning, but I feel like it could have gone much worse for me at any number of points…

2

I would have played Q15 early to flatten black on the right hand side.

In the game, the issue is not so much the Tengen, but rather the fact that black was able to extend the moyo on both sides with both F5 and P15.

4 Likes
3

Also, it is normally part of white’s job to try and split up black before it gets to the point where black is playing tengen build a massive moyo. Black has an inherent edge in this kind of game (being able to play tengen first), so it is normally better for white to try and avoid it.

Playing a move to split up black before he plays tengen is a good way of dealing with it.