A recent go tournament in Schwerin, Germany (Sept 21 & 22, 2024) featured some go-themed cakes. A photo of one of them is here:
https://www.dgob.de/19-go-turnier-schwerin/ I assume that the white stones on the left are meant to lie along the edge of the board, otherwise the position is perhaps not really a problem. So we have:
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$c
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . .
$$ | . . . , . . . . . . . .
$$ | . X X X X . . . . . . .
$$ | O O X O X O . . . . . .
$$ | O X O O O X X . . . . .
$$ | O X O . X O . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . .
$$ ------------------[/go]
It seems clear that if it is White's move, White can live easily by capturing the two black stones at b2 and b3, to create two eyes. But what if Black is first to move? Can White still live? Also, does this position arise in any known joseki?
Btw, in case the website article is removed, here is the photo of the cake. The figure in blue in the lower right is also apparently a princess, though the viewing angle for her is not so good. I do not know if the princesses were edible
And another image of the same cake (from a
reddit post):