KyuExercise39/Attempts

Black to play  

Rich: Nice problem... I like the look of . If at , makes miai of points 2 and 3. If at , black at 'a' leaves white unable to squeeze at because of shortage of liberties.

TimK: If at , black at 'a' is self-atari. Black at causes a shortage of liberties.

zinger: Actually if at , black at a captures a stone, so it's not self-atari. Also if at , then at causes shortage on both sides. Looks like a good solution.

White Failure  

Adammarquis: I thought this defense () was interesting for White, simply because if I follow my first instinct as Black I connect to make a straight three, and White lives by playing at . But what I really came here to say is this:

White Failure  

Adammarquis: I looked at this again and again in my head, simply not seeing that White doesn't have the liberties to play . I find that shortage of liberties is one of the hardest things for me to see down the line. One last note, because I often have trouble seeing the difference:

Not Seki  

Adammarquis: Not a seki, although I always think it is in games. White will eventually need to connect at 'a', leaving a dead shape. This was one of the coolest problems I've encountered for my level for doing out in my head, the difficulty seemed just right.