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Monkey Jump
Path: Endgame · Prev: BasicEndgameTheory · Next: EndgameClamp
Difficulty: Beginner
Keywords: EndGame
A monkey jump (Japanese: saru-suberi) is a large-knight jump from the second line to the first line into the opponent's would-be territory, reducing it by a considerable amount. The stone on the diagram cannot be cut off. If White has a large territory to the right, the move can't be ignored and has to be replied to. A monkey jump is proverbially worth 9 points in sente, although the exact amount depends on the position, and it may very well be gote. In some cases a small jump to a is reasonable as well. This is sometimes known as a small monkey jump. Sente or Gote?
In the diagram above,
But Black can play better than this, as shown in the next diagram:
Later, White will probably get this exchange in sente. But this is still a gain for Black. See Value of a monkey jump for a detailed discussion.
If the marked stone is one line higher, as in this diagram, Black can keep sente with this simpler (and better) line, as White needs to defend the cutting point at a. Monkey Jump FailureThe stone on the second line has to be strong. e.g. monkey jump (Black a) doesn't work here because of the weakness at b.
White can play at See also EndgameTesuji4 for a more subtle case where the monkey jump is not an outright failure, but clearly suboptimal. Alternative
If White has far superiour ko threats, then this sequence can be expected. So the monkey jump is better by 2 points. (The two points marked with a Square).
If Black can win the ko, White can reply like this, essentially reverting to the original monkey jump diagram. So the one-space jump is never better. (This may, of course, be different in other circumstances.) Defending against Monkey Jumps
What's White's proper defense here?
Chris Hayashida: What about
It looks suprising, but
Therefore, Black should play as follows:
In an actual game Black should be satisfied by the exchange of the marked stones and keep the plays 1 through 10 in reserve. There is no need to play them out immediately.
The correct white response to
You should try to read out the answer precisely, as you should neither give up two points, nor loose the game by producing one of the catastrophic failures we have seen above. Try out your reading in the Monkey Jump Problem Series.
Examples illustrating the rule of thumb above follow below:
It comes down to whether Black can capture [1] dnerra: These values assume that White's hane, after preventing the monkey jump by a block on the second line, would be sente. Contributors: fhayashi, AlexanderYoshi, Jonathan Cano, unkx80, ArnoHollosi, IaGo WikiMasterEdit by dnerra, 2003-12-01. Path: Endgame · Prev: BasicEndgameTheory · Next: EndgameClamp This is a copy of the living page "Monkey Jump" at Sensei's Library. ![]() |