Sunday Problem #86

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

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.

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