Most tsumego / go puzzles are life and death problems that only deal with a part of the board. Other kind of whole board puzzles - fuseki, middle- and endgame problems - are rare. Rare, but not non-existent.
Thanks. White also has a stone on N6.
Corrected it.
White to begin, Black to win is less common than White to begin and win but it is regularly used in go puzzles. You can view it as an opponent who desperately wants to escape but you won’t allow that
I think that most players are more or less conditioned that if White begins White also wins. Some deprogramming is healthy, because in go these kind of assumptions handicap your game.
But to be honest: been there done that.
That’s an assumption when you start solving puzzles: you have to play and save your life or the other way around, play and kill your opponent’s group.
It’s clear and simple.
You know from the start that there’s a solution and you have to find it.
You play as one colour, fighting the other one.
Then everything becomes fuzzy: maybe you could kill or live, but also ko and seki are possible outcomes. You have to find the best. You have to check possibilities for both colours.
Sometimes you don’t even know who should play first.
And then you find puzzles that are meant to “deprogram”.
Deprogramming doesn’t refer to a puzzle, but to the mindset of a player.
If a player identifies with the colour that is to move first with the mindset kill that group, then other solutions to that puzzle (semeai, ko, etc.) will be hard to find.
A puzzle that challenges this mindset implies a form of deprogramming and is therefor healthy.
Since a few weeks this thread receives more visitors, which is a pleasant surprise.
Welcome newbies. Hope you enjoy yourself.
Feel free to tell me what kind of puzzles you would like to see here.
