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A corner L&D
Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2018 11:33 am
by Ian Butler
A fun corner L&D I came across in a game by Yuan Zhou.
White makes an endgame mistake after the exchange white A, black B. (triangled stone is there only to illustrate black is strong there and can't be cut. There was no actual stone on that position, but it matters not in this L&D)
White plays tenuki.
Black to kill.
Answer:
Explanation:
After the exchange of A and B, white needs to add another move in the corner. If he doesn't, black kills by cutting. White can atari the stone but is then stuck in a liberty problem. He cannot atari the stones once white drops down (either way) and is dead in the corner, making for a 30 point swing in the game.
The mistake, says Yuan Zhou, lays earlier in the cirkled stone move. He played that one instead of 2, making black's 1 sente that has to be answered at white 2 instead of at the squared spot. Hope this makes sense because I saw the game and maybe it's not clear from only this position. 1 and 2 weren't played yet and white played the cirkled stone instead of 2, that's what I mean.
The second mistake was playing tenuki, of course.
Re: A corner L&D
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 3:00 am
by Leon
This is both a fun and an instructive problem (I think that positions like this are sometimes referred to as the Golden Chicken Standing on One Leg
https://senseis.xmp.net/?GoldenChickenStandingOnOneLeg ).
Here is a related but yet very different position: Don't let the golden chicken ruin your christmas and survive as black:
$$c Black to live. (Edit: I fixed a mistake in the original problem. Thank you Shaddy.)
Click Here To Show Diagram Code [go]$$c Black to live. (Edit: I fixed a mistake in the original problem. Thank you Shaddy.)
Re: A corner L&D
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 4:48 pm
by MikeKyle
Thanks both. The first post is a really nice example of a sensible enough looking but deadly endgame blunder.
The second post has three of my favourite things:
- Poetry
Leon wrote: Don't let the golden chicken ruin your christmas
- A really fun novel problem that is achievable but not obvious at my level
And..
Re: A corner L&D
Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2018 6:39 pm
by Shaddy
$$c Black to live.
Click Here To Show Diagram Code [go]$$c Black to live.
Re: A corner L&D
Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2018 7:32 pm
by mhlepore
Yuan Zhou wrote a book (which I'm not sure if it's in print anymore), where reviews a game that he lost because of this life and death problem. He was ahead, thought his corner was alive, so he tenukied.
Re: A corner L&D
Posted: Tue Dec 25, 2018 2:24 am
by Leon
Shaddy wrote:
$$c Black to live.
Click Here To Show Diagram Code [go]$$c Black to live.
Oof, how embarassing for me. I will fix the problem. Thank you
