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  • Lesson 11 of 12
  • First strategy
  • 3 min

Connect and Cut in Go: Keep Your Stones Together

Stones that touch share their liberties. Stones that are cut apart have to survive on their own, and that is how groups get captured. You play Black.

Step 1 of 4

  1. Two ways to connect

    Black's stones on C6 and D7 touch only at a corner. Two points would join them, C7 and D6. White takes one, C7, so Black takes the other, D6, and the three stones are one group. Two stones on a diagonal stay together as long as you connect at the second point when the first is taken.

  2. Mend the cut

    White has taken E4, one of the two points that join your stones on D4 and E5. If White takes D5 as well, they are cut apart, and E5 is in atari.

    Your move

    Connect your two stones.

  3. Cut

    White's stones on D5 and E4 touch only at a corner, and your stone on D4 already holds one of the two points between them. The other is E5.

    Your move

    Cut White apart and capture a stone.

  4. What can be cut?

    White has three shapes on the board. Which one can Black cut?

    Question

What you learned

  • Two stones on a diagonal are joined by two points. When one is taken, take the other.
  • A shape with two ways to connect can't simply be cut: take one point, and the other connects.
  • Cut where your opponent has only one way left. A cut that ataris two stones at once wins one.

In this course

Unit 1The rules

  1. Go Rules: Liberties, Capture, Ko and Scoring

Unit 2Capturing stones

  1. Atari in Go: How to Escape and Which Way to Run
  2. The Ladder in Go: Chase a Stone to the Edge
  3. The Net in Go (Geta): Capture Without an Atari
  4. Snapback in Go: Give Up One Stone, Capture More
  5. Capturing Races in Go (Semeai): How to Win Them

Unit 3Life and death

  1. Two Eyes in Go: Why a Group With Two Eyes Lives
  2. False Eyes in Go: Why Some Eyes Don't Count
  3. The Vital Point in Go: Kill or Live in One Move

Unit 4First strategy

  1. Go Strategy: Corners First, Then Sides, Then Centre
  2. Connect and Cut in Go: Keep Your Stones Together
  3. Ending a Game of Go: Borders, Passing and Dead Stones

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