BQM 595

Am I too sleepy to read correctly?  

ajisubarashii: Paraphrased from a book: "After , if Black at a then White at b, and the black stone at is captured." Really?? What if Black plays at c after White plays at b?

How to capture  

Herman Black is captured, he has no way to capture

ajisubarashii: Thanks Herman! Right, is connected to the larger group of five white stones via the first line. I just learned another tesuji! :)

But but ... does not White die when she tries to keep the two stones?  

ajisubarashii: Thanks Tapir! The book makes absolutely no mention of this point, and gives the impression that capturing the two black stones would be good for White. The only chance White has is to kill some surrounding black stones. Let's read further in the next diagram...

But but ... does not White die when she tries to keep the two stones?  

ajisubarashii: The big white group has 4 liberties, but Black can't approach at a without descending, so Black needs 5 moves to kill it. Hmmm..... if there was an extra white stone at a, then Black would only need 4 moves to kill the white group. So Black should have forced White to play at a earlier. See the next diagram

Looks even better for Black. If White insists on capturing two stones...  

Are the surrounding black stones in any danger? If not, then White is dead.

Uberdude: The book is probably trying to teach the local shape tesuji. If the whole group is in danger white would presumably not immediately capture the 2 stones but push out at 9 (or knight's move) which makes miai of taking the 2 or further coming out and surrounding Black on the left.

ajisubarashii: Thanks Uberdude! Yes, I agree.