(c) 2007 by William S. Cobb

Playing the Endgame: A Brief Introduction

William S. Cobb

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This pocket sized book lays out the key things you need to know to begin playing the endgame effectively, including important concepts such as double sente and reverse sente, the difference between middle game and endgame play, how to calculate the value of endgame moves, and special endgame tesuji. In this area, a little learning can have a big impact on your game results. Includes a number of practice problems.

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Introduction

A game of go can be divided into three parts: the opening, the middle game, and the endgame. The opening is that part of the game when there are large areas along the edges that you can be the first to play in. Such areas will be at least five or six lines wide and four or five lines deep, including the corners.

The middle game is when groups are being settled and become either dead or alive. Some groups may be settled at the very beginning of a game, of course, but settling the basic status and scope of the various groups of stones is the main focus of the middle game.

The endgame begins when that has been done, when there are no longer any life and death problems to settle or any floating or running groups. Now it is a matter of dividing up the areas between the edges of competing groups. Sometimes this can involve a substantial number of points, and a mistake can even result in a group dying. But basically, the issue in the endgame is about expanding the scope of your groups and reducing that of your opponent’s. The endgame is normally about points rather than life and death and can easily involve more than half of the moves in a game.

Learning to play endgame properly can have an enormous impact on the outcome of your games. For example, most kyu players regularly make endgame moves before the middle game is finished. This is virtually always a mistake. If you know this, you can gain an advantage when your opponent makes this mistake. Moreover, the value of some common endgame plays is not obvious to many kyu players, and they regularly make smaller plays, leaving bigger ones for their opponents. Avoiding this error will change the result of many of your games. Being skilled at the endgame is particularly important when you are giving handicap stones, as you normally are still behind in such contests at the conclusion of the middle game. White usually wins in handicap go in the endgame.

Endgame play is difficult because it requires careful reading. You must calculate the value of various moves in order to know which is the biggest, which can be quite a complicated matter. However, even if you are far from pro level in your reading ability and lack the time (or the patience) for thorough analysis, there are some relatively simple things you can learn that will significantly improve your endgame play and raise your rating. The aim of this book is to help you do just that.

I owe special thanks to Yuan Zhou 7d for help in writing this book.

William Cobb

Copyright Page

(c) 2007 William S. Cobb

All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited.

Slate & Shell
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Richmond, VA 23238
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Conversion to SmartGo Books by William Cobb

ISBN of print edition:
1–932001–35–2

Table of Contents

Playing the Endgame: A Brief Introduction

Introduction

Copyright Page

Three Kinds of Moves

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

Endgame Moves in the Middle Game

Calculating the Value of Endgame Moves

Endgame Tesuji

25 Study Problems

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Three Kinds of Moves

The first things to learn are some special terms: double sente, reverse sente, and double gote.

In any situation in a game there are three possible kinds of moves: First, a move can be sente for both players. That is, whichever player makes a move in this situation, the opponent will respond locally, leaving the first player with sente to play elsewhere. This may involve a sequence of more than one move and response, of course. The key point is that whoever plays first in this situation ends with sente. The move in such a situation is called double sente.

This is an example of a double sente situation. White A and Black B are both sente plays. This “hane and connect” edge sequence is a common case of a double sente move. After the hane on the edge, the opponent blocks, putting the blocked stone in atari. The initial player then connects and the second player must protect the blocking stone from being put into atari and captured. Capturing an unprotected white blocking stone after Black B would be trickier in this case, but you should be able to read out how to do it.

The second kind of move is one that is sente for one player and gote for the other. A special term is used for this. If a play is gote for you, but would be sente for your opponent, it is called a reverse sente move for you. It remains gote for you, of course, but it is significant that a move in this situation would be sente for your opponent even though it is not for you. The point is that denying your opponent a sente move is frequently worth much more than you may expect, which makes it worth taking even when there is a seemingly larger “plain” gote move available.

This is an example of a reverse sente situation for Black. If Black plays first at A, White blocks at B and Black connects at C in gote. However, if White plays first at C, Black blocks at D and White connects at A in sente because Black must protect at E or F to prevent White capturing Black’s stone at D by playing at E.

Finally, the third kind of move is a double gote, that is, a move that is gote for both players. Situations that only offer gote plays for both players are the least significant and are usually played last in the game, though relative size has an impact here.