Although last week's column focused on ...

By Rob Van Zeijst

Although last week's column focused on reducing liberties and capturing stones, it is important to understand that the main aim of go is to accumulate territory. I can't stress this often enough. There is a debate about which teaching method is best: teaching the capturing game or teaching how to accumulate territory, where capturing stones is of minor importance. The capturing game, of course, gives a beginner instant gratification, while accumulating territory is more difficult and stimulates multidimensional thinking and decision-making. However, a combination of both methods probably is preferable and a lot should be left to the discretion of the teacher. By asking questions to obtain feedback and sensing what the stumbling blocks are, a good instructor can provide examples that stimulate a student's thinking.

Diagram 1: To stimulate an understanding about acquiring territory, a teacher should provide appropriate positions. The situation here could help. The board is evenly divided and a furious battle is unlikely to erupt. Victory depends on a player expanding his own territory and reducing his opponent's. To acquire territory, the players must draw on all their skills.

Diagram 2: To expand his territory, Black can move into White's territory by playing at 1. If you are the teacher and hold the white stones, play passively by answering every move, while offering encouragement such as, "That's an excellent move because it expands Black's territory, reduces White's, and can't be cut." This will stimulate the student to look for similar moves, such as at 3, 5 and 7.

Diagram 3: Black 9 and 11 must be answered with 10 and 12 (otherwise Black cuts at 12). Likewise, Black can make the exchange 13 through 16. Black must then reinforce his position with 17, while White can threaten with 18--Black must connect at 19 otherwise White cuts there and bottles up three black stones--and 20 is answered by black 21. This completes the game. Counting the territories, Black has 31 points against 23 for White. Black wins by 8 points

Diagram 4: Using the Chinese counting method, Black fills in his territory as does White. Counting the stones, we find Black has 45 against 36 for White, a difference of 9 points. Therefore, there is a discrepancy of 1 point between the Chinese and the Japanese-Korean method. The Chinese method of counting is more comprehensible for beginners but the other approach is more widespread.

Solution to last week's problems

Solution 1: Starting with situation A, black 1 captures one stone. In the B setting, Black can play atari by taking away the penultimate liberty with 1. If White tries to save its stone with 2, Black puts White's two stones in atari with 3. There is no escape for White as he cannot play at E because that would be suicide, which is not allowed. The stone at C is in trouble after black 1 as it has only two liberties left. Following the adage "Attack is the best defense," White cuts with 2. However, as in situation B, Black takes away the penultimate liberty with 3 (or 4). Playing at 4 is useless as Black puts him into atari again with 5. In the final position, White's two D stones are in a hopeless situation when Black plays 1 as this puts both white stones in atari. Check out for yourself that playing at either H or I would be meaningless.

This week's problems

Problem 1: In Diagram 3, there is a white stone at A and a black one at B. What would happen if these stones were not there? In other words, what can Black do around A and White around B?

Problem 2: After black 1 in Diagram 1, White blocked at A. However, he lost the game by a large margin. If you are White, come up with one or two alternatives for A?

Want to find out more? Come to Ben's Cafe in Takadanobaba, Tokyo, (03) 3202-2445, where the English-speaking go community congregates every Sunday. You can enjoy free lessons, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Ben's Cafe can be accessed at www.benscafe.com.

Van Zeijst is a four-time European go champion and European representative at the Fujitsu World Championship.