Here are the weekly Go problems for week 33.
Black plays first in all problems and all solutions are labeled ‘correct’. Have fun!
Easy Go problem
Black’s short of liberties, but so is white, so it’s a fair fight.
Intermediate Go problem
It looks like white A and B are miai. Time for some black magic…
Hard Go problem
There are quite a few moves that look like tesuji. Take your time and choose the best move.
Still want more Go problems?
You can find Go books packed full of life and death problems, tesuji problems and other valuable Go knowledge at the Go Game Shop.
Discuss other possible moves
If you have any questions or want to discuss any of these problems, please leave a comment below at any time. You can use the coordinates on the problem images to discuss a move or sequence of moves.
You can also download the solutions as a PDF or SGF file by clicking the links below each problem.
About David Ormerod
In the intermediate problem, doesn’ t black 5 at e5 work too?
I mean e4
I figure it must have something to do with the survival of the B stones on the left but I haven’t figured out how…
Hi A.L.
It’s partly about having a followup to look forward to. D5 puts more pressure on white’s outside stones while still defending effectively, so it’s usually better style. It’s maybe pointing out the obvious for some, but if you can play moves like this consistently, you can sort of gain half a move here, half a move there… It all adds up.
Right Frank, black E4 (or even E5) are possible for black 5, but D5 is a little better.
If, for some reason, black had to take white’s dead stones off the board, then E4 would be the best move in that case. However, it looks possible for black to eventually make his groups independently alive on both sides and that will make more points for black. That’s why D5 is better here.
Black 5 at e4 does work too, I had to same confusion. I know d5 is better shape but I think both would be viable options based on the rest of the board.
That’s true Philip.
Since the focus on is on helping people get better and we have detailed PDF solutions that people can download and review, I try to focus on showing the strongest moves for black.
For white I try to show the most difficult resistance, which isn’t necessarily the same as the best moves. For example, after black’s correct move in the third problem this week, white should actually just defend the corner and let black escape. However, to really know that, you have to have read out all the other variations.
In some problems, it’s also very time consuming to duplicate whole branches of moves in the SGF file when the result is almost the same.
Makes sense to me. When I downloaded the PDF I did feel a little careless for playing the empty triangle and not the bamboo joint.
Once again the situation in the hard one is quite comon.
It’s not easy to be completely thorough with everything without playing the moves but if you’ve already seen such situation, the strategic points are easy to find.
Thanks again for these wonderful problems. I really like these.
I’m glad you’ve been enjoying them Guillaume
. I’ve been trying to find or create more realistic situations recently.