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Protecting the cut - Example 1
Difficulty: Beginner Keywords: Tesuji, Shape
We are investigating how to protect the cut at a. Let's first have a look at what can happen if Black doesn't protect the cut. White goes first
If White goes first, Black cannot resist the capture of two stones. White makes some points here, but that is not nearly as important as having all of her stones in this area of the board connected. Black on the other hand is left with three separate, weak groups. Maybe it is an overstatement to say that the game is over, but White definitely made a killing here. (Against an opponent of dan-strength, the game would indeed be over.) Black defends at a
White can't now cut, but the shape of the remaining black group is not such that he can make eyes easily. In fact, the empty triangle is the classical example of bad shape, and this group is two connected-up empty triangles. Black connects at b
Black connects at c
Of all the moves considered so far, Black makes good shape
If White cuts at a, Black answers at c and captures the cutting stone. White can try to force Black into bad shape, as in the previous examples, e.g. by playing c. Black will have to answer at a, but because the remaining group still has some eye-making capacity, and White reduces the liberty count of her own group, this is not very effective. We say that AppendixThe next diagram illustrates capturing the stones after Black c:
Charles Some people may wonder why the term shunt is needed. whistler - that clears the situations :) thx charles
unkx80: Please allow me to nitpick, but in this case the shunt is not really needed. =) Charles Hey, doesn't that leave an extra ko threat?! unkx80: You are right, though... Authors: Similar topic: Protecting the cut - Example 2. This is a copy of the living page "Protecting the cut - Example 1" at Sensei's Library. ![]() |