Stumped on Learn to play go 6.30 Endgame #12

Just when I thought I was getting the hang of counting the values of moves, I got stumped on this one. Could someone please help me understand it?

https://online-go.com/learn-to-play-go/bl3-endgame-2

My first guess was actually 10, which wasn’t one of the options. Next, I guessed 6…
I can’t understand how it’s only 1.

It seems like if W plays at A they’ll capture 2 stones and gain 4 territory, so 6 for W.

And if B plays at A I was thinking they’d get 2 more territory points, though I wasn’t sure if that should be counted or not.

If W plays at A, aren’t those two B stones considered captured?

What am I missing? How is it just worth one point?

Seems like a badly designed problem. The correct answer is 3.5.

One thing to note is that even if black plays A white can play throw-in to eat the 2 stones and white still has 5 points. If you assume that white answers black plays A, then A is 6-5=1 point. However, if you assume that white ignores black when black plays A, then white has 5/2 = 2.5 points so the answer is 6-2.5=3.5 points.

1 Like

I would say ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 1 for White ​ and ​ 2.5 for Black ​ ​ ​ :

White A ​ is a 1-point reverse sente, and Black can play A when moves
elsewhere have value less than ​ 2.5 . ​ ​ ​ ( Colored Mast at Sensei's Library )

1 Like