The bamboo shape is usually considered solid. But in some fighting positions, it’s not as safe as it looks — especially when there are cutting stones nearby.
Here’s a pair of quick puzzles that explore how to break the bamboo and net stones in the middle game:
Puzzle 1:
Black to play and break White’s shape to catch the cutting stones. Think before you peek!
I made these as part of a larger puzzle set focused on nets, which has been really helpful for players in the 10–20k range working on reading and shape understanding.
If you want to try more, the full net problem set is here: Problem
Would love to hear how you’ve seen bamboo shape fail (or save you!) in your own games.
I thought there must be a bamboo there for you to break then it’s called breaking the bamboo… if it’s playing at the spot where a bamboo shape can be formed, it’s preventing the bamboo instead?
The bamboo is not even formed yet, how do you break it?
I think its more a term for abusing the weakpoint of the shape. You break it by not allowing it.
Like when a kid is in the process of building a sand castle and you kick it down.
‘Breaking the sandcastle’ may not the right term either, but it fits from the sense more rather than ‘not allowing the sandcastle’.
Thats how Id interpret it.
And, I think the by far the most important reason is: ‘breaking’ sounds much cooler than ‘not allowing’.
But I agree with you in this way that:
The bamboo shape is usually considered solid. But in some fighting positions, it’s not as safe as it looks — especially when there are cutting stones nearby.
(auto subtitles that I’ve tried to fix below, but listen to it if you want above)
32:01
important moves for the Liberty situation for The Cutting situation for his group. Gu Zihao strikes, he breaks
32:08
the bamboo - you should always think about breaking the bamboo whenever it is at all possible.
32:15
yeah this, this strike is actually putting black into a bit of a bind. it’s very difficult to save these two stones
32:21
but if you don’t then this white group will just save very naturally if black doesn’t get to press this white group
32:27
down and gain quite a lot then he can’t ever win the game so black must save like this and white presses like that
Davies in his book Tesuji calls it the slapping tesuji
Avoid, deny or forbid, all these terms look less confusing as break to me.
At least less confusing. I mean especially in the mind of a player who is not used to this tesuji.
Actually it’s more of a tesuji to capture the stones rather than preventing the bamboo shape. It just happens that the tesuji is the same spot as where the opponent makes the bamboo shape.
So it can be to capture stones and as a way to sacrifice some stones, and it could be that you don’t find the timing for these forcing exchanges later for instance.
If I can remember a recent game, other than that pro game where it’s being used I’ll link it.
Yeah it can be a general tesuji to get a good shape, destroy opponent’s shape or to capture the stones. I still wouldn’t associate it with bamboo, though. It’s like saying capping a stone is “destroying the jump”.
In a way, it’s also similar to the eye-stealing tesuji (I wish there was a better name for this).
I think the point of giving it a simple name which is associated with a shape you already know, is to make it easy to remember, so it’s a good teaching idea.
It’s always the same point, you’re playing at the point where the opponent would play to make a bamboo shape.
It’s pretty straightforward that if you want someone to remember that idea, and they know the bamboo shape, then it should be something bamboo or bamboo something.
Since you’re trying to break the opponents shape, I think breaking the bamboo is a pretty good name. Good enough that I heard it once months ago in a video and I remembered it, even remembered the video it came from.
You take away liberties and then you can’t do the thing you want to do because you don’t have liberties.
Conceptually it’s a bit too general to be useful more than some proverb. It’s more like part of a general statement that you can connect or capture stones if they’re short on liberties.
While this other idea from the puzzle genuinely occurs regularly in fighting and joseki etc.
Like I found it fairly memorable. It’s not like we’re playing a game like guess the Tesuji based on the name (Which one is the belly tesuji and how does it make you feel?). Rather a person is trying to communicate a recurring theme, and it so happens it’s the same move all the time in a bamboo shape.
I get the idea of being put off by names. People name things in a silly way all the time when it comes to games. I think the most evocative and useful terms will win out in the long term over names that don’t make sense, or are hard to remember.
In the hard to remember category I think are also going to be unfamiliar terms in another language, and that will impact their usage in a community. utte-gaeshi is probably not going to win out over snapback in the English speaking community would be my guess.
We could say that snapback is silly or it doesn’t describe it properly or you’re put off by the name because it makes you think of baseball caps.
I don’t think that actually takes away from the effectiveness of naming quite a common technique to capturing stones, and giving it a somewhat catchy or evocative name.
Puzzle 1:
Think before you peek!
If you want to try more, the full net problem set is here:
Problem
