Rectangular six in the corner
Readers are advised to study the bent four in the corner and the rectangular six (if they have not mastered them) before reading the contents of this page.
Table of contents |
1. No outside liberties
If there are no outside liberties:
Black can live with 5 points of territory by playing either a or b,
White can kill Black unconditionally by playing at a.
2. One outside liberty
When there is exactly one outside liberty, the best White can do is to make it a ko (more precisely a rogue ko). The vital point is at a.
Black's throw in at is necessary: if White gets to play there she makes it a bent four in the corner.
starts the ko. If Black wins this ko, by playing again at
and then playing at a capturing the two White stones, the position is settled with Black living in the corner. Should White win this ko by connecting at
. Black captures four stones at a and White sets up another ko for life as shown in the next diagram.
After (Black a in the previous diagram), White sets up another ko with
and
. She can finish the ko by connecting at
, creating a bent three nakade shape. So, White has to win the ko twice to kill the corner and Black only once to live. [1]
With one outside liberty, this fails. Black can play
because in this case he is not in atari.
3. Two or more outside liberties
When there are at least two outside liberties, Black is unconditionally alive.
The sequence is copied from the main line in the previous paragraph. Now Black can play the surprising move of (oshitsubushi) because he still has at least two liberties. White cannot connect at
so Black will play there to make two eyes.
kevinwm: Aside: Even in New Zealand rules where w can play a9, it is not even a ko threat to make a ko for the corner. (That is, a9 does not make ko for the corner, and does not even make ko for the corner if b does not respond. if w a9, b tenuki, w a8, b a9, w b9, and w a7 makes oshitsubushi again.)
4. Weak rectangular six
If is in place, the weakness of the connection enables White to create a ko. White takes first with
.
Addendum
After and
fill up all the outside liberties, the
stones are caught in a connect-and-die.
If prevents the connect-and-die at any point of the game, he turns his group into a straight three big eye instead and dies in gote.
Footnote:
[1]: One could argue that, this being the case, White might as well fill the outside liberty in the main line diagram instead of connecting at there; but then Black is the first to capture the second stage of the ko and here it is White (try to get first capture in a ko).
See also
- Rectangular six
- Rectangular six with leg in the corner
- Rectangular eight in the corner
- Bent four in the corner
- Ko fight
Practice