The Nihon Kiin, Japan's national go organization, publishes a weekly newspaper called Shukan Go (Weekly Go), which usually carries a recent title game on its front cover and another game of interest on the back. In the newspaper, there are feature articles, news about important title games, statistics such as the average scores of top players, a variety of games that have appeared on TV and problems meant for players of different rank.

This week, however, one article stood out. It was about the 2nd Fuji Cup Igo Meet held on Oct. 29 in Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture. Three hundred children and their teachers from 20 facilities, including kindergartens and day-care centers across the country, attended the event. The great surprise this year was not just the large turnout but the appearance and actual participation of the Emperor and Empress. This meeting was again led by Yasutoshi Yasuda (9-dan at the Nihon Kiin), who has been aggressively leading a movement to spread go among children by teaching them through unconventional methods.

For this event, a giant go board with huge melons and mandarins made out of paper was used instead of stones. As soon a stone (melon or mandarin) had only one liberty left (and was in atari), a doctor and nurse would come to check its condition. When a stone was left without liberties, the doctor would pronounce it dead and it was carried off the board. This dramatized interpretation made for excellent viewing.

The basics of territory

By scaling down the size of the board to only 5x5 or 7x7, it is almost possible to completely read every conceivable situation. To help understand the concept of territory, beginners can play the games shown in Diagram 1 and Diagram 3.

Diagram 1 :
Both Black and White have two stones. Black plays his move first. Who wins ? As an extra rule you might consider that Black gives White two points (komi) as compensation for playing the first move.

Diagram 2 :
The moves shown here are an example of one possible game. No prisoners are taken, so it is easy to count territory. Black has 14 points against White's 11. Including the komi of 2 points, Black would still win by 1 point.

Of course there are many possible variations and it is not certain that Black will win every game or that one particular move or combination of moves forms a winning pattern. Between players of equal strength, Black should give komi to White as compensation for playing the first move-two points, for example. For boards other than the 19x19 format, there is no set komi. The usual komi on a standard 19x19 board is 5-1/2 points.

Diagram 3 :
Once you understand the basics of territory on a 7x7 board, move to a 9x9 board. The number of permutations immediately explodes. You could enjoy playing this game for days in a row.

Diagram 4:
The moves to 32 form a possible game. Note that the moves 28 to 32 do not make any points but are necessary to fill in the neutral areas, while black 31 is necessary otherwise Black's two stones at 11 and 19 can eventually be captured by White at 31. In this example, Black has 23 points and White, 20 worth of territory. If the komi is two points, the final score is one point in favor of Black.

Problem 1:
Black moves first and wins the game (no komi).

Problem 2:
Black moves first and wins the game (no komi).

Solution to last week's problem

Last week, your mission was to think of reasonable alternatives. Something similar to the solutions offered here is good.

Solution 1:
During the game, Black could also have played at 4 (instead of cutting at 3). After white 4, Black is almost forced to play at 5. Next, the moves to 10 look feasible.

A major drawback for Black is that White is able to connect his marked stones to his original invasion stone to the left of 1. Depending on the person playing, Black might be happy building a wall in the center, but in this case, with Cho Chikun his opponent, O Rissei felt he probably shouldn't be so lenient.

Solution 2:
Instead of pulling back at 6, White could have played at 5. The sequence to 10 is then forced. Black could launch an all-out attack on White's two stones with 11. However, White gets a lot of the territory (about 30 points) in the upper-left corner. That is a big investment for Black to make. Even if the attack after black 11 does turn out very well, he may still have a hard fight on his hands. One possibility for White is playing A, black B, white C, black D, white E and black F. Next, White may try to attack Black's stones around 1 to 9.

Solution to this week's problems

Solution 1:
Black 1 is a tesuji (good move). White is forced to submit with 2. Next, Black can play at 3 and 5 in sente. After White 6, the game is finished. When counting, we find Black wins by 1 point (Black 10 against White 9).

Reference 1:
Ordinary moves such as 1 and 3 won't do the trick. In this case White wins by 1 point.

Reference 2:
After Black plays at 1, what about resisting with 2? Black 3 forces white 4. Black 5 and 7 win the capturing race and all of White's stones die.

Solution 2:
Black 1 is an excellent tesuji to remember. Since he can't prevent Black from connecting, White is forced to submit with 2, 4 and 6. Black moves to 7 and 9 to win the game by 2 points (Black 15 against White 13).

Reference 3:
If Black plays ordinary moves such as 1 and 2, it won't do the trick. In this case it will be jigo (draw).

Reference 4:
It is no good for White to switch to 6 instead of defending at 7. Black will immediately capture with 7, forcing White to connect at 8. Black stops at 9. After White connects at 10, the score is 3 points in favor of Black (Black 16 against White 13).