Move one space further with snapback

The essential position  

Table of contents Killing White has just played Solution Failure In the endgame Problems

Table of diagrams The essential position Black to play and kill The killing snapback Failure: white lives The position in the endgame The snapback in the endgame No snapback: inferior yose

Killing

Black to play and kill  

White has just played

Black to play and kill

The killing snapback  

Solution

If White a, black will capture three stones with snapback.

uses snapback to move one space further into White’s group, ruining his second eye.

Failure: white lives  

Failure

Because he did not threaten a snapback, Black could not get far enough in to hurt White’s eyespace.

In the endgame

In the endgame, the same technique increases one’s profit and helps retain sente.

The position in the endgame  

Black to play.

The snapback in the endgame  

This is the solution. Note the snapback of .

No snapback: inferior yose  

here loses two points. Also, since it threatens less damage than in the previous diagram, White is more likely to be able to make a sente yose play of his own before playing .

Problems

1. http://www.goproblems.com/prob.php3?id=6350