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Copyright © 1987 by Kano Yoshinori
English Translation © 1987 Richard Bozulich

Graded Go Problems
For Beginners

Volume Three
Intermediate Problems

Kano Yoshinori 9-dan
Translated by Richard Bozulich

Buy the full book at gobooks.com

Graded Go Problems For Beginners are the ideal books for players who have just learned the rules of Go, bridging the gap between a beginner’s book and some of the more ‘advanced’ elementary books.

The almost 1,500 problems these four volumes contain thoroughly drill the reader in the fundamentals of the game. Once you have finished studying these four books, you will have mastered the elements of capturing and defending stones, life and death of groups, elementary tactics, the opening, and the endgame, thus laying a solid foundation for your future progress.

Volume Three contains 421 intermediate level problems (15-kyu to 8-kyu).

About the Author & Translator

Kano Yoshinori was born on April 14, 1928 in Kyoto and died on May 2, 1999. He came to Tokyo at the age of nine and became a disciple of Suzuki Hideko 5-dan. He became 1-dan in 1943 and in 1968 he attained the top rank of 9-dan. In 1948 he won the Young Professional’s Championship, in 1955 he won the top section of the Oteai, and in 1961 he won the 5th Prime Minister’s Cup. He played in the 14th, 20th, 25th, and 26th Honinbo leagues. In 1975 he went to Austria and Russia, then in 1979 he led a team of high school go players to China for a goodwill match. He graduated from the Japanese Literature Department of Japan University, making him one of the few professional go players to have graduated from university. His most prominent disciple is the Taiwanese go player, O Rissei 9-dan, winner of the 2000 and 2001 Kisei titles. In 2001 he won the Judan title which he currently holds.

Richard Bozulich is the president of Kiseido Publishing Company. He learned how to play go in 1958 while a studying mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. He came to Japan in 1967 to study go and founded The Ishi Press for the purpose of publishing go books in English. In 1982, he founded Kiseido. Invincible: The Games of Shusaku by John Power was its first publication.

Copyright Page

Volume Three: Intermediate Problems
Graded Go Problems for Beginners

Kano Yoshinori 9 dan

Published by
Kiseido Publishing Company
CPO Box 1140
Tokyo, Japan

Copyright © 1987 by Kano Yoshinori
English Translation © 1987 Richard Bozulich

All rights reserved according to international law. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise copied for public or private use without the written permission of the publisher.

ISBN of the printed version: 4–906574–48–3

Converted for SmartGo Books by John Mifsud.

Contents

Graded Go Problems for Beginners
Volume Three: Intermediate Problems

About the Author & Translator

Copyright Page

Preface

Glossary

Intermediate Problems Level One

Middle Game Problems

The chapters in gray are included only in the full book.

Opening Problems

Living Groups and Dead Groups

Endgame Problems

Intermediate Problems Level Two

Middle Game Problems

Opening Problems

Living Groups and Dead Groups

Endgame Problems

Intermediate Problems Level Three
Life and Death Problems

Life and Death

Ko

Seki

Capturing Races

Intermediate Problems Level Four
Life and Death Problems

Life and Death (Incorporating Ko, Seki, and Capturing Races)

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About SmartGo Books

Preface

This volume is a continuation of the second volume of Graded Go Problems For Beginners and is aimed at the 15-kyu to 8-kyu player.

The problems presented here will require a bit of thought, but none of them is so difficult that a player who understands the rules, has had some experience playing games, and has studied the first and second volumes would not be able to solve them in less than a minute.

Since the main aim of this series is to present as many examples of go technique as possible, I have avoided giving a lot of different variations of possible answers. The reader is advised to attempt to ‘refute’ the correct answer until he knows beyond doubt that the correct answer works. By pondering each problem in this way, the reader will develop an instinct for finding the winning move in his games.

Kano Yoshinori 9-dan
March, 1987

Glossary

atari – a move threatening to capture on the next move.

dame — neutral points.

dan — a ranking scale running from 1-dan to 9-dan.

double atari – a move that puts two different groups of stones into atari.

eye — a point on the board that is surrounded by stones of the same color.

ko — a situation in which two opposing stones can capture and recapture each other endlessly. In a game, immediate recapture is forbidden.

kyu — a ranking scale running from 35-kyu (beginner) up to 1-kyu, the highest rank before 1-dan.

nakade — a move played inside an opposing group’s eye space that prevents the formation of two eyes.

oi-otoshi — an atari against which there is no way for the group that is in atari to escape.

oshi-tsubushi — a crushing move. An atari against which there is no way to escape except to make an illegal move.

seki — dual life. A situation in which neither of two groups of opposing stones has two eyes, but neither can attack the other without losing his stones.

snapback — an atari on an opposing group such that, if the stone making the atari is captured, the capturing stones will still be in atari.

Intermediate Problems Level One

Middle Game Problems

Problem 1

Problem 1 – Black to play.

How should Black play so as to completely surround the white stones?

Answer 1

Correct Answer

Pressing from the outside with 1 and 3 is severe. White is confined to the side and must play 4 to live.

Wrong Answer

Extending to Black 1 is slack; White expands along the side with 2 and 4. This is a failure for Black.

Problem 2

Problem 2 – Black to play.

Black should play so as to prevent the capture of his two stones on the second line.

Answer 2

Correct Answer

Black saves his two stones by extending to 1. If White A, Black blocks at B and Black can’t be captured.

Wrong Answer

If Black blocks at 1, White catches two black stones when he ataries with 2.

Problem 3

Problem 3 – White to play.

How can White play so as to escape with his two stones in the center?

Answer 3

Correct Answer

White can escape if he ataries with 1. If Black 2, White captures two stones with 3. If Black 2 at 3, White 3 at 2.

Wrong Answer

Directly playing an atari with 1 is crude. After the sequence to 4, White’s four stones are lost.

Problem 4

Problem 4 – Black to play.

What is Black’s best move?

Answer 4

Correct Answer

Descending to Black 1, followed by 3, catches the three white stones in the corner.

Wrong Answer

Capturing a stone with 1 allows White to link up his stones on the left to the ones on the right.

Problem 5

Problem 5 – Black to play.

How should Black play?

Answer 5

Correct Answer

If Black places a stone at 1, Black wins the capturing race by one move. If White 2 at 3, Black plays 3 at 2.

Wrong Answer

Pushing through with 1 only helps White to link up his stones. The four black stones on the left are now dead.

Problem 6

Problem 6 – Black to play.

The first thing Black should do is make sure that his two stones at the bottom can’t be captured.

Answer 6

Correct Answer

First of all, Black plays 1, threatening to capture two stones with 2. When White defends with 2, Black extends to 3.

Wrong Answer

If Black connects with 1, Black’s stones are in a pinch after White 2. If Black plays 1 at 2, White plays at 1, and the two black stones on the left can’t escape.

Problem 7

Problem 7 – Black to play.

How should Black play so as to capture the eight white stones on the right?

Answer 7

Correct Answer

Black 1 sets up a throw-in at 3 which captures two stones. If White 2 at 3, Black cuts at A, capturing two white stones.

Wrong Answer

Throwing in first at Black 1 is premature. The lone black stone on the left will be captured before the white stones on the right.

Problem 8

Problem 8 – Black to play.

How should Black play so as to capture the thirteen white stones on the right?

Answer 8

Correct Answer

Exchanging 1 for White 2 lets Black atari at 3 in sente. The white group on the right is now isolated with only one eye.

Wrong Answer

Descending to Black 1 first lets White atari at 2. The two black stones at the edge will now be captured.

Problem 9

Problem 9 – Black to play.

How should Black respond to White 1?

Answer 9

Correct Answer

Black 1 is the shape move that gives Black’s group in corner life. Next –

Reference Diagram

White 2 and 4 are the best White can do. Up to 5, Black gets a living shape in the corner.

Wrong Answer

If Black 1, White 2 aims at a throw-in at 3. Up to 6, the position is either a seki or a ko. This is a big loss for Black.

Wrong Answer 2

Black 1 is the worst move. White 2 and 4 kill the black group.

Problem 10

Problem 10 – Black to play.

How should Black respond to White 1?

Answer 10

Correct Answer

Black 1 is the best move in this position. Next —

Reference Diagram

If White attacks at 2, Black makes two eyes in the corner with 3.

Wrong Answer

If Black connects with 1, White kills Black with 2 and 4. If Black A next, White B.

Wrong Answer 2

Black 1 is unreasonable. When White cuts at 2, Black loses three stones.

Problem 11

Problem 11 – Black to play.

How should Black play so as to capture the seven white stones at the top?

Answer 11

Correct Answer

Black 1 is a surprising move. If White 2, Black plays 3; the white group above is cut off and will die.

Wrong Answer

Black 1 is a crude move. Up to 4, White links up to his stones on the outside.

Problem 12

Problem 12 – Black to play.

How should Black play so as to capture the two marked white stones?

Answer 12

Correct Answer

Cutting with Black 1 is the correct move. White will now lose at least two stones.

Reference Diagram 1

If White ataries with 2, Black 3 will capture the two stones in atari.

Reference Diagram 2

If White ataries from the outside with 2, Black 3 also captures two stones.

Wrong Answer

Directly playing an atari against the two white stones without first cutting fails, as this diagrams shows.

Problem 13

Problem 13 – Black to play.

How should Black play so as to capture seven white stones?

Answer 13

Correct Answer

After Black 1, White can’t atari the two black stones, so the seven white ones can be captured.

Wrong Answer

Black 1 and 3 lead to a seki. However, if Black plays 1 at 3, White plays 2 at 1 and it is Black who will be captured.

Problem 14

Problem 14 – White to play.

How should White play so as to link up his three stones on the right to the ones on the left?

Answer 14

Correct Answer

White can link up his three stones by playing 1.

Wrong Answer

White 1 fails. After Black 2 and 4, White’s stones can’t escape atari.

Problem 15

Problem 15 – White to play.

How can White save his five endangered stones?

Answer 15

Correct Answer

If White connects with 1, his six stones can’t be captured.

Wrong Answer

If White ataries with 1, Black throws in a stone with 2. After Black 4, White can’t rescue his four stones.

Problem 16

Problem 16 – White to play.

How can White capture six black stones?

Answer 16

Correct Answer

White 1 ensures that the six black stones at the bottom will be captured.

Wrong Answer

If White ataries with 1, Black 2 will capture five white stones.

Problem 17

Problem 17 – Black to play.

Black has a move that will create a ko for the life of the white stones on the left.

Answer 17

Correct Answer

Black can get an advantageous ko by throwing in a stone at 1. After White 2, Black starts the ko with 3.

Wrong Answer

If Black connects with 1, White gets two eyes by playing at 2.

Problem 18

Problem 18 – White to play.

How should White play?

Answer 18

Correct Answer

If White ataries with 1, Black’s five stones can’t escape capture. If Black 2, White 3 is atari.

Wrong Answer

White 1 only threatens two unimportant stones. Black connects with 2, catching four white stones.

Problem 19

Problem 19 – Black to play.

How can Black link up his stones on the right to the ones on the left?

Answer 19

Correct Answer

Black 1 ensures a link-up between the two black groups.

Wrong Answer

Black can’t link up with 1 and 3. The descent of White 4 ensures that the stones on the right are cut off.

Problem 20

Problem 20 – Black to play.

How can Black capture eight white stones?

Answer 20

Correct Answer

Black cuts at 1. If White ataries with 2, Black 3 sets up a snapback.

Wrong Answer

If Black 1, White secures his stones by connecting at 2.