Yose Corner

British Go Journal No. 54. October 1981. Page 6.

Jim Barty

The endgame is the most consistently neglected aspect of amateur go. In an effort to remedy this defect a little we begin here a series of articles which we hope will become a regular feature of BGJ. Each article will be dedicated to a particular yose position in which some skilful play or common mistake occurs.

We hope that these articles will mostly be written by people other than the editors. Yose is an area in which players of almost any strength can arrive at definitive answers with a little time and effort, and all our readers are encouraged to send in details of any discovery they make in this area.

We begin the series with the one point jump to the first line, a play that doesn't appear as often as it ought to in amateur games.

Dia 1

Dia 2

White is to play in Dia 1 and protect his territory to the left. If he just pushes down with 1 in Dia 2 as almost all amateurs do without thinking, then Black will play the hane (2) and connection (4) in sente immediately.

Dia 3

Dia 4

The correct move is to jump down to the first line immediately, at 1 in Dia 3. Black will probably play the 2, 3 exchange in Dia 4 but black 4 in Dia 5 does not now require an answer. The exchange of 6 and 7 in Dia 6 is small, and if Black is foolish enough to play Dia 5 White will be delighted to play elsewhere, having protected against most of the damage which Black could have done in Dia 1 in sente.

Dia 5

Dia 6

Dia 7

The correct result is for Black to play elsewhere after Dia 4, but in that case the exchange 5, 6, 7, 8 in Dia 7 will be sente for White. The difference between this result and Dia 2 is two points, and that is the size of white's mistake in Dia 2.

It is not always correct to jump to the first line but it is always correct to think about it, and you should never play Dia 2 without a very clear idea of why you are giving up those two points.