If you don't like ko, don't play go.

    Keywords: Ko

If you feel that ko is bothersome and a pain to play, you shouldn't play go. This is because ko is one of the most important aspects of the game and you must always be ready to deal with any ko situation.

--Neal


The problem is in being sure that you are a ko master. Imagine a situation

[Diagram]

It is so easy for White to connect

If Black wins this ko he will make quite a large profit. There is no problem for White to prevent this - just a move, but ... a whole move.

I think that most of us would connect in this situation if not desperate. But the correct approach is to see who is a ko master. If you are and you are sure that you are you may play tenuki, even if it is small.

Of course, that is what I (HolIgor) had in one of my games but I felt behind and desperate. It was fun. I won the ko and the game, but I have to admit that I am not ready to repeat that.

 HolIgor

Gaius: Even if white is komaster, he'll have to connect there sooner or later anyway, so it'll cost him a whole move anyway. Why then take the risk to not fill it up immediately?

rubilia: Because it may be better to spend that whole move not before the value of alternatives has considerably dropped, letting your opponent get not too much in exchange.


BillSpight: If White can profitably wait to fill this ko, White is a KoMonster, not just a komaster.


lynx: This ko does not seem that big, unless it effects the status of some group or it is oyose already.

Bill: Each move in the ko gains 3 2/3 points, assuming that the Black stones on the right are alive -- the usual assumption.


This is a copy of the living page "If you don't like ko, don't play go." at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2007 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
[Welcome to Sensei's Library!]
StartingPoints
ReferenceSection
About