The Evolution of Professional's Knowledge
2010 - Endgame before Dissolving
the Hanezeki
Dissolving the hanezeki completely before starting the endgame in the upper left loses two points for White in the Capture Variation. We show this in the diagram here, in which we used a technically correct sequence (, instead of ) for occupying Black's liberties. After taking the last valuable point in the centre with , White immediately starts the endgame in the upper left with . Now, after White's atari at , Black cannot connect at , because White would play the oki of and win the semeai in the corner. White got the moves of , and of , thus keeping the point of as territory. Black lost one point of territory with . Please note that we refrained from playing at the more advantageous point of the oki , so as to clarify the effect on the published professional variations. Cheng played the endgame on the left before completely dissolving the hanezeki in 2010 [LIT. 5; page 384]. Now, Black wins by only two points, taking account of the additional prisoner for White. Please be aware that this effect, shown above, is available only in the "classic" variations, where the decisive oki in the lower right has not been played. | |