:: Igo Hatsuyôron 120 (2017)

Harry's Trade – A Tribute to AlphaGo (2017)

A Tsume-Go in the Upper Left Corner

It might be tempting, but Black must not recapture White's four -stones in the lower right with .
Apparently Black overlooked that he left a tsume-go problem behind in the upper left corner that will decide the game in White's favour. Black's -stones are not entirely alive.

White's cut at is tesuji.

Black cannot give atari at , because her sagari to will be fatal, due to Black's shortage of liberties on both sides.

White's placement at is her second tesuji. Black will not answer at or at , because White's cut at would be sente thereafter.

Please note that we display only one variation here. More details are given in the "Variations of Our Solution" ( 566c).

Black's sagari to is a sacrifice for getting sente. Black captures two White stones, but ...

... Black is unable to capture White's throw-in at with a move at . White's atari at forces Black to capture in the corner, where after turns Black's potential second eye into a false one.

Finally, Black establishes a small living group in the corner, where after White captures several of his stones in gote.
Black will continue the endgame by playing at , and .

Compared to the correct line of play, Black gained one point in the upper left corner (), three points in the lower left () and eight points (, ) in the lower right; in total 12 points.
White gained 23 points in the upper left corner (, , ), eleven points more than Black.

White will win the game by about ten points.

Copyright © 2020 Thomas Redecker.

Design by Jan van Rongen, modified by Thomas Redecker.

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