Here are the weekly Go problems for week 79.
Black plays first in all problems and all solutions are labeled ‘correct’. Have fun!
Easy Go problem
It might be hard to see it, but black can play a devastating tesuji here.
Remember what you learned from last week’s easy problem?
Intermediate Go problem
This is also a more advanced application of one of last week’s problems.
There’s still some life in black’s two corner stones, however, this time you need to read carefully and consider white’s possible resistance.
Hard Go problem
In real games, the kind of life you negotiate can be almost as important as whether you can find a way to live at all.
White has her own agenda and she might not accept a hasty proposal…
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
Thanks David for the problems, the hard is very good but difficult to me. Thanks for the challenging!
You’re welcome, as usual, jangalf
Once again, nice problems. I really liked the hard one. It may have been simple reading and timing but it still took me a few times to get it. Very nice.
Thanks Michael, it also took quite a few tries to get everything in this problem to work as intended, trust me
Did you make this problem from scratch David?
Yes, but you can picture the kind of technique or line of play you want to illustrate (e.g. black’s Q2, S1 and T3 in this case) and setup a problem based on that. So it’s still derived from a common idea.
It’s fairly easy to get ideas from variations you read or see played in games, or problems you’ve solved at one time or another, but the lines of play themselves are nearly always familiar to experienced players.
Particularly with the easier problems, there are very similar problems in books, even when I make them from scratch. There haven’t been that many truly original problems for hundreds of years.
Thanks for all the extra information David. Just wondering whether I should thank & encourage you for that or not.
Good job David & keep up the good work.
Wonderful how you integrated these problems this week.
Thanks Dieter, the ‘grand finale’ to all this will be next week’s hard problem
Hey David! Love your Go problems.
I have a question about the Intermediate problem.
What do you think about this sequence (for the intermediate problem);
Black 6-1, White 5-1, Black 4-1, White 3-1, Black 2-1, White 4-1, Black 6-1
Hey Brayden,
That’s a good idea and if white follows your plan it will work perfectly. In this case, white might see through your plan when you play at black 2-1, then white might connect at 8-1 instead of 4-1.
After that, even if black captures the ataried stone at 4-1, white can connect at 6-1 and save most of her stones. Since capturing the single stone only creates a false eye, black still can’t make two eyes in the corner and white’s cutting stones have escaped.
Hey, the hard problem was a nice one, but I believe there is a slightly incorrect variation? (I’m probably just missing something.)
After the tenth move in the main variation, there is a deviation where instead of throwing in a stone, black descends to put the 6 white stones in atari. At the end of this secondary line, the board displays “End of variation” with white throwing in a stone to prevent black from making a second eye on the right edge. However, the white stones in the bottom right are in atari, so white cannot spend a move stealing the eye…he must save the atari’d stones, and concede the second eye to black.
(I apologize if something I said was incorrect; I think I’m becoming famous for my tsumego blunders)
Hollumber, I think David meant to say W-T3, instead of W-T1.
After 16. W-T3, Black has only 1 eye and no snapback.
Nice catch Hollumber,
It was just a hastily added blunder that I tacked on as an afterthought
. This is the kind of move I play in blitz games too sometimes, when I’ve already read out the proper sequence earlier on 
…
I’ve updated the problem and moved T1 to T3, which was the move I intended as Myron said. Thanks for pointing it out.
David, your problems are the best on the web. Period. Thank you!
And now, nitpicking at the level of saying that Scarlett Johansson is too short, one minor side variation in the intermediate problem appears to have a mistake.
After B-F1 W-E1, B-J3 W-J2, B-H1 W-J1, B-C1 W-H1, B-D1 W-F1, B-K2 W-J4, B-L3 W-L2, B-K4 W-K1, B-J3 you end with W-M3, resulting in a direct ko.
But instead, doesn’t running out with W-M2 kill Black’s lower left corner unconditionally?
Thanks for letting me know Myron! You’re right
Originally I had more black stones in the lower right, but I put white stones there to make some other variations work and I think I must have forgotten to go back and check this one. I really appreciate people letting me know about these errors because it makes the problems better.
I think Im getting weaker by studying… good problems, slow student
That can happens sometimes for a few reasons:
1. You’re studying but not playing games (playing games is important).
.
2. It’s the first time you’ve done a lot of problems and it’s making your play very tightly and aggressively. This can happen and you can lose more at first, but it goes away as you play more and, once your game loosens up again, you should be better than before.
3. You’re not having fun and it’s affecting your game. Try learning more about an aspect of Go that you feel curious about
Your 2nd point is very true ! Same here !
). So should you be able to get over the win/loss feeling, you shall see yourself as an “everwinner” 
When i think i have achieved something in my reading learning curve (after re-reading the Davies’ books for example), i always play in the “let’s try this” mood.
So i try to play lively stones and not to lose the flow but, as a result, i play at my limit and do lose more games.
The point is : there is no loss or win. There is only learning more about Go (and sometimes yourself
Thank you for sharing this tip. I can read you speak from experience and sincerity. Quite funny to see how we all share the same path !
I love that tesuji in the Easy problem! One of my favourites.
Me too Grimbold
In the hard problem, the variation where white plays S9 is also labeled correct. Isn’t this better for white, since he captured some black stones on the right side. The white stones in the middle are floating, but they also do in the main line.
I don’t really get that variation either. The lost black stones should be worth at least 16 points and black has nothing to compensate it with other than the opportunity to attack white’s now floating group. That can’t possibly be enough compensation – at least not in my weak kyu-mind.
Not being completely dead is one advantage
Wouldn’t it be even more confusing if white just played like that with no explanation as to why?
Many times when you look at pro games the play might appear peaceful, but that’s only because both players read and rejected the complicated alternatives. The point of problems is to make you stronger so that you can start to understand why those alternatives weren’t played.
Yes, and white should play like that after reading the other variations out. The main line is usually a combination of black’s best moves and white’s strongest or most difficult resistance. It doesn’t always show the best moves for white, because that would often make the problems confusing or boring.
I can only present one branch in the interactive problem, so I try to choose the one that teaches the most useful techniques.
thanks
You’re welcome Romeda