Chapter Six. Blocking Off 6.1 Open skirts and crawling plays Plays on the fourth line are much used in modern go, despite the open skirt they leave on the second line. They emphasise influence over territory. Proper shape to block off is essential, since attacking play alone isn’t enough. {{Dia 325}} White has slid under a fourth line play. How should the game continue? {{Dia 326}} Black normally plays back with a diagonal at 1....
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Chapter Seven. Eight Faces of Cutting 7.1 Windmills to pancakes {{Dia 451}} {{Dia 452}} There are a number of fundamental patterns in cross-cut fights. The first is the plain extension Black 1 here. Proverbially, it is better from Black than any of the four ways to play atari: Cross-cut? Extend! {{Dia 453}} {{Dia 454}} The point is that Black 1 in the left-hand diagram turns out badly, if Black needs 3 also, and White can capture in a ladder....
Chapter Eight. Attach-Extend Mysteries 8.1 The common cutting points {{Dia 512}} This attach-extend pattern is played by Black to become solid, and move across the gain line. But in fact it leaves a number of cutting points (A for White, D after White B, Black C, and E for Black). {{Dia 513}} {{Dia 514}} Trick plays (White’s cutting point matters greatly). (Left) A ko fight, and Black has a threat at A....
Chapter Nine Escapology Making an exit The point of view in Chapter 6 was simply to describe good shape for blocking off, and for preventing it happening to you. In the middlegame the need to escape will add another dimension. There is more to escape than just avoiding being shut in. Escaping is about finding a way out to the centre with a weak group. If your weak group cannot escape, it may actually die....
Chapter Ten. Extensions and Invasion Points 10.1 The two-point extension is stable {{Dia 669}} This extension with a two-point gap is the fundamental building block for play on the sides. Much of the ordinary reasoning about finding a base for groups in the opening centres on extending in this way. Of all the ways to construct a two-stone group on the side, this one is the most stable. We shall see in the rest of this chapter how each of the other members of the family of common extensions has some drawback....