Beginner Exercise 127 / Solution

White first  

kills Black: it's a dead shape.

Black first  

has to be answered by . Black a lives too but is smaller.

Mistake  

is a mistake, giving a chance to turn the already alive corner into a ko. If at a, white will play at , and black will be totally dead.

White is insidious  

If white takes the next vital point, A, it leaves black with one eye (or 2 small eyes at best, which is better than nothing). If black takes the vital point the eyes are still false. White can follow up with B as well.

White is insidious  

Here, white can force black to ruin his own eye. White can at this point threaten a capture if she can manage to seal black off the rest of the way and win a ko at A.

The point here is : How does black prevent all this from happening?

unkx80: My answer to your queries is in the two diagrams below.

Black lives.  

Tas: A bit of explanation: The eye at a is not false since is captured. If white b, black to keep the eye real.

Black first  

Herman After , black's eye is false

Throw-in to kill  

Anonymous: Black captures and white plays a throw-in with to make it a false eye.

Black failure  

Chaz: is too slow. After white takes the vital point, a and b are miai to kill.