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Beware of shortage of liberties
Difficulty: Beginner
Keywords: Shape, Tactics, Go term
Shortage of liberties, in current English go literature, is the standard translation of the Japanese term, damezumari. But since English liberty is broader than Japanese dame (in the sense of empty adjacent point), the English phrase has a broader application. Shortage of liberties is the source of many of the basic tactics of the game. It is helpful to distinguish initially two attitudes:
and
You do need to get past the first stage (beware self-atari, for example), before getting concerned with the unexpected possibilities of the second. For example, here Black is somewhat short of liberties:
If Black wants to cut White with a play at the circled point,
But maybe White has just played
On the other hand, here is an example where the
This diagram is an example of oiotoshi.
No, it isn't. Oiotoshi is where a group is put into atari but connecting leaves it STILL in atari. This W group has two liberties up until But it isn't shortage of liberties, either. "Shortage of liberties", in the problems books I read anyway, refers to the impossibility of giving atari because you yourself would be in atari due to a...shortage of liberties. W here is only trying to escape, not put B into atari.
This example shows a capturing race between the bamboo joint (
Shortage of liberties is one of the major aspects of bad shape. It is more apparent to novices than, for example, efficiency, because it readily translates into tactics. For example, it is taught that the empty triangle is bad shape. It suffers both from a lack of liberties, and inefficiency - but the former is perhaps more immediately convincing. The term damezumari in Japanese refers to an acute state of shortage of liberties, causing a specific tactical problem. Some of the many ways in which shortage of liberties may manifest itself are:
Shortage of liberties should be seen as a major source of tactical constraints (comparable to the need to connect, or make eyes). It has been suggested that just as liberty is ambiguous, so shortage of liberties has distinct forms. If one tries to analyse the general concept, to define it, one certainly comes up against the same discussion as for liberty (tactical)?. Therefore it is better to look at many examples, as an introduction.
Bill: The first example on this page says that Black is short of liberties, not that he has a shortage of liberties. I agree. :-)
The
The only true requirement for liberties in go is that stones cannot remain on the board with no liberties. It is the second sense that applies.
In the first example, while Black is short one liberty of being able to cut off the White groups from each other, he is not suffering an acute insufficiency of liberties. It's not that bad. Just because one is short of liberties for some purpose does not mean that one has a shortage of liberties. A shortage of liberties is a problem. I agree that, if White's last local play made the connection by taking away one of Black's liberties, it would be correct to say that Black suffered from a shortage of liberties. White's play created the problem. You cannot always look at a position and say whether there is a shortage of liberties. You have to consider the context and dynamics of the situation. Since seki is not a problem, per se, I do not agree with seki's listing as an example of shortage of liberties. (That may be an oversight in the recent edit, I don't know.) There is a saying, A shortage of liberties (damezumari) is worse than constipation (funzumari). If you don't feel the constriction, it's not a shortage of liberties. See the damezumari discussion for a politer version Edit 2003-11-08 by Charles Matthews, after earlier additions here by Sebastian. Snotnose, Bill Spight, John Fairbairn. The damezumari discussion page now has the extended debate. This is a copy of the living page "Beware of shortage of liberties" at Sensei's Library. ![]() |