Shortage of liberties Exercise 2 / Solution

Capture everything  

Black gives atari with . This captures three stones. If white tries to save them with , black continues with . cannot be played at 6 because of shortage of liberties (it is auto-atari). If is played here, the white group gets cut off and has only one eye after .

Correct for both  

White minimizes her loss. at a better shape ?

Not better ( tenuki)  

I think that in this specific position, is worse than playing at 3. The reason is that black can sacrifice a stone at , and that way either end up in sente as he does here, or have the possibility to capture the two marked stones later. Note that after , white is in shortage of liberties again - she cannot give atari to and from either direction.

Wrong cut - or possibly not  

If Black cuts first, then White's shape is much better than in the previous diagram.

But, as shown above, black does not have to play , so he ends in sente. So probably this sequence is better for black after all, ending in sente.

Variation  

If , there is also this possibility.