Home > Steve > Go > Problem of the month

October 2002's Go Answer of the Month

Dia 1 - Why is White 1 an overplay?

This turned up at this year's Milton Keynes tournament. White 1 is an overplay- find Black's refutation of it.

Dia 2 - Keep forcing white.

If White thinks he can get away with 1, he will no want to be cut, so will connect under at 3. 4 is an atari leaving the white group with two liberties whilst the black corner stones have 3. Black must keep white down to no more than 3 liberties.

6 & 8 expand black's blocking stones whilst white gets more space with 7 & 9. 10 throws in to remove a liberty. At the end of Dia 2, white effectively has 3 liberties (all on stone 9).

Dia 3 - Block central access.

12 forces 13. Then 14, 16 and 18 block white's escape. The key here is to realise that 14 can be sacrificed.

Dia 4 - The final squeeeze.

After 18 white is back down to 2 liberties and is in pre-atari. His only option is to attack 14 with 19. Black increases the sacrifice with 20.

After 24 it is apparent that White can never get more than two liberties, so black can actually capture rapidly now.

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