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When evaluating a position, besides determining the balance of territories, an important consideration is the identification of weak groups. Positions often arise in professional games where one side seems to have secured a sizable amount of iron-clad territory, while the other side has little or even no area of the board that he can count on as territory. However, if the side with all the territory has a weak group, the other side can rectify this territorial imbalance by attacking that group. The purpose of the attack is not to capture the weak group, but to harass it and, in the process, build influence that will negatively affect the opponent's groups elsewhere on the board. Even when the territorial balance is relatively even, one side can gain an advantage by attacking a weak group. On the other hand, failure to reinforce a weak group can result in the disruption of the territorial balance. This book covers all the techniques of attacking and defending weak groups. Each of the nine chapters starts with a few examples of the technique under study, then continues with a few problems showing how that particular technique was used in a professional game. The tenth chapter presents additional problems whose solutions draw upon the techniques studied in the preceding nine chapters.

Along with playing games, practice is essential for mastering go technique; namely, practice in analyzing positions and reading out all their variations. However, the practice players get from their games is limited, whereas problem books can give the amateur go player a vast variety of positions that might occur in their games. Practice also keeps the mind sharp and in top form.This is the reason professionals are always solving problems and often spend considerable time composing them.Practice must also include repetition if it is to be effective. If you have to find the same kind of tesuji in similar patterns over and over again, spotting that tesuji in a problem or in a game will become second nature.It is the purpose of this book to provide a vast number and a large variety of life-and-death problems for the in experienced player.The problems are not hard; they range from very easy to moderately difficult. A dan player should be able to solve them within a minute, sometimes on sight, but it may take a bit longer for kyu-level players.If you have just learned the rule s and played only a few games, you will benefit from studying these problems. Three types are presented: 1) problems in which you have to read only one move ahead; 2) problems in which you have to read three moves ahead; and 3) problems in which you have to read five moves ahead. In this way, the problems become progressively harder, from very easy to rather difficult.It may take you a bit of time to work through this book, but in the end you will have mastered the basic techniques of the life and death of groups.

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During the opening stages of the game the players stake out positions and more or less divide the board. Normally each player wants to win and take just over 50% of the board. This usually involves a balance between safety and risk; that is, making a safe and non-invadable extension or an extension that is slightly farther and limits the opponent's territory. The drawback of the latter is that the position now becomes invadable. This usually means that when an invasion takes place, the invading stones do not have enough space to make an extension that guarantees life. That, in turn, means the invader has to run away. However, running away is not always the best strategy as it is one-sided - that is, it allows your opponent to harass the run-away stones while securing territory and building influence. Often it is far better to make the beginnings of eye-shape - to breathe life into the invading stones - before running away. In other words, 'to make sabaki.'Along with fighting a ko, sabaki is one of the most difficult concepts to put in practice, as it involves a variety of high-level techniques, such as sacrificing stones, making good shape, calculating complex variations, using forcing moves (kikashi), and good style (for example, avoiding the elimination of aji).The numerous examples and 122 problems taken from professional games, will introduce the readers to all the techniques that may be required to achieve sabaki in almost any position that might arise in their games.