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Second Line
Difficulty: Beginner Keywords: Tactics
The second line is normally used in conjunction with plays on the third and fourth line. Making repeated plays along the second line is called 'crawling'.
Here it is Black who is crawling in response to White's attacking plays 3 and 5. This is a very poor position to be in. Even if Black survives here, the territory gained will be small in relation to the influence of White's wall. It is for this reason that there is a proverb: the second line is the route to defeat. Crawling plays are sometimes a necessary evil; but before the endgame they are essentially loss-making. An extension from a third-line stone along the second line is called a slide. These are very useful kinds of shapes, though if a slide is long it will also be thin. Plays made directly on the second line without immediate support from other stones are called submarines.
Jumps down from the fourth to the second line These are relatively hard to handle. It seems fair to say that none of them is strictly good shape.
Don't provoke damaging plays on the second line This is a copy of the living page "Second Line" at Sensei's Library. ![]() |