Migeru v. rg Game 2
: I'll give you two stones this time. -- Migeru
: I thought you might play there. Are Jerome and I about the same level do you think?
: dunno.
Anonymous: Remember the proverb "If you don't know ladder, don't play go." Hint: I'm referring to .
Migeru: Hint: rg is about 30k. (I've added the ladder below)
: Ouch! -- rg
: The thing about handicap games is waiting for black to make two mistakes in a row, like here. Let's make this a life and death problem (see the bottom of the page) -- Migeru
: I think I will need a handicap of 4/5 against you in order to stand a chance, I also need a book on life and death situations. I also need to paint 17 walls.
Migeru: That is an empty triangle you're making there.
: The page on Life and Death has a list of books. The one by Davies is the most widely known. -- Migeru
: I've just spent a few hours sanding shelves. I'll have to pop into Oriental Arts and see if they have a useful book
: forced moves are good, they save me thinking... though now I'm the one making an empty triangle.
: Got the fire burning tonight--literally. We're burning our beds in our fireplace.
: How are you today, senor?
: Very well, e tu come stai?
: Bene. Adesso devo stirare.
: I'll have to play better than this if I want to beat you at a handicap of 3.
: I should have played here. Anyway, see below for how black can attack the lower-right corner before closing off this side with .
: Ho finito di stirare.
Anonymous: Fascinating game. What are the chances you could set the "minor edit" check box each time you move?
: Anonymous, I just noticed you watching. You got a name? What I know about ladders and life and death would fill a very small small thing made even smaller. If I don't check the "minor edit" box am I creating hassle for someone?
Migeru: it spams the recent changes page.
: "It" being this anonymous person? You got "Go" trolls? And should I tick the minor edit box? (I just did.)
Bill: Spam? I like the fact that this game shows up on Recent Changes.
Migeru: I suppose Bill's opinion trumps Anonymous'. In any case, since neither of us are logged on (in my case, because my homepage is ancient and I can't create a user account whose name matches an existing page without e-mailing Arno), the nifty "no riff raff" filter option on the recent changes page should take care of Anonymous' objection...
, : I cannot play at because I would find myself with a shortage of liberties (see below). Migeru
Migeru: after , white's group in the lower right has only two liberties, while black's group inside white's territory has 4 liberties. If white doesn't play at , black will put white in atari at the next move. But even playing at doesn't work because of the throw-in at . White is in atari, but capturing with puts white in self-atari. at wins black the game.
Migeru: Black to play, and there are lots of possibilities for mischief. Though white's lead is probably enough to win.
Migeru: What should black do now? Hint: count the number of liberties of each black and white chain involved in the fight.