Squeeze tesuji
| Table of contents | Table of diagrams Squeeze tesuji Squeeze tesuji Continuing pressure Final position Lethal squeeze (W4 connects) Black can't resist White solves a larger problem Black is dead |
Introduction
A squeeze (or squeeze tesuji) is a play or sequence that forces a player's stones into an inefficient shape by wringing out the liberties of a group through combination of sacrifice and forced capture? exchanges. Beneficial exchanges, leading to the squeeze, can be forced by ataris and atari/capturing race threats.
Squeeze plays are very rewarding and can range from easy to spot to highly sophisticated. Nonetheless, with a bit of practice you too can see how to set up squeezes and force your opponents into inefficient shape, and conversely, avoid being squeezed yourself.
Example 1
. . . in order to force with
and then squeeze with
and
- ending up with good shape and leaving White in a dango shape.
The squeeze can also be used as a capturing technique. In this example, Black sacrifices the marked stone to squeeze with
and
and subsequently kills with
.
Example 3
Before connecting, White pushed a little bit into the center with
. Black could not resist
. Instead of trying to save the marked stone, White plays
. . .
leaves Black with a very bad shape, and White plays out to
, guarding against a cut at a, and sealing off Black's escape route through b.
Notes
- The top two examples on this page are shamelessly copied (with permission) from goproblems.com, which also has many other tesuji problems.
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/48/5177bac99b7874d0e6e1fc205640ba05.png)
. . .
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/10/c0c8964b56c3e0f1ed1a2b5cc2327bba.png)
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/38/d6477eed5df919082491d34809874fa5.png)
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/11/17b8b99c8c93bb3f77e1cc01a90fdce6.png)
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/38/0fd2d200e44049860188627c3f8bec15.png)
connects)![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/25/2c5f93623f13a6c63323a1eaa7d62ac5.png)
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/20/f1e95ce49f35da31663d9ee535b79c91.png)
, which seals the black group in.
![[Diagram]](../../diagrams/24/8bfd26238f945f8840c22d74811f4256.png)
2024 the Authors,
published under the ![Sensei's Library [Welcome to Sensei's Library!]](../../images/stone-hello.png)