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December 1998's Go Answer of the Month

Dia 1 - Black to rescue his two stones.

I have recently obtained a copy of issue 0 (the prototype issue) of the British Go Journal. This problem is the first problem presented in that journal from spring 1967.

Dia 2 - The "obvious" move fails.

Black just runs out of liberties.

Dias 3 & 4 - The solution.

Black 1 is the magic move.

In Dia 3, White tries 2 which worked for him in the failure of Dia 2. However 3 is a tesuji for connecting out on the first line.

In Dia 4, White backs off a little, just trying to separate the two Black groups. In this case the diagonal move of 1 gives Black an effective extra liberty and it is White who gets caught. (If 6' at 7, 7' at 6.)

Dias 5 & 6 - More solution.

Dia 5 shows how Black copes with this third White 2 when White backs off even further. After 5, Black will capture either the four White stones or just White 2 - enough for him to save the stones.
At one point, it was thought that White 6 in Dia 6 required Black to win a ladder. However 7 here is fast enough for a direct capture.

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