Home > Steve > Go > Problem of the month
It is well known that you can invade the corner under the 4-4 point at the 3-3 point, and that it gets harder the more enemy staone there are around. The books show successful invasions into a large knights enclosure.
However I have observed this happening in games when the defending moyo has become very strong - as demonstrated here. Sometimes the invasion has worked, and sometimes not (these are kyu games I'm talking about here!).
So can White invade and live in this difficult situation?
The place to start is with some of the more standard sequences which show what happens when Black is not all powerful in the centre.
White can also play 13 at A. Most (all?) attacks by Black must be answered to keep the corner alive.
In Dia 3, Black 4 is more aggressive, but White still manages to live. This only happens because Black is patching up his shape as he goes: eg 10 removes multiple cuts around 6 and 8.
Dia 4 shows what might happen if Black 10 were offensive rather than the solid defensive play. The cuts permit White to live, either by buying time in the corner as here or by actually escaping to the central area where friendly stones or space make more eyes possible.
When Black is strong in the centre then he doesn't worry about White escaping there and so starts his replies at the 2-4 points (Dia 5). Dia 6 shows how futile resistance by White in this situation. The question which remains, and I'm not attempting to answer it, is how strong does Black need to be to play in this fashion.
Decide yourself...
I haven't investigated other White invasions such as the attachment at 3-4 point. These get difficult.
Home >
Steve >
Go >
Problem of the month
British Go Association
Last updated 2004-08-10
This page is part of http://www.stocton.org/
Email: webmaster@stocton.org