Showing posts tagged: tsumego


Sunday Problem #33

Here is an easier problem a ridiculously difficult endgame problem that somehow found its way to a life-and-death problem collection.

This is from the Nihon Ki-In’s 150, or 150 Graded Life-and-Death Problems for 3-Dan Players.

Black to play.

Solution
Gote seki
The book mistakenly says that the bump of black 1 is correct, followed by white …

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Sunday Problem #32

This is an original problem I thought up two days ago. The shape is closely linked to Sunday Problem #31, but this problem highlights an aspect of the base problem that people more rarely think about.

Black to play.

Solution
Solution (1)
Black 1 is the correct starting move – even though at first glance it appears to make …

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Sunday Problem #31

This problem is from (Hiden Mondaishū, or Secret Problem Collection) by Hon dōjō, whose students include Fujisawa Rina 4p, Ichiriki Ryō 8p, and Shibano Toramaru 9p. The creators of the collection most likely had Igo Hatsuyō-Ron as their model, what with its originally having been a secret of the Inoue school, but having Mynavi openly publish the …

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Sunday Problem #30

Similarly to Sunday Problem #29, this is from the Igo Hatsuyō-Ron.

Black to play.

Solution
Solution
The solution of this problem involves a very rarely seen technique. Black has very limited space in which to form two eyes, and must therefore get crafty.
The moves 1–6 are commonsensical and, while black 7 looks like bad shape, it is also …

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Sunday Problem #29

Since everybody hopefully has a bit more free time at this time of the year, I will briefly continue on the subject of difficult problems.

This problem is from no other than Igo Hatsuyō-Ron, probably the most difficult collection of classic tsumego. In the present day, players aspiring to become professional are the core audience of the book; historically, the …

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Sunday Problem #28

Sometimes it is good to spend time and effort trying to solve difficult problems. Even if you are unable to find the solution, this will improve your reading and, more importantly, help build character in a way that you will get less demotivated by difficult game positions.

This problem was first shown to me by ‘Bass’, a Finnish go player, …

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Sunday Problem #27

Finland is celebrating its 103rd Independence Day today, and so, for this week’s problem, I ended up composing a tsumego in Finland’s shape.

There’s a lot of open space, which complicates reading, but as far as I could see there is only one solution.

Black to play.

Solution
Failure
A straightforward defence such as black 1, planning to sacrifice just …

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Sunday Problem #26

With this post, we have reached half a year’s worth of Sunday problems! In case you haven’t noticed, this page (the link is under the ‘material’ tab and also on the right-side bar) lists all the Sunday problems in easily accessible form.

This problem is from the Japanese book (Tatsujin no tsumego), or Expert’s Tsumego. According to …

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Sunday Problem #25

To complete the set, this sample problem is from the advanced section of Maeda’s Tsumego Collection.

Black to play.

Solution
Solution
The eye-stealing placement of 1 looks like the natural starting point, but after White connects with 2, the next move is key. Only Black’s non-obvious sacrificing move of 3 will then manage to capture. After White resists with 4, black 5 connects under and the white group only has one eye.
If White instead responds to black 1 with 4, then black 3 again kills.

Sunday Problem #24

While last week’s Sunday problem was from the elementary section of Maeda’s Tsumego Collection, this week’s problem is from the intermediate section.

Black to play.

Solution
Solution
The key to this problem is the non-obvious black 5. If Black captured the two stones instead, white 5 would capture the black group whole; therefore, sacrificing the three stones to the right is the best Black can do. After black 7, Black lives with a minimal shape.