Beginner Exercise 9 / Solution

Well there goes the eyespace.  

To live, White must make seki in the eyespace that contains three black stones. hits the vital point of the position. (If it's White's turn, at would make seki - as explained later.)

Looks like seki, doesn't it?  

If Black fill up all outside liberties - then...

Maybe not - at the marked point.  

White dies with a bulky five shape.

Even if Black doesn't play  

Even if Black doesn't play again in this area ( elsewhere) White still dies with a squared four.

White seki.  

If White takes the vital point, she forms a seki. An attempt by Black to kill the group instead yields either a bent four or a twisted four both of which are live shapes. These are shown in the failure diagrams below.

White ignores seki.  

( elsewhere.) If White doesn't understand seki and attempts to capture using and , then White is left with a bent three; Black can now kill White by playing back at .

Another Failure  

Playing at here does not help. occupies the vital point, and White lives in the shape of twisted four.

Still another Failure.  

Playing at in this diagram doesn't help either. Again, occupies the vital point, and White lives in the shape of bent four.