![]() StartingPoints Homepages
|
KKs Sente Incognito Hamete
Difficulty: Beginner
Keywords: Tactics
KarlKnechtel: Beware of strange throw-aways that are actually sente! Anonymous: I wouldn't go so far as to call this hamete - I would call it a ko threat. Maybe KarlKnechtel's line above is a more appropriate title for this page? Wow, I had completely forgotten about this page :) I wrote this when I was about 6 stones (maybe more) weaker than I am now. There is probably some refactoring to be done here - maybe these diagrams, or minor variations, would be useful for examples on other pages about tactics?
This diagram is modified slightly from one which came up in an actual game (played by a friend), where I spotted the hamete. I've adjusted it so that the result of the play is even more severe. :) Notice the space that White is playing in (circled) is surrounded by *four* strings; there must be a way to exploit those cutting points. White, having thought this out a dozen or so moves ago, quickly plays 1. Bizarre-looking, no? Seems like a -1 point play in gote. But look what happens if Black assumes so, and tenukis:
Now Black must be really careful, and has already lost some points. The move at the circled point seems obvious, since it saves the two stones - the whole reason that the first play didn't seem to be sente. But...
Suddenly, the marked black groups are caught in connect-and-die, and worse yet, Black has no more EyeSpace except the 2x2 square in the corner. White is in no hurry to capture either, so Black cannot make two diagonal plays in there to form two eyes. Black loses everything!
So if Black was careless enough not to respond to White's first move, as shown here (this stops White cold; there are other ways too), Black needs to defend some other way.
White cannot attack the marked group immediately because of damezumari, so she captures instead. Black has to be careful again - he must not retake!
If he does, he won't be able to get a second eye.
This way, Black connects and gets two eyes, though he still loses points because of missing the first play.
White cannot cut because of damezumari. She must be content to capture, and Black connects - same result as before. Either way, Black has lost 5 points of territory, while White has made 1 and taken two prisoners - so White 1 is an 8-point threat. This is a copy of the living page "KKs Sente Incognito Hamete" at Sensei's Library. ![]() |