If you enjoy crossword puzzles, chess, checkers, diplomacy, and other strategic board games where you develop strategies and tactics and in which you have to match your opponent's wits, you will certainly enjoy go.
The first step--part 3
Diagram 1: This is a game between two beginners. Skirmishes break out immediately when White attaches with 2. This reduces Black's liberties by one, but notice white 2 has only three liberties himself too. Black plays at 3 to reduce the liberties of white 2 to only two. White is not impressed and cuts the black stones with 4. Black decides that he'd better strengthen at least one stone by extending with 5. White keeps hacking away with 6. Where should Black play next?
Diagram 2: Black 7 is an excellent choice. If he doesn't play there, his stone at 3 will be taken. White then kept chasing Black's stones with 8, but after black 9, his own marked stone is in trouble.
Diagram 3: For the moment, White can escape with his marked stone by extending with 10, but next Black plays at 11. White has only two liberties left at this point. With 12, White attempts to run away. However, black 13 keeps him down to two liberties again. After white 14, black 15 squashes White's stones. Now the white stones have only one liberty--at A--left. Even if he plays there, he will create a group of stones with only one liberty--at B. In other words, after black 15 White is dead. In fact, after Black plays 9, the marked white stone is lost, though it still takes a few moves to get to the point of the actual capture.
Diagram 4: There are many shapes and positions in which a stone can be captured. For example, if White plays move 6 as shown here, Black can already capture the white stone at 2.
Diagram 5: The moment Black plays 7, the marked stone is lost. Let's verify this. If White doesn't believe Black, he can try to run away with 8. Black 9, 11, 13, etc. all keep White down to one liberty. If he decides to play it out, all of White's moves are forced. In the end, after white 24, black 25 captures ten white stones. This technique is called the ladder (or shicho, in Japanese). This particular ladder started at move 7 and constituted 19 moves.
Solutions to Last Week's Problems
Solution 1: Black 1 captures the marked white stone.
Solution 2: Black 1 is the crucial move. It captures the two marked white stones while setting his four marked stones free. On the other hand, if it is White's turn, he should play at 1, too. This would capture the four marked black stones.
Solution 3: Black 1 captures the two marked white stones and frees his own two marked stones. If it had been White's turn, he should play at A and capture the two marked black stones, which in turn sets his two marked white stones free.
Problems
Problem 1: Compare this situation with the one in Diagrams 4 and 5. Can Black play 1 and capture the marked white stone? Carefully consider what happens due to the presence of the white stone at A. And consider what happens when there is a black stone at A.
Problem 2: This is a game from two intermediate players. White 18 started a nasty fight. Black 19 was a good move, but after white 20 and 22, Black has only two liberties, at A and B. Black needs to do something fast. White's surrounding stones at 12, 14 and 18, have three liberties, at C, D, and E. White's surrounding stones at 6 and 10 have only two liberties, at F and G. How can Black capture these two stones?
Next week, you can find the answers to these problems, or you can find out tomorrow at Ben's Cafe in Takadanobaba (Tel: 3202-2445 or www.benscafe.com) where the English-speaking go community (Japanese welcome) comes together every Sunday starting at 11 a.m. Free lessons can be enjoyed until 1 p.m.
Rob van Zeijst is a four-time European champion and European representative of the Fujitsu World Championship.