Knight's move net

Path: Net   · Prev: LuckysProblem   · Next: BishopsNet
  Difficulty: Beginner   Keywords: Tactics
[Diagram]

Net question

Black to play and capture the white+circle stones.
There are quite a number of patterns of net; those built on knight's move relations are sometimes missed in games by amateur dan players. This less usual example is taken from a Korean book for use in schools.

[Diagram]

Knight's move for clean capture

After B1 White can do nothing.

[Diagram]

Too close by Black

If B1 is played one line closer, White can do plenty, and if Black resists White's escape, the black+circle stones become weak.

Charles Matthews


[Diagram]

Knight's move for clean capture (cut)

David Foale: In the knight's move example, how can Black avoid a cut like this?



I come across problems like this every day and they're annoying to say the least! Or am I missing something? Got a feeling i'm making a fundamental defence error...

Joonas Tyystjarvi: the cut here doesn't really matter, since the white stones inside are captured. B5 is better left unplayed - black could play straight at a (or b, if he wants to capture fast).

David Foale: I know the stones are dead, but nevertheless the cut annoys Black; those two stones could be a problem if White has thickness to the bottom. is there any way to avoid this?

Joonas Tyystjarvi: with a net, there's usually no way to avoid some kikashi - in this case, you could say that W4 is a forcing move. Also see my earlier comment - there's no need to force White to make a two-stone group. If B5 is at a, black threatens a ladder capture, and if White plays W6 to prevent that, he becomes heavy.

Charles: Whether or not W4 will turn out to have some value to White is not yet clear. White has some threats round here; but playing them clumsily may well increase White's local loss.

[Diagram]

Reading question

By the way, whether Black's atari is good would depend partly on whether B1 here is playable. Let's make this Knight's move net/Reading question.


Another, harder example is at Shape Problem 6/Net variation.


Path: Net   · Prev: LuckysProblem   · Next: BishopsNet
This is a copy of the living page "Knight's move net" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2009 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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