Strange Living Shapes

The volkswagen and its driver  

Here is a way to make seki inside the bulky five.

Life with False Eyes

Living shape with eye in each corner  

Each black eye is a false eye - but when it closes the circle it suddenly is alive. The Ouroboros on the go board. This is a case of false-eye life, see: Two-Headed Dragon.

Life Cycles

Eternal Life  

A rare and special long cycle. The result is either to void the game or the infinite repetition is forbidden by some kind of superko rule.

Moonshine Life  

Moonshine life refers to a position where a (seemingly) dead group with a false eye in ko cannot be captured, because the owner of the group has an unlimited number of unremovable ko threats. On the top left the White group is alive in moonshine life, because the top right (double ko seki) generates unlimited ko threats.

Beginner Mysteries

Beginners who do not understand the difference between strings and groups may find the following group confusing because no string of stones completely surrounds a single eye.

One living group consisting of four chains  

If a group seems alive to you but you are unsure where its axiomatic "two eyes" are, you should consider filling in false eyes to connect the group.

No mystery left.  

Now we see a typical two-eyed living group. Note that actually playing a move like this on the board is unnecessary.

One groups, sixteen stones  

Here we see an extreme example of the same pattern.

One groups, sixteen stones  

Now that the stones in the group are connected into a single unified string, the two eyes are obvious.

(Projected examples for beginners: big eyes, undivided territory, unattached vital points, necessarily unattached vital points.)