90DegreeShapes/Discussion

Sub-page of 90DegreeShapes

Alex: I'm not sure this page is useful. What do these shapes have in common, except for some superficial geometric similarity? Putting things into categories is only worthwhile if one can then offer some general strategic or tactical advice that applies to the category as a whole, e.g. by saying that 90 degree shapes are useful for accomplishing a certain purpose, or share certain weaknesses. I can't see anything of the sort, except maybe that the larger ones are quite light and often make miai of connecting the key stone (whichever one that might be) to one of the other two. However, that's more a property of "globular," non-linear shapes in general than one that's unique to 90 degree shapes.

It just seems to me that a page like this is akin to putting a page into, say, an ornithology text, listing "brown ones."

Bill: I created the parent page in part as a satirical commentary on SL shape pages that show stones of only one color and claim that they are good shape. My point, as I said, is that at some point, probably not reached on this page , such a shape becomes good. E. g., a double wing from a corner star point.

Alex: I suppose the joke is lost if you see the 90 degree page without knowing what inspired it. It's too subtle to be slapped with a Humour keyword, but maybe it should be made clear that it's not entirely serious. I didn't realise it was you who'd made the page, and assumed that it was created by a beginner who wanted to contribute but was missing the point. Now that I get it, it's pretty witty.

On a more serious note, I'm still not convinced that the value of a double wing formation is so has so much to do with its 90 degree-ness as being a position with two ideal extensions. For example:

[Diagram]

Two ideal extensions - 90 degree or 180 degree

Is one side really that much better off than the other? Perhaps Black, because he has two corners, but overall, I'd say the desirability of both players' situations has more to do with the distance between stones than the overall geometry of the position.


This is a copy of the living page "90DegreeShapes/Discussion" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2012 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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