In most games, including chess and checkers, ...

By Rob Van Zeijst

In most games, including chess and checkers, the person who moves first has an advantage. This also used to be true for go through most of the game's 3,000-4,000-year existence. However, a system was devised to make up for Black's first-move advantage by giving White some points as compensation. These points are called komi. To prevent draws, Black gave 4.5 komi in the beginning. These komi were increased to 5.5, but 6.5 is more common nowadays. Some tournaments have an even larger komi, while others allow a player to choose what color he wants to play. The official change in komi to 6.5 was the result of the shared opinion among the strongest players in the world.

Diagram 1: Let us look at a full-size 19x19 board. Now assume White imitates Black's moves until 10. In response to 11, he plays 12, and he answers 13 with 14. After 15, it is clear Black's territory is larger than White's. Even if White seems to be playing natural moves, he is falling behind. Of course, Black has an advantage because he plays the first move, but this is too much.

Diagram 2: After playing the same moves through 11, White could play at 12. This, of course, is of equal importance to 11. Black can now limit the influence radiating from White's lower left corner by playing at 13. However, with 14, White can do the same. The result up to this point is even. That is bad news for Black because he has to give 6.5 komi to White.

Conclusion: From the above diagrams, it is obvious White should not follow Black around even when taking into account the 6.5 komi. He needs a plan of his own. On the other hand, Black cannot rely on his first-move advantage. He needs to be aggressive to keep his lead to compensate for the 6.5 komi. This leads to different playing styles by both sides. Ever since the komi was changed from 5.5 to 6.5 points, Black has been forced to play more aggressively to make up for that extra point. And that is good news for spectators.

Diagram 3: This is an interesting game between Takao Shinji and Masao Takemiya for the Tengen title. As you can see, White's stones are high, except for white 8 on the second line. On the other hand, Black has three stones on the second and one on the first line. These moves are quite common. But the normal way of playing is in Reference 1.

Reference 1: If White answers 1 by playing the usual moves 2 and 4, Black will build a strong position up to 5. Takemiya, who was White, likes to build large center frameworks. Probably the prospect of Black being able to invade easily between the stones marked with triangles and the one marked with crosses, was not to his liking.

Diagram 4: White keeps expanding his center with 26 through 34. Black's next move is very instructive. Black 35 keeps in check White's center framework while also isolating White's marked stones. Although 35 does not make any territory in itself, it destroys White's territory while aiming at an attack.

Solutions to last week's problems

Solution 2: In each of the cases A, B and C, Black limits White's eye-space and then strikes at the vital point to prevent White from making two eyes. See Reference 2 if you are wondering what happens after white 4 in group A.

Reference 2: Even if White plays at 6 (and 8), eventually he will have to connect at A because his three stones are in danger of being captured. Therefore, the space at A is not an eye. It is called a false eye.

New problem

Problem 1: Black seems to enjoy a charmed life. However, he has a mortal flaw in his shape. Where should White play to kill Black's stones?

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