Nakade

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    Keywords: Life & Death, Shape, Go term

Chinese: 点眼 (diǎn yǎn)
Japanese: ナカデ or 中手 (nakade)
Korean: -

Nakade is a Japanese go term that literally means "inside move" or "move inside". It is also used in English. It represents a concept crucial to life and death, basic to even beginning players. It refers to a situation in which a group has a single large internal, enclosed space that can be made into two eyes by the right move--or prevented from doing so by an enemy move.

In addition, "nakade" can be used to designate the actual move that prevents the large space from being made into two eyes.

In line with the literal "move inside" meaning, "nakade" is occasionally used to refer to killing moves inside more complex enclosed eye spaces, including cuts and placements.

Basics

[Diagram]

Nakade basics

This is a basic shape where White has one large internal space, a "nakade" shape.

[Diagram]

Three points.

Black can kill by playing at B1. White can live by playing at the same point. A 30-kyu player needs to understand these basics of life and death. If White plays on either of the remaining internal points, she puts herself in atari and can be captured on the next move. If White does not play, Black can play on one of the empty points, thereby putting White into atari. If White then captures, Black plays again at one of the remaining two empty points, putting White into atari. White can capture again, but that leaves her with only one liberty and subject to immediate capture. See almost fill.


There are a fixed number of shapes which are subject to being killed, or living, in this fashion, and are called "nakade". They are typically designated by the number of empty points in the shape, called "n-moku nakade", and include:

These shapes are shown below.

[Diagram]

Straight Three

[Diagram]

Bent Three

[Diagram]

Pyramid Four

[Diagram]

Bulky Five

[Diagram]

Crossed Five

[Diagram]

Rabbity Six


n-moku nakade

The form "n-moku nakade" specifies the number of points ("n") in the large intenal space. "n" can be ni (2), san (3), yon (4), go (5), roku (6), or nana (7).

In the context of a capturing race, however, "nakade" can also be used to describe an internal space of "n" points, implying how many moves will be needed to fill it (and win the capturing race). Since a two-point eye is always dead, "ni-moku nakade" would only be used in the capturing race context.

Background

The Chinese word here is dian (and the character for it was often used in old Japanese texts and glossed as nakade, but sometimes also rendered as oki (placement)). Like many Chinese terms, the nuance is better understod by viewing the term as coming from martial arts rather than the ordinary language. In Chinese sword-play, a dian is a stroke where you go slightly up and over the opponent's sword, arm, leg, etc to poke into a weak point (slightly) downwards. In go, it is as if you are approaching the group surrounding the space with your sword, you tip the point as you reach the wall, pass over it and stab downwards.

The reading "nakate" is also encountered.


Note: The material that follows till the end of this page is copied from the previous version and may require WME.

More on nakade

Unsettled eyeshapes are those eyeshapes where a killing nakade is possible.
Basic living eye shapes are those where a killing nakade (in one move) is not possible.
Dead eyeshapes are those where a nakade is not needed to kill: the group is already dead.

Be aware however that these basic shapes ignore two major effects:

For several possible reasons, the eye shape may contain more enemy stones. Any eye shape which is filled with stones so that almost filling it with a killing shape is inevitable, is dead. These patterns are listed at killable eyeshapes.

A combination of both circumstances can be found at biggest known eye space for which there is a nakade.


See also


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This is a copy of the living page "Nakade" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2009 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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