Hello.
I was wondering what was the best way to place handicap stones in 9x9, considering the fact that there is no komi and White is much stronger than Black.
Basically there are three questions: what's the best way to place 2 handicap stones? what's the best way to place 3 handicap stones? what's the best way to place 4 handicap stones?
"The best way" does not mean the way that leads to the highest winning margin for Black if both sides played optimally. It means the way such that Black has a very simple plan to win, even if it's just by a few points, and White can't do much against it.
For example, in the following two diagrams, Black might be able to kill everything and take the whole board or almost the whole board, but it's a little risky and if Black makes a lot of mistakes he might lose.
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W
$$ +-------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . , . . . , . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . , . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . X . . . |
$$ | . . , . . . , . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +-------------------+[/go]
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W
$$ +-------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . , . X . , . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . , . X . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . , . . . , . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +-------------------+[/go]
Instead, Black should maybe place his stones like in the following diagram. He will not be able to kill everything and take the whole board, but Black has a very simple plan to win: he's just going to get the lower part of the board and win by a few points. And it's going to be pretty hard for White to do anything against this.
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W
$$ +-------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . , . . . , . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . , . . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . X . . |
$$ | . . , . X . , . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +-------------------+[/go]
Or maybe this handicap placement might be really strong:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W
$$ +-------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . , . 1 . , . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . X . X . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . T . 2 . T . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +-------------------+[/go]
If White plays 1 trying to get something at the top, Black plays 2. And then if White wants to live at the bottom it will be very hard for him since he will have two groups at the bottom near the triangles which would be disconnected between each other and therefore they might get killed - there's a 9x9 proverb which says "Two groups might live but the third will die". And if White can't live in the lower half of the board, Black will win by a very big margin, even if there is a komi.
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