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It’s probably a joseki or something and I’m just embarrassing myself at this point, but can someone explain E2 to me, in elementary Gobanese? I think I haven’t seen it before, or at least played like that.
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If black plays the natural move (which is one of the 2 good replies) of separating it at f3, then white will cut at f3 and now the c3-d3-f3 stones only have 2 liberties so black can’t poke out at g2 like he’d want to (as then c2 captures 3 stones and game over) but deal with that threat with either d2 or b4, but then say he chooses d2 white gets to atari at g2 and seal black in on the lower side. So by offering this 1 sacrifice stone white lets black get stronger in the corner, but gets a nicer outside position (closing a corner in on the 2nd line is valuable). The other initial reply for black is to capture at b4, but then white connects at f3 and cut black in half.
Those are the local sequences, a more general higher-level description would be white wants to make efficient shape with his 3 stone wall following black’s pincer at d8 and by exploiting black’s shape weakness in the knights move d3 to f2 white does this with good momentum. Rather than just running away, poke at your opponent’s weaknesses to get some sente moves to help. Also because of d8 black can play more aggressively than were that stone not there.
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Thank you, you explained very well 
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Glad to see humans are still better than ChatGPT
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Because of the triangled black stone, White’s wall C4-D4-E4 is not efficient.
So after the above sequence, White is happy to develop towards the squared area on the right.
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To my eyes this specific variation looks really nice for white. Is this really an option for black? If black wants to go for b4, I would expect e3 first, white f3, then black b4:
Although I have seen a similar sequence, except white starts with f3, black g2, white e2, black b4, white e3:
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Well, maybe not in this exact position, I feel that Black’s triangled stone would be better placed on the third line than on the fourth, but AI likes this variation in slightly different contexts
and I’ve seen it in pro games too.
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Yes, it does violate basic go intuition to allow white to connect through like that, cutting through the keima with the classic broken shape loved by DDKs. I remember being shocked when I first saw it recommended. But it does have some redeeming features: Black is already alive in the corner as it turns White’s 2nd line hane there into a bad exchange, because black isn’t cutting white the d3 stones are lighter so c2 atari d2 squeeze to take eyeshape is not sente and beeing 3 stones not building an eye for white if ignored, and with a black pincer stone on one side black can use his sente to extend on the side of the now cut off stone and is developing on both sides of the wall so gently attacking it despite the break through. The fact white is not yet alive despite the broken shape is important.
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