Shape (Go) - Bad Shapes

Bad Shapes

On the top left corner is a black Dumpling that will be dead shortly. On the top right is a white Empty Triangle - if white had played at a instead of white 1, the stones would not be as threatened as they are currently. On the bottom left is a ladder shape for black (black had just played at black 2). Black will win this ladder battle due to the triangled stone at n-11, but if the n-11 piece did not exist, then white would inevitably win when the regular pattern of play extended to the edge of the board.
  • The Empty triangle (空き三角, Akisankaku?) is an undesirable formation of three stones that inefficiently adds liberties and creates a weak group.
  • The Ladder (シチョウ, Shichou?) is not inherently a bad shape, but the inability to recognize when one is trapped in a ladder shape that cannot be won can be fatal.
  • The Dumpling (団子, Dango?) is a shape where a group of stones has been forced into an inefficient lump with few liberties, no eyes and limited ability to counterattack.

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Famous quotes containing the words bad and/or shapes:

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    Painting dissolves the forms at its command, or tends to; it melts them into color. Drawing, on the other hand, goes about resolving forms, giving edge and essence to things. To see shapes clearly, one outlines them—whether on paper or in the mind. Therefore, Michelangelo, a profoundly cultivated man, called drawing the basis of all knowledge whatsoever.
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