| Ladders |
| Black's turn! Can he trap the white stone? There are two ways for Black to play atari, but one is better than the other. Can you see which? |
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This way, when White pulls out, he gets three liberties. |
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This way, White only gets two liberties, so it's better for Black. What next? Which atari leaves White with the fewest liberties after he answers it? |
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This way leaves White with three liberties again. |
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And this way White only gets two. Can you work out how Black can keep this going? |
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| Still only two liberties! |
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I think I'm getting the picture! |
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| This zigzag pattern is called a ladder. |
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| You can finish off like this ... |
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| ... or like this. |
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| Remember! |
You can trap your opponent in a ladder if you can zigzag him all the way to the edge of the board.
Oh! By the way ...
If you find your stones caught in a ladder, don't keep adding more. Give them up while there still aren't too many!
"That's what I should have done."
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What do you think will happen here? |
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| The ladder doesn't work this time, because the triangled stone gets in the way. This stone is called a ladder block. |
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| In fact it's terrible. Next, White can play here, threatening two stones at once. This is called double atari. |
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And if Black defends against that, White can still play double atari on the other side. Ouch! |
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| What about this one? |
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| Black's ladder block helps him, not White, so the ladder works. |
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| Remember! |
A ladder block helps the side whose colour it is.
| Challenge! |
In each problem, there are two ways to start a ladder. One works and the other doesn't. Click on the one you think works (A or B).
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| Take a break! |
You've earned it. When you're ready for more, click where you want to go.
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1 November 2003 |
