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ExtendFromACrosscut

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Referenced by
CrossCut
ControversialStat...
Zokusuji
DonTAttachWhenAtt...
AtariGoAsATeachin...
Extension
OneTwoThree
CrossCutWorkshop
RespondToAttachme...
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Cross-cut Then Extend
    Keywords: Attack & Defence, Proverb

The proverb Crosscut ? Then extend. or The first to extend from a crosscut has the advantage is somewhat misleading. There has been a lot of criticism that can be read at the CrosscutThenExtendTechnicalDiscussion page. A way to interpret the proverb is to reduce it to a not so common situation:

When there are no other stones nearby, extending from the crosscut gives the advantage

Some diagrams to explain. Let's quantify the result with the number of liberties.

[Diagram]
Diag.: Isolated crosscut

An isolated crosscut. Black to play.


[Diagram]
Diag.: Atari and connect

It is tempting to play atari. Then connecting at 3 is a good idea. However, this strengthens White. She has two groups with an average of 2.5 liberties. Black has two groups with an average of 3 liberties but it is White's turn.


[Diagram]
Diag.: Extend

After the more defensive looking extension it is White's turn. White has 2 liberties for both of her stones and Black has 3 liberties on average. Clearly this is an improvement to the atari-connect diagram.



Authors



Nobody seemed to object to my draft, so I replaced the old content of this proverb with the draft and moved the old content to a discussion page. --Dieter



This is a copy of the living page "Cross-cut Then Extend" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2003 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.