Mouse stealing oil

    Keywords: Life & Death, Tesuji, Go term

Chinese: 老鼠偷油 (lǎoshǔ tōu yóu)

[Diagram]

Mouse stealing oil

Mouse stealing oil is a direct translation of the Chinese go term 老鼠偷油. It refers to the killing tesuji of W1, which exploits the fact that the four-stone Black chain has no outside liberties. This killing technique is a common theme in some life-and-death problems.

[Diagram]

Mouse stealing oil

If B2 prevents White from connecting, then W3 cuts. Black is dead from double shortage of liberties.

[Diagram]

Mouse stealing oil

B2 here allows W3 to connect back. Notice that in the presence of white+circle, the W1 stone becomes an instance of the eye-stealing tesuji, and as such Black has no eye at a.


Applications


Note on translated term

There appears to be no established English Go term for "mouse stealing oil", although the corresponding Chinese term 老鼠偷油 is commonly used. The direct translation "mouse stealing oil" appears in Guo Juan's The World of Chinese Go, and probably other places as well.


This is a copy of the living page "Mouse stealing oil" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2016 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
[Welcome to Sensei's Library!]
StartingPoints
ReferenceSection
About