Playboard
  • Lesson 9 of 12
  • Life and death
  • 3 min

The Vital Point in Go: Kill or Live in One Move

A group with room for two eyes still has to make them. In many small eye spaces one point decides it, and whoever plays there first wins. You play Black.

Step 1 of 5

  1. Straight three

    Black's group has an eye space of three points in a row, B9, C9 and D9: a straight three. Its middle point is the vital point. Black plays C9 and has two eyes, B9 and D9. Had White played C9 first, Black could never make two eyes there, and the group would die.

  2. Kill a straight three

    Now it is White's group, on the right of the top edge, with a straight three of its own: F9, G9 and H9. Take its vital point.

    Your move

    Kill White's group.

  3. Live with a bent three

    Your group in the corner has a bent three: A1, A2 and B1. One of them touches both of the others. Take it before White does.

    Your move

    Make your group live.

  4. Four in a row

    Black's group has four points in a row, B1 to E1: a straight four. White moves first. Can White kill it?

    Question

  5. Kill a pyramid four

    White's eye space is four points in a T: F9, G9 and H9, with G8 below the middle. One point touches all three of the others.

    Your move

    Kill White's group.

What you learned

  • In a small eye space, the vital point is where one move makes two eyes, or makes them impossible.
  • Straight three and bent three: the middle point. Pyramid four: the centre of the T.
  • A straight four lives on its own: it has two vital points.
  • Play the vital point first, whether you are living or killing.

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

Lessons for every game

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