Sunday Problem #85
This is an original problem arranged from a shape that appeared in a training game.
Black to play.
Solution
Black can kill White locally in the corner with 1–6, and then by connecting at ‘a’. Unfortunately for Black, however, his right-side group will then fail a capturing race, and so instead of connecting at ‘a’ Black has to start …
Sunday Problem #84
This is a relatively simpler problem, arranged from a shape that occurred in a league game.
Black to play.
Solution
Several different move orders work to kill White in this problem. The most straightforward one might be for Black to start reducing White’s eye space from the outside with 1–6, and then finally attack from the inside with 7.
Sunday Problem #83
This is an interesting problem from the Celestial Dragon Diagrams (Tenryū-Zu). The correct solution may change depending on whether this problem is treated as a life-and-death problem or as an endgame problem.
Black to play.
Solution
Black can live unconditionally with 1. White has various possible responses, but 2–7 gives him the most territorial profit.
Ultimately, White has …
Sunday Problem #82
Continued from Sunday Problem #81, which tackled one of the main candidate solutions for this problem.
Black to play.
Solution
With so much eye space, one would think this white group should surely be alive; but, after Black simply descends with 1, White has a surprising amount of difficulty trying to form eyes. The natural-looking resistance of 2 fails straightforwardly to Black’s prodding with 3–11.
Sunday Problem #81
This is an original problem inspired by a training game.
Black to play.
Solution
The unconventional first-line jump of black 1 is correct. White is unable to draw out his stone with 2 and on; up to 7, White is captured in an oi-otoshi.
White’s resistance with 2–4 is arguably more difficult to refute. Here, Black unleashes a second first-line jump with 5, and then the best White can do is turn the shape into a seki.
Sunday Problem #80
This is an endgame problem composed from one of Lukaš’s games.
Black to play.
Solution
If this were a life-and-death problem, Black’s simple hanging connection of 1 would be enough.
Black 1 is however suboptimal because White can keep attacking Black with 2 and 4. Black 5 is sufficient to form two eyes, but White gets to make …
Sunday Problem #79
This is an original problem arranged from a training game.
Black to play. Fighting the kō with Q19 can be a valid choice, but what if Black prefers to live unconditionally?
Solution
Black 1, increasing the group’s eye space while threatening to connect towards the left, is the correct starting move. White intercepts with 2, and black 3 …
Sunday Problem #78
I arranged this problem from a discussion that came up on the Go (Weiqi, Baduk) Players on Facebook group.
Japanese rules, no komi or captures, Black to play.
Spoiler
The correct solution results in a black one-point win.
Solutions
Forming an eye with black 1 is the correct starting move. After 2–3, white 4 presents Black with the other …
Sunday Problem #77
This problem came up when I was doing reading practice on BadukPop. As far as I have seen, BadukPop has a really low ratio of mistakes in its solutions, but here is an exception that tests the rule.
Black to play.
Solution
This is the solution provided by BadukPop. Black’s atari of 1 is pretty much the …
Sunday Problem #76
Like Sunday Problem #75, this is a relatively simpler classic problem.
Black to play.
Solution
Black’s group in this problem has no clean way of forming two eyes. This leaves her only with the hard-working atekomi of 1; if White responds passively with 2, then Black lives cleanly with 3–5.
White, of course, will however fight back with the cut of 2. Here Black unleashes the corner kō tesuji of 3, and after 4–5 a two-step kō fight is created. This is the best result for both players.
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