Life In 19x19

In this sgf, I've attempted to follow Bill's logic and show how starting the ko is the best option for black. I've stuck to Bill's premises: there are no ko threats, there are a few 10 point moves on the board, and otherwise, the remaining moves will diminish in value. Comments appreciated.

daal wrote:In this sgf, I've attempted to follow Bill's logic and show how starting the ko is the best option for black. I've stuck to Bill's premises: there are no ko threats, there are a few 10 point moves on the board, and otherwise, the remaining moves will diminish in value. Comments appreciated.

Thanks, daal. It is not easy to illustrate this on the whole board. (And your comments about plays canceling out are unclear.)

Here is an illustrative example with a small environment of small endgame plays.



Note that each player's mistake gets punished.

Bill Spight wrote: Here is an illustrative example with a small environment of small endgame plays.

Note that each player's mistake gets punished.

Beautiful example, thank you!

imabuddha wrote:

Bill Spight wrote: Here is an illustrative example with a small environment of small endgame plays.

Note that each player's mistake gets punished.

Beautiful example, thank you!

De nada.

And thanks to you guys. I usually talk about this abstractly. Leading me around to a simple example has really helped.

Bill Spight wrote: So you see, these problems are not teaching bad habits by suggesting that a player should make a ko, even though he cannot win it. That's a good habit.

I'm finding this discussion interesting, but confusing. Could someone illustrate it by means of a demonstration game, (perhaps on 7x7 to keep things simple), to show how it would be good to start a ko as soon as possible when one is likely to lose the ko?
I mean in the sense of showing the difference in points between starting a ko that will be lost versus not starting that ko?

Thanks in advance, Niek

Oops.. nevermind, I overlooked the example provided later on in this discussion, which is what I had in mind.