Hello, I am new to Go! I am not sure if this is the right subforum to ask this question, so please let me know if I should ask this somewhere else.

I wished to practice my Go skills by trying some tsumego puzzles. However, the free tsumego booklets which I downloaded online do not say how to determine whether you are an attacker or a defender in the puzzles. All they say is "Black to move". How do I tell whether I am the attacker or defender for each puzzle? Thank you!

Hi Gauss,

Good question.

"Black to play" means you want to find the best (local) sequence for Black.
Depending on the situation, this can mean a variety of results.

Examples:

- Black to live ( including seki ).
- Black to kill.
- Black to connect.
- Black to cut.
- Black to make a ko ( Black cannot live outright; the best local result is ko for life for Black ).
- Black to make a ko ( Black cannot kill White outright; the best local result is ko for life for White ).
- Black to capture (the important, White, stones ).
- Black to make good (local) shape.
- Etc., etc.

Example: Black to play:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ | . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . .
$$ | O O O O O . . .
$$ | X X X X O . . .
$$ | . . . X O . . .
$$ -----------------[/go]

Example: Black to play:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B
$$ | . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . .
$$ | X X X X X . . .
$$ | O O O O X . . .
$$ | . . . O X . . .
$$ -----------------[/go]

Enjoy!

Thank you! This makes more sense now.

The bottom line is that in a game you are presented with a position but no one to tell you what the outcome should be. It is up to you to figure out which of the various options EdLee presented is the one relevant to the position.

_________________
Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

By the way, welcome to the game and to this forum. Go can be confusing at first, but it's a very rewarding game. I hope it brings you much joy!

Hi iamgauss,

Look who is surrounding who. Most of the times, the challenge for the surrounded is to live, and for the surrounder to kill.

I suggest getting problems with answers available. There are many available online.