Today I decided to revive an aji corner stone and it worked out quite well leaving me with this position:



I could have made a Weak Carpenter's Square with one leg at C4 (as far as I know that shape turns out as seki?) but decided to play 2-2 for unconditional life with points. It worked in the game, but I wonder whether it really is alive.

It is alive after the 2-2. Answer A4 with B3.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

Thanks for your fast answer. I wasn't sure if I had read out all variations and anxiously returned later in the game to spend another move.

For fun I tried to kill your shape ( W moving first ) and I found this sequence:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc next a&b are miai
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . O O O . . .
$$ | . X 2 , O . .
$$ | 4 a . X O O .
$$ | 3 1 5 X X O .
$$ | . 8 6 b 7 9 .
$$ +---------------[/go]

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I think I am so I think I am.

You should first explore the simpler starting moves, cyclops.

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A good system naturally covers all corner cases without further effort.

The 2-2 point might work, but black 2-3 in response seems hard to handle.

First instinct was the clamp (which works, I think), but then realized that the 1-2 point seems cleaner.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc A bit easier?
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . O O O . . .
$$ | . X . . O . .
$$ | . . . X O O .
$$ | 1 . . X X O .
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ +---------------[/go]

How about C4?

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Just to demonstrate why I belive the clamp works:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | 5 O O O . . .
$$ | 2 X 3 . O . .
$$ | . 1 4 X O O .
$$ | 7 6 . X X O .
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ +---------------[/go]

I believe C4 also works to kill:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . O O O . . .
$$ | 5 X 1 . O . .
$$ | . 4 2 X O O .
$$ | 6 3 . X X O .
$$ | . 7 . . . . .
$$ +---------------[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$Wc This is NOT seki due to connect-and-die
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .
$$ | . O O O . . .
$$ | 5 X 1 . O . .
$$ | 8 4 2 X O O .
$$ | 7 3 . X X O .
$$ | . 6 . . 9 . .
$$ +---------------[/go]

However, if black plays 2-2 before white moves, I see no way for white to kill or make seki.

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We don't know who we are; we don't know where we are.
Each of us woke up one moment and here we were in the darkness.
We're nameless things with no memory; no knowledge of what went before,
No understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be.