Beginners Endgame Exercise 1 / Solution

White sente  

is sente. is correct^[1].

Later  

Later - is sente. Black gets 19 points of territory, while White gets 14 points, for a net local score of +5.

Black error  

is a mistake. and catch the Black stones in a connect and die.

Reverse sente  

The descent, , is Black's correct play. Later - is White's sente.

Black gets 22 points, while White gets 14, for a net score of +8. So gains 3 points.

Fewer ko threats  

Anonymous: Isn't this a bit better? After this, a is gote for white. Since black can also hane at b for a point in gote, the score is the same. However, white has a lot less ko threats here.

Bill: This is also a solution. Which is better depends on the rest of the board.

White sente  

Bill: here is also correct, and perhaps easier for a beginner to find. One point of the problem is to avoid the atari, which is the novice mistake.

We have already touched upon this on the /Discussion page.