One of the biggest difficulties in solving problems is when you cannot stop thinking about a problem in a certain way. This is something you should overcome.
Life and death
As I suggested in previous columns, try to solve these problems in your head first. Look at the solutions when you believe you have solved the problems or when you are stumped. Force yourself to read, or calculate, a sequence only once--and remember it.
Diagram 1: We looked at false eyes last week. In this diagram, Black has only one real eye--the one in the corner. Black can capture the marked white stones and leave behind what look like eyes, but they are false. Unless he connects his marked stones to the main group, they can be taken. That means Black has to fill in the false eyes. Use a board and stones if you have trouble visualizing this.
Solution to last week's problems
Solution 2A: Black 1 is the correct move to kill the white group. White can capture with 2, but...
Solution 2B: Black plays at 3 to turn White's eye into a false one. White is dead.
Solution 3: Black should play at 1. White can capture two stones by first playing at 2. However, black 3 reverts back to a situation similar to the one in Solution 2A. White's stones will be captured.
Solution 4A: One method in which Black can kill the white group is to play at 1 to restrict White's space. After white 2, Black hits the vital point with 3. If White plays at 4, Black should play at 5--be sure not to play at 6! White can capture with 6, but...
Solution 4B: Black 7 is the key move. Again White only has a false eye to show for his efforts. As you can see after black 11, the marked stone is at the right spot.
Solution 4C: Another method is for Black to play at 1, which is the vital point as we saw in Solution 4A and 4B. White can try to enlarge his eye space with 2, but black 3 and 5 kill him.
New problems
Problem 1: This problem looks like Solution 4. However, there is only one solution here. How can Black kill the white group?
Problem 2: If you failed to solve the above problem, you get another chance to correct it here. In this situation, Black has two possible solutions for killing White. Try to work them out.
Problem 3: This situation is a part of a game between 4-dan and 5-dan pros. As you see, false eyes can cause problems for professionals, too. A is an eye for White, but B is not. If White plays at F, black G, white H and black I will follow, preventing White from gaining an extra eye. However, White has an escape route after this exchange. Where should Black play to prevent this escape and make sure he can play at D if White plays at C? There is only one way to kill White.
Neither player found the right move during the game. How about trying to beat the pros at their game?
Van Zeijst is a four-time European go champion and European representative at the Fujitsu World Championship.