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Reverse Sente
Difficulty: Beginner
Keywords: EndGame
A reverse sente play is a play which forestalll the sente play of your opponent.
If black were to let white play out this sequence (as shown in SenteGote, white would gain three points in sente. The value of the black play is also 3 points, but in gote. However, since it forestalls a sente play by white, the actual value of the gote play is the same as a same-size sente play. Thus, value of the play is the same as 3 points sente. Since Gote plays only count half (See Basic Endgame Theory), this is equivalent to a 6-point gote play. So, black should play this before he plays any 6-point gote plays. -- MortenPahle Comment: Usually White should play sente before the players get around to the 3-point gote (miai value). (A 6-point gote by deiri counting is a 3-point gote by miai counting. Confusing? Better stick to MiaiCounting.) Black gains the same amount on average by playing a 3-point reverse sente as a 3-point gote (miai values). Sometimes it is better to play one, sometimes the other, sometimes it does not matter. You can't make a hard and fast rule. However, you should usually try to get tedomari. If you have a choice of gote vs. reverse sente that are worth the same (or often approximately the same), you usually want to get the last such play. Doing so depends on whether the number of gote is even or odd. (None are ko, which complicates things. ;-)) If the number of gote is even -- they are miai --, play the reverse sente to get tedomari. If the number of gote is odd, play one of them and answer the sente. -- BillSpight This is a copy of the living page "Reverse Sente" at Sensei's Library. (C) the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0. |