This is gold.
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Avoiding Greed
In 9x9 Go, as in all board sizes, greedy play often meets with failure. Resist the temptation to claim excessive territory, leaving your forces thinly stretched and vulnerable to counterattack.
In a cross-cut situation, the greedy instinct to save the cutting stone sometimes backfires spectacularly. Black’s best move here is the attachment at 3, which Black follows with the cross-cut at 5. When White descends at 6, many players succumb to greed, pulling out the cutting stone with 7. This defense allows White to pivot to the right-side area. But it’s a trap! Black 7 imprudently ignores the gaping cutting vulnerability at 8. Move 11 is even greedier, a fatal overplay, allowing White’s devastating 12 to threaten a ladder. After Black fixes that defect, White solidifies an overwhelming right-side territory with 14, picking up a lead even without the help of komi.
The better path to victory involves sacrificing the cutting stone to fortify a strong upper area of influence while White captures it. Sacrificing and avoiding greed are related concepts and often go hand in hand.
For White, humility and patience pay dividends as well. Staking a modest potential territory, then shifting your energies to another unsettled zone, can be a very good strategy where greed would prove disastrous.
Here’s a familiar position with a slight twist (move 5 was previously at 7). A perfectly even situation thus far.
White’s correct move takes discipline: the simple one-point jump to 8. This restrained jump leaves maximum flexibility for White’s invasion at 10. Move 14 may look strange but creates useful forcing moves later. Moves 16 and 18 assure both White groups are alive and well. Black should feel somewhat uneasy about this result.
Now let’s let greed take hold with the knight’s move to 8. After the invasion at 10, Black 17 now severs two stones and strips a liberty from White 8. White wants to connect at 19, but the cutting points are too severe, while backing off at 18 lets Black drive the knife deeper at 19. White still has many bad cutting weaknesses made possible by White 8, being too close to Black’s developing position.
The path to mastering 9x9 Go lies not in contention and greed but in controlled strategy—knowing when to sacrifice stones to cultivate a substantial overall position, and when to enclose a humble territory to support a more purposeful invasion. In 9x9 Go, the judicious, not the gluttonous, feast on victory.
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I was just about to work out the usual patterns you posted earlier on my board, and you already have some more! Were eating good today brothers and sisters.
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Invasion Essentials
In the tight 9x9 battlefield, invasion is often the path to victory. A well-timed invasion of the opponent’s framework can shatter their formation, reversing the tide of battle. Invasion tests a frameworks to its core, creating chances to bypass or undermine it from within. The risk is getting captured and crushed. But succeed and you’ll cripple your opponent’s territory.
There are several invasion techniques in 9x9 Go, most notably connect-threat invasions, miai invasions, and peeping invasions. Each leverages a unique way to help you gain a foothold and dismantle the opponent’s framework. Mastering these will unlock your full offensive potential.
Connect-Threat Invasions
To invade an area the opponent hasn’t fully enclosed, drop a stone within their sphere of influence but near your existing group. Then allow these two groups to be separated in exchange for burrowing deeper. With a second or third move inside, you’ll either link up or make life.
The heat is on here. A series of contact plays left White a solid area of influence that remains open at the top.
Move 11—what we’ll call a connect-threat invasion—penetrates the white area while threatening to connect at A. When White blocks the connection at 12, Black finds a second connect-threat at 13, looking to link underneath at B. One more move at 15 secures Black’s base.
Miai Invasions
For all-out commitment, drop a stone right into the enemy camp with miai for making a base. The 2-5, 3-4, and 3-3 points often provide the dual threats needed for living.
2-5 Point. This classic invasion strikes at the heart of the opponent’s framework. Play it when their area has symmetrical features so you can develop a base toward either nearby 3-3 point (or sometimes 2-3). Here, White 12 invades the balanced black position, alive through either corner A or B depending on Black’s response.
3-4 Point. This invasion aims for a corner enclosure or side extension in miai. Invade here, early or mid opening, in asymmetrical positions.
3-3 Point. The dreaded 3-3 point! Invading from this narrow corner angle works only when the enemy territory is symmetric around a corner or has a glaring weakness. Mid to late opening timing is usually appropriate.
Peeping Invasions
Invasion groundwork can also be laid by peeping at a key connection, forcing the opponent to respond, granting you a follow-up move inside their area.
Direct peep. Peeping directly at a cutting point within an opponent’s framework can crack it open. This example comes from a 1987 Japanese tournament game between Goto Shungo 6p and Ueki Yoshio 3p. Move 7 overplayed, leaving the pivotal peep at 16 open. White’s follow up with a one-point drop to 18 is correct and supremely cool, activating miai at A and B to link up or live, respectively.
Knight’s Move Peep. See a knight’s move? Why not undercut it! Invading at 10, the knight’s move vital point, induces a defensive move like 11 that enables a free base-making move like 12. Cool beans.
Contact Invasions
No room for full-blown invasion? A tight attachment may be all that you need to corrode the opponent’s territorial potential. More on this common tactic later.
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Thank you!
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Ten Tesuji
- Cutting across a knight’s move
Striking at the knight’s move waist (Black 5 with support from Black 1) is the Go equivalent of a surprise right hook. Players often overlook it because White can usually capture the cutting stone. But cutting isn’t always about severing and surviving; it’s about creating aji. This aji can ignite a favorable fight or help secure the outside border through some slick forcing moves.
- Double hane
Imagine a double hane as a one-two punch in Go. This sequence, responding to a counter hane like Black 5 here, packs a wallop if the situation allows. This example comes from the “Flower” opening, which blooms if Black plays 7 at tengen. Cutting instead at 7 leaves Black in a precarious spot. The cut stones at White 4 and 10 can be rescued by pushing then gripping Black 7 on the lower side, or White can bide their time and play up top.
- Sacrificial double hane
Some tesuji shine especially bright on the second line, like this second-line double hane at White 14. It might look like White’s serving up a freebie after Black 15 and 17, but it’s a crafty move. It defends a cutting point at 16 in sente and sets White up for a strong endgame on the lower side. Had White played 14 at 15, the resulting cutting point would be unbearable after Black 14.
- Clamp
Clamping is like giving the opponent a tight hug they can’t escape from. Black 7 is good style, both clamping and cutting across a knight’s move—a double tesuji. As with many tesuji, the real magic here is in the forcing moves and aji it creates—Black gains forcing moves on the outside as well as aji on the left. White can resist with 8 to 12, but another crafty attachment at Black 13 restricts access to the right side and shorts a liberty on White 4 and 8, making the clamp/cut’s aji come alive.
- Second-line clamp
Clamps can pop up anywhere but often appear on the second line, where they can affect life and death. Black 11 here is a prime example. If White captures Black 9 with White 12 to 16, Black can seize the upper side with A or, even better, split the lower side around B, leaving the upper-left brimming with aji.
- Squeeze
A squeeze forces a player’s stones into an inefficient shape by wringing out the liberties of a group through combination of sacrifice and forced capture exchanges. Here, if White tries to capture Black 1 by cutting at 10 and 12, Black sacrifices that stone to launch a squeeze from 13 to 19. This maneuver builds a formidable wall and secures a favorable outcome for Black.
- Inside cut
An inside cut is a sneaky move that plants a cutting stone right in the opponent’s backyard. It’s almost never about making the cutting stone live but about stirring up aji. Black 13 is a prime example. Even though White can capture the cutting stones with 14 to 18, this sequence reduces White’s liberties and sets up another cut at Black 19. Whether Black 19 survives or not, any attempt by White to capture it would help Black solidify the right side area and edge out a win.
- Defensive diagonal
A diagonal move is like a Swiss army knife—it can cut, connect, move out, attach, and more. On a 9x9 board, it also serves a vital defensive role. Black 13 here defends the most territory possible while blocking all potential invasion points. Had Black played 13 at A, White 14 (and White 16 at 17) could wreak havoc.
- Wedge
Wedging between opposing stones can create chaos and cutting points. Continuing from the prior position, White 14 wedges between Black’s stones brilliantly. If Black submits as shown on the left, White can immediately exploit the cutting point at A, creating valuable aji. And if Black resists as shown on the right, White can still sever Black’s groups and create enough aji to stymie Black’s endgame plans.
- Nose attachment
The nose attachment is often an unsung hero of tesuji. It shines when the opponent’s stones have lost some liberties, like White 4 and 6 here. Note Black’s sacrificial double hane at 11 and 15. When White retaliates in gote, Black’s nose attachment at 19 turns the tables. If White tries to shut Black out of these extra lower-side points, it would backfire dramatically by move 23.
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As good as always!
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