The White group already has one eye on the left side, even with Black moving first, so he must make a second eye, or else escape.
There is only a single sequence (up to order of moves, White could play at instead of
or
, but that seems inferior) that can possibly do this, and it seems to work. Since Black loses a lot if he tried to prevent the 2nd eye, maybe he should respond to
by connecting at
, preventing the forcing sequence. This forces white to make life in gote at
, and black can try to kill the top left white group, see below.
The bottom left hand white group is alive because there is either another eye by moving at a, or else White moves at b and lives in the corner. Black can try to kill the top left white group by moving at c. Offhand, I don't see how White survives after that. The white group on the top right also seems vulnerable to attack after black plays at d and e. ilan
For the most part this looks good to me, but I disagree with the reasoning slightly -- perhaps that's just my weakness showing through. I prefer on the outside since it seems larger for white if black decides to ignore that move as opposed to
on the inside, as per your diagram. Also,
is atari on six stones as opposed to two, and if
at a,
saves those six stones in sente. Thoughts? -- Raine
Thanks. That last sequence is also superior because it helps the bottom group. However, Black won't allow it anyway. ilan