Yukigami's Life and Death Solving Model

The Outside-in Method for Life and Death by Ben Mantle

The key to solving life and death problems (Tsumego) efficiently and methodically lies in understanding how to take steps to reduce their difficulty through the fundamental principle of eye space. Every move forward into a Go problem essentially leads to another Go problem, but by following a fundamental yet oft-forgotten approach, we can ensure that a problem will get easier with each step into it.

We know that a surrounded group with a lot of eye space is either difficult or impossible to capture, and that a group with little-to-no eye space is either easy to capture, impossible to capture, or captured without any further efforts. Since surrounded groups with little eye space are generally easier to capture, reducing the eye space of a group—that is, shrinking it from the outside in—is a simple and fundamental means of making it easier to capture. Similarly, increasing the eye space of a group makes it more difficult to capture, while yielding more territory in the process.

Yet, many players of even low- to mid-dan caliber fail to utilize this fundamental concept. Their puzzle-solving prowess tends to be uncharacteristically low for their overall Go level, and even simple ladder reading turns into a finger-pointing mind-twist—or worse, an assumption gone horribly wrong. Although some players can evidently achieve decently high amateur ratings despite some embarrassing holes in their skillset, they set themselves up for a sort of level cap; at the very least, 6-dan becomes an impossible aspiration, assuming legitimate 4-5 dan strength is even within reach.

I am flabbergasted when I hear dan-level players ask me “how does life and death have anything to do with the rest of the game?” In fact, even spaced out moves in the opening can be related to life and death; experienced players should learn to foresee the likeliest future developments in local areas of the board, especially with regards to the whole-board dynamic. Reading power, developed largely through solving life and death and other problems, is not only the key to coming up with creative sequences to suit one’s needs in a game or turn to turn a game around, it’s a major key to defeating stronger players.

The fundamentals of life and death are simple enough to remember forever from one read and a little practice. Several are outlined below (not including elementary skills such as detecting false eyes or counting liberties). An important thing to remember here is that these are not the steps to take in solving a problem; they are the steps that should dictate your thought process for each move further into a problem.

STEPS:

1.     Reduce the eye space from the outside/Expand the total eye space. If this is not effective and leads to failure, move to step 2.

2.     A) Play on a vital point inside the eye space. I will not outline any rules for spotting a vital point, except that the 2-1/1-2 coordinates in corner life and death tend to be vital points, and placements in the center of a problem—particularly when there are one or more true center-points based on symmetry—in general also have an above-average likelihood of being vital points.

Finding “vital points”—that is, places within the current eye space that do something important such as capturing a group or making it alive (in life and death at least)—is based on developed instincts, and of course, reading. That said, doing more life and death problems improves the ability to solve them and to spot their vital points.

B) If step 2—playing on a vital point—doesn’t work, then the problem obviously cannot be solved.

C) If step 2 works, *revert back to step 1 for the next move into the problem.*

Conclusion: Always first think to reduce or expand the eye space. If this stops being effective or is impossible, proceed to think about vital points inside the eye space. If a vital point is played (step 2 is used), always revert back to step 1 (reduce/expand total space) for the next move’s thought process. This method is the key to solving many very high-level problems. It maintains a sound solving system and maximizes the chances of shrinking (or expanding) the eye space effectively, which makes the entire problem turn into an easier one to finish solving.

~Yukigami