Sunday Problem #86

Published 23 Jan 2022 by antti (last edited 15 Feb 2022)

tags: tsumego, sunday-problem

This problem is less about the moves and more about figuring out what exactly is going on. When should the players switch elsewhere?

Black to play.

Solution

‘Solution’
Black 1 is the correct starting move, and White’s strongest resistance is 2. (If instead of 2 White plays at 3, Black 2 starts a direct kō fight.)
After black 3, the best White can do is play elsewhere locally; throwing in at ‘a’ is a mistake as Black then captures with ‘b’, bringing the white group closer to getting captured in a kō.
Later in the game, Black will likely play first ‘c’, and then either ‘a’ or ‘b’ depending on if he prefers a local seki or a kō fight for the corner.