Beginner's Mistakes

  Difficulty: Beginner  

On this page I show some situations where beginners very commonly make mistakes. Most of these are undoubtedly described elsewhere on SL as well; this is just my personal collection. They are loosely in order of difficulty.

Table of contents Table of diagrams
The black stone cannot escape.
From [Chad Miller / Stupid Mistakes]
3 will be at a and doom will follow...
Editted from a KGS game
Nastiness
Protecting against the cuts...
Escape attempt
White casts a [Net]
No escape here

1. Attempting to save stone on the 2nd line.

(known as the Chapel)

[Diagram]

The black stone cannot escape.

But see also the Two Stone Edge Squeeze for a counterexample of where this can be very useful.


2. Blocking on the 1st line, when you shouldn't.

Many variations on this, here are a few:

[Diagram]

3 will be at a and doom will follow...


3. Beware of the stairs.

[Diagram]

Editted from a KGS game

The three diagonal stones (black+square and B2) are now very weak, and they are easily cut, often leading to double ataris and other nastiness.

[Diagram]

Nastiness

black+circle or black+square will die.


Note however, that if it's your turn the stairs are easily and elegantly protected:

[Diagram]

Protecting against the cuts...

B4 protects against the cut at both a and b!

Warp: Note however, that the double hane, resulting in something very similar to this, is not always wrong. For instance, some josekis use it (offering one stone as sacrifice in this way can have beneficial consequences in another place).

Also note that while B4 nicely protects both cutting points, it leaves two possibe peeps which, if both are answered, can make the shape quite overconcentrated.


4. Crawling towards escape on the 1st line.

(see also Grotto)

[Diagram]

Escape attempt

Black's dead group in the corner desperately wants to escape and connect with the live group on the right. Black realizes that white cannot Hane to cut him off, so he plans to continue crawling on the 1st line until a connection is made. Unfortunately...

[Diagram]

White casts a Net

After the Net, black cannot connect.

[Diagram]

No escape here

The player crawling on the 1st line for escape can be given as much rope as is necessary to hang themselves with, once they finally see the Net at the end.


iopq: The most common mistake for a beginner would be to keep playing in the same area. At some point the shape is more or less settled and further moves in the area don't add many points. In fact, letting your opponent take some stones while you tenuki might be an advantageous exchange for you.


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