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Atari
Liberty
BewareOfShortageO...
LibertyIntroductory
BentFourInTheCorner
Dame
AlmostFill
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ApproachKo
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TwoByThreeBox
PrimaryLiberty

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Liberty
Path: GiveMeLiberties   · Prev: LibertyIntroductory   · Next: TwoLiberties
  Difficulty: Intermediate   Keywords: Tactics, Go term

Liberty has two different, but related meanings in English.

The first sense of liberty is an empty point adjacent to a single stone or chain of stones. In a legal position each chain has at least one liberty.

This is the basic meaning. Such a liberty is called a dame in Japanese. The liberty - introductory page explains some of the more basic implications in fighting.


The second sense of liberty, important for tactics, is a play required to capture a single stone or chain of stones. This is the sense you require if you want to say that the number of liberties measures time to capture a group. It is discussed in liberty (tactical sense).


Likewise, shortage of liberties can mean two things:

  1. A group or a player is said to have a shortage of liberties when liberties (or fewness thereof) imposes a tactical constraint.
  2. A group is said to have a shortage of liberties when it has less tactical liberties than empty points. This meaning is assumed in statements like "The bamboo joint is short of liberties".
RafaelCaetano: This way of putting it feels odd. The proverb I know is "There is shortage of liberties in the bamboo joint", which is slightly different, and is consistent with the first meaning too. Well, I don't see that there are 2 different meanings anyway.
Charles This will need revision.
Bill: Again, we agree, Charles. :-) Sebastian, this is your material, isn't it? Maybe it would be better incorporated in the shortage of liberties page or on a Shortage of Liberties Talk? page.

See shortage of Liberties for a discussion of both meanings.


Liberty in Chinese is 气 ("Qi" in pinyin), which literally translates to "breath".[1] The thought is that stones need breathing space and that once the last breathing space is removed, the stones die.[2]


Further reading

Authors


[1] This is the same "Qi" as the one considered to be beneficial in terms of Feng Shui.

(Sebastian:) It can also mean "life energy". Incidentally, this is the same character (apart from modern simplfication) as the Japanese "ki" in "Aikido".


[2] Bill: Is breath (Chinese) also ambiguous? Or does it only refer to adjacent points?

unkx80: This 气, or breath as you call it, can be as ambiguous as liberty.




Path: GiveMeLiberties   · Prev: LibertyIntroductory   · Next: TwoLiberties
This is a copy of the living page "Liberty" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2003 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.