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Sente
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  Difficulty: Beginner   Keywords: MiddleGame, EndGame, Go term

The root meaning of sente is "playing first". A player has sente if it is their turn and they do not have to answer their opponent's last move. Thus, a player who has sente can decide where to play next.

[Diagram]
Diag.: A sente move

A move is sente if the opponent has to answer it, so the player who plays it will have sente after the exchange. For example, in this diagram Black can play 1 in sente, because White has to answer at 2 to avoid dying.



A move may also be called sente because of the local conditions (sente position), even if the opponent does not answer it.

The opposite of sente is gote. Sente or gote is often a large difference: If you do the same thing in gote that could also be done in sente, that is a big difference - you lose a whole move.

[Diagram]
Diag.: losing sente

An example where this error has been made is in this diagram. Black plays atari with 1, White answers at 2, and Black connects at 3. Black has defended the right hand side here, but would have done better by playing at 3 immediately. This also threatens to capture the two white stones (by playing 2), but if White now answers, Black has sente and can play elsewhere.

Also note that sente is relative: If Black would play at 3 here early in the game, White will not answer at 2, but play elsewhere, because the threat of capturing the two stones is not large enough. Of course, also in this case Black 3 rather than Black 1 is still the correct move.

Comment: If the area to the right is Black's, Black 3 is unlikely to be sente. It would be larger than the threat to take White's stones. -- Bill Spight



Dieter: The above comment may account for a good definition of sente: A move is sente if the value of the follow-up move (when the move is not answered) is larger than the value of the move itself (when the move is answered).

Of course this definition assumes we know the value of a move (deiri counting). In yose (endgame) we can calculate it (miai counting). It also assumes that for each move there is another move of appoximately the same value.



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