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This is a tidied up verison of a situation that arose in a game at the 7th Cheshire tournament at Crewe this year. White can live with 1, but is it the best he can do? Does this 1 still live if the left 2-4 stone were at 2-5 or the right 3-5 stone at 3-6?
10 at 6, 11 at 4.
After 1, Dia 2 demonstrates that White gets one eye on the left and one on the right. Note that the left 2-4 stone is too far away for the Black 2 attack to work - were this at 2-5 then the left eye would be collapsable (and thus white killable).
There are more variations in attacks on the right, but the sequence shown is typical and white manages a second eye - though White must be careful not to block too soon and allow Black to force a false eye. As best I can tell, having the 3-5 at 3-6 makes no difference.
It appears at first sight that the knights move for 1 expanding the eyespace should be better for White than the purely defensive move. However careful play by Black can limit White to a very similar group to that following from Dia 1.
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British Go Association
Last updated 2004-08-10
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