Snapback in Go: Give Up One Stone, Capture More
Sometimes the way to capture a group is to let it capture you first. You play Black.
Step 1 of 3
Let White take it
White's four stones on B9, B8, C8 and D8 have two liberties, C9 and D9. Black plays D9, a stone White can take at once, and White takes it with C9. But now all five white stones have one liberty, D9, the point the black stone just left. Black plays there again and captures all five. This is a snapback. An atari from C9 instead would fail: White would take that stone at D9, joining its stones on E9.
Play the snapback
The same idea on the right edge. White's four stones on J2, H2, H3 and H4 have two liberties, J3 and J4. One of them is a snapback.
Your move
Capture the white stones with a snapback.
Should White take?
Back to the first shape, with White to play. Black has just thrown in at D9, and White's four stones are in atari. What should White do?
What you learned
- A snapback gives up one stone where the opponent can take it.
- Taking it fills the capturing group's own last liberty, and you capture it all.
- It works when the capturing stone joins nothing with liberties of its own.
- Against a snapback, don't take: the stones are lost anyway.
In this course
Unit 1The rules
Unit 2Capturing stones
- Atari in Go: How to Escape and Which Way to Run
- The Ladder in Go: Chase a Stone to the Edge
- The Net in Go (Geta): Capture Without an Atari
- Snapback in Go: Give Up One Stone, Capture More
- Capturing Races in Go (Semeai): How to Win Them
Unit 3Life and death
Take it to the table.
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