Reduction Plays It has been noted already that the Chinese style poses a problem of timing for consolidation, and invasion. If White allows Black's development of the side to continue unhindered , the game may become a framework contest on the grand scale. It is almost never seen in high-level Go that a game divided into two frameworks proceeds directly to the endgame. One side eventually leaps in. You may construe that as an act of aggression, but forming a weak group where your opponent is already strong will always lead into a few plays meeting a stiff defensive tariff.
Defensive skill is a non-negotiable requirement to become strong.
In a well-fortified framework such as this one, in which Black invested six plays before White replied, the capping play at 1 is a good choice. According to a proverb on shape, Black considers answering at A or B, in knight's move relation to the capped stone. White 1 is a soft play. If White cannot afford to concede Black some territory, having played five times on the concealed half of the board, something has gone badly wrong . The main point is to avoid a bad quarter of an hour, as the French put it, trying to resuscitate an attempted invasion that intruded too deeply.