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TFG9PlayingHane
TFG9BlackUpperLeft2

 

TFG9 Black Upper Left
    Keywords: Life & Death

[Diagram]
Diag.: Starting situation


First let's look at some simple questions... DaveSigaty

What if Black just connects?

[Diagram]
Diag.: Black connects

Black has two liberties on the left while White has four at the top - White wins.

[Diagram]
Diag.: Hanging connection

Black 5 at 2

Again, Black has two liberties to White's 4 - White wins.

[Diagram]
Diag.: Something else

White 10 at 7

If next Black a, White b, Black has only three liberties.

[Diagram]
Diag.: More serious 1

This Black 1 eliminates the opportunity for White to throw in here and squeeze Black. White plays 2 to spoil Black's eye but when she answers 3 with 4, Black sets up a ko for life on the left with the opportunity to capture White in the upper center still open. White can't win this way.

[Diagram]
Diag.: More serious 2a


  • White 4 is a strong play
  • If Black 5, White answers with 6 which threatens to cut at 10 and at the same time reduces Black to one eye. If Black tries to cut at 7, White answers at 8. If Black persists with 9, White 10 sets ups a situation where Black is in damezumari on both sides ( Black a, White b). White can capture the left side stones before Black can free himself at the top.

[Diagram]
Diag.: More serious 2b


  • Black changes to 7 to prevent White from cutting at a.
  • So White turns to the upper side to increase her liberties.

[Diagram]
Diag.: More serious 2c


  • White 8 forces Black 9
  • So when White plays 10, the inner shapes are the same on both sides, but White is one move ahead, winning the fight and the game.

[Diagram]
Diag.: More serious 3

If Black tries to prevent White's eye-spoiling move with 5, White 6 makes miai of the points marked a and b; so Black collapses. Note that playing 6 at a lets Black make ko with a throw-in at 6.



REVISION!

The variation in 2c above needs to be revised to reflect an improvement for Black found on TFG9 - White At The Top.

[Diagram]
Diag.: More serious 2c - revised

Continuing from 2b, Black plays 1 instead of the original 3. When White throws in at 2, Black extends at 3. Although White takes the stone at 4, the space inside her group is much smaller than in the original line and she ends up with only five liberties. She has the ko but since the real issue is the survival of the black group on the left, Black has more ko threats than White.


[Diagram]
Diag.: More serious 2d - B lives!

White 4 at the marked stone. After 5, Black is two moves from capturing the white stones while on the left White is four moves away from capturing the black stones. Black also has the internal ko threats of a and b. White's position is hopeless.



Someone else's turn to post a few lines!

  • What are the refutations for the a points below?
  • Are there other lines as well?
  • What if Black doesn't start with the marked exchange?

Good luck!

[Diagram]
Diag.: What other tries does Black have?


Arno: the points marked as a suffer from a follow-up play White b which will lead to the capture of the crucial marked black stone. That way White will increase her liberties and whatever Black tries, he will fail.

But there exists another line: TFG9 Black Upper Left 2.



This is a copy of the living page "TFG9 Black Upper Left" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2003 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.