Fuseki Exercise 3 / Solution

Sub-page of FusekiExercise3
[Diagram]

Not the 'correct' answer

Scartol: The point a seems very important, because if White goes there, she starts to make a huge bottom moyo. But B1 is a dual-purpose move. It limits White's moyo and helps to stabilize Black on the left. So I would play there.

Dieter: I seem to remember the answer to this problem. I'll try to hint at the answer by giving some proverbs. Not all of them point to the correct answer by themselves but together they certainly do.

HolIgor: I don't know the answer but I'd play at d.

Bill:

Oh! That does not apply, since we do not know White's last play, do we. ;-)

Fhayashi: So what is the correct answer? d seems to fit the proverbs given above better than the B1 as shown in the diagram.

RafaelCaetano: I think d is the only move. Why isn't the answer given? Scartol, you are the one who created the page, right? :-)

AlainWettach: I also think that d is the only move. It is an urgent move which should be played before big ones (a for instance).

Vlad: Is d that big without B1? It doesn't make any territory... But in a real game I'd have played that too :)

Bill: Yes, d is huge. (I apologize for my earlier joke. I thought that the solution and explanation would be forthcoming soon.)


[Diagram]

The 'correct' answer

-Fhayashi

As played by Ota Yuzo against Shusaku in 1853, by the way. Followed by White x, Black y. Charles

Andy: The "Followed by White x, Black y" is the crucial point. Black can only play B1 if white has to respond on the top since black must be able to address what white is doing on the bottom before white has a chance to add another stone there. Black at b is not so good because the marked white stone is strong in this direction, making it uninteresting. A black play at either a or y interferes with the direction in which white would like to play. The question thus is: does white really need to answer B1@d? I suppose the answer must be "yes", although it's not obvious to me anyway. Does white have the option to response to B1 with a move around q, or does that let black kill in the upper left?

Bill: That's not so, Andy. This kind of position does not arise much these days, because of komi and changing styles, but if you look at ancient games (pre-20th century), you frequently see plays like d that are not sente, nor do they have a working extension, like B1.


Move on to: Fuseki Exercise 4


This is a copy of the living page "Fuseki Exercise 3 / Solution" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
[Welcome to Sensei's Library!]
StartingPoints
ReferenceSection
About