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Beginner Exercise 14 Solution
KarlKnechtel: In order to live, Black must either make two eyes out of the circled points, or one out of those and one in the squared point.
The placement of White 1 prevents the first way right off the bat. White 3 at 2 would mean no eye at the squared point, so black must play there to have any hope. White 3 threatens to falsify the eye at b, but Black cannot play there because of damezumari. Without White 1 this play would be possible. Thus White 1 is a DualPurposeMove of sorts - well, it accomplishes two things, but both are oriented towards killing the black group, so I don't know if you'd count that. If Black captures the white stone with a, White goes ahead with 5 at b to falsify the eye. Let's consider other options for White. If White tenukis, Black 1 at 1 would save the group, but I think Black 1 at 2 or 4 do as well. So maybe White 1 at 2 or 3 can be made to work. White 1 at 3 certainly isn't answered by Black 2 at 4:
Connecting the three stones in atari would be an example of dying in gote. However, Black can force the capture later with a play at a. So this is Black's best response - it gives him a ko threat. Note that making the damezumari move in the first line is a similar ko threat.
This doesn't work for Black either, after White makes a throw-in.
brindis: But what happens if Black plays 4 at 5? 3 and 4 are miai. It looks like the only killing move for White is at 2... KarlKnechtel: Oops, you're right. The other tsumego around here have made me throw-in happy. ^^; That's the right play - 4 is a key point for solidifying the eye space and 2 is key to divide the space. So capturing the throw-in would be a horrible mistake.
Some other possibilities:
So it looks like this first move works for White as well.
Let's look at the last candidate move for White:
This one doesn't work - a and b are miai for Black to live. Alternately, White a can be answered at c, removing a tiny bit of aji (after the a-b exchange, White could kill with three local moves in a row). Not worth the one-point sacrifice, probably. Not at my level of play anyway ;)
Grech: What if White calls the tune like this?
Stefan: Black should answer differently. If he answers the atari at 3 at 4 here, White may capture one stone in ko, but the rest of the black forces survive if Black calmly makes the second eye at 6.
unkx80: White 1 is incorrect, but after that the placement at White 3 still can create a ko.
This is a copy of the living page "Beginner Exercise 14 Solution" at Sensei's Library. (C) the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0. |