Beginner Exercise 211 / Solution

Black lives.  

is the vital point. Now a and b are miai.

Continuation 1  

If , lives with a bent four.

Continuation 2.  

If here, Black captures with ...

White throw-in...  

...and if White throws in, Black captures and then a and b are miai to make two eyes.

Black failure.  

If White is allowed to play (it really doesn't matter where Black plays first), then White almost fills with a bulky five and Black is dead.

Black lives (2)  

For extra credit, why is it only 3.5 points of territory and not 4?

(Why did White play ? Because we assume that the outside is White territory. saves 1 point.)

Extra credit answer?  

Brent: I'm still not sure about miai counting, fractional points, etc. But I'm guessing the answer is that a play at a is worth one point in gote, hence 0.5 in miai counting. (right?) If Black at a, then Black has one connected group surrounding a bent four -- hence four points. If White at a, then Black will eventually have to defend at b (probably after White c which is now sente), and Black only gets 3 points.

Is this at all correct? Even if it is, did I describe it correctly? Please teach me... (=

unkx80: For me I will accept this, but I will leave it to the endgame expert to have the final say... LoL. =P

Ko threats  

Bill: Right you are, Brent! :-)

If Black plays at , he will have 4 points, while if White plays there, Black will have only 3 points. After , Black will either have to protect with , or White has two ko threats with - and - .

Since this is a gote position, we count Black's territory as the average, 3.5 points.

Brent: I get it, thanks!