Gérard TAILLE wrote:
Bill Spight wrote:
What you have are two different whole board positions, each at temperature 0.
Oops now I am lost.
Lets go slowly by considering only the first diagram
Black to play
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B
$$ -----------------
$$ | . . . a a . . |
$$ | X X a . . . . |
$$ | . X O O O O O |
$$ | . X X X O O . |
$$ | . X O c O O O |
$$ | . X X X X X O |
$$ | . X . O O b O |
$$ -----------------[/go]
I see three local areas.
The area A for which I hesitate between the three moves marked "a"
The area B, quite simple, for which the gote move at "b" has a miai value of 2.5
The area C, also quite simple, for which the gote move at "c" has a miai value of 1
The area A is a little difficult to evaluate at least because I see three possible moves.
Let's call the areas B and C the environment.
OK. Then we regard each of the moves in the top as sente, since they threaten to kill White. If White dies, the other areas of the board become moot, so they are not independent. However, we can get around that by assigning the value if Black kills as BIG. I.e., we simply assume that White must answer Black's threat and do not worry about the details. Since we are using the thermograph for heuristics, that's good enough, in general.
Now let's look at the right side of the thermograph, when White plays first. (White is associated with Right and Black with Left. Since Black scores are positive, this reverses the numbering of the x-axis that we learned in school. A quirk of combinatorial game theory (CGT).)
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Wc
$$ -----------------
$$ | . . . . . . . |
$$ | X X 1 . . . . |
$$ | . X O O O O O |
$$ | . X X X O O . |
$$ | . X O c O O O |
$$ | . X X X X X O |
$$ | . X . O O b O |
$$ -----------------[/go]

lives, OC, leaving the hane by either side in the top left. Now we are concerned with the left side of that thermograph.
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bc
$$ -----------------
$$ | . 3 1 2 . . . |
$$ | X X W . . . . |
$$ | . X O O O O O |
$$ | . X X X O O . |
$$ | . X O c O O O |
$$ | . X X X X X O |
$$ | . X . O O b O |
$$ -----------------[/go]
Black to play plays the hane-and-connect of

-

, leaving a local score of +1 for Black in the top left corner and -8 for White on the top and right, for a total of -7. Since we are regarding
b and
c as independent, we do not count those regions. (We leave the justification for considering

-

as a unit for a later discussion. It is something that go players understand instinctively.

)
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Wc
$$ -----------------
$$ | . 1 . . . . . |
$$ | X X W . . . . |
$$ | . X O O O O O |
$$ | . X X X O O . |
$$ | . X O c O O O |
$$ | . X X X X X O |
$$ | . X . O O b O |
$$ -----------------[/go]
White to play plays the hane at

, leaving a local score of -9.
The position after

is a gote with each side gaining 1 point. If

is White's correct local play, then below temperature 1 Black answers

for a local score of -7. IOW, below temperature 1

becomes a global sente, even though it is a local reverse sente.

in this diagram does not show up in the thermograph, but it goes to determine the territorial value (
count) after

and the temperature below which Black replies to

.
But White has another plausible play instead of

, the jump to the edge.
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Wc
$$ -----------------
$$ | . . 1 . . . . |
$$ | X X . . . . . |
$$ | . X O O O O O |
$$ | . X X X O O . |
$$ | . X O c O O O |
$$ | . X X X X X O |
$$ | . X . O O b O |
$$ -----------------[/go]
If White plays

we may consider the following sequence as a unit. Again, we leave why for later, but it is obvious to most go players to do so.
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Wc
$$ -----------------
$$ | . . 1 . . . . |
$$ | X X 2 3 . . . |
$$ | . X O O O O O |
$$ | . X X X O O . |
$$ | . X O c O O O |
$$ | . X X X X X O |
$$ | . X . O O b O |
$$ -----------------[/go]
What about the thermograph of the resulting position?
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$Bc
$$ -----------------
$$ | . 1 W 2 . . . |
$$ | X X B W . . . |
$$ | . X O O O O O |
$$ | . X X X O O . |
$$ | . X O c O O O |
$$ | . X X X X X O |
$$ | . X . O O b O |
$$ -----------------[/go]
For the left wall of the thermograph after the marked stones have been played,

certainly looks like sente. If so,

replies for a local score of -6. This is the best that White to play can do locally if Black replies, and it is not as good as playing the second line block, which guarantees at least -7. So the jump to the edge is a mistake, at all temperatures.
Now, that fact was probably obvious, but we can demonstrate it as shown.

Quote:
In order to know if I should play in area A rather than in the environment (B + C) I have first to calculate the miai value of area A.
Actually, once we know that the result of allowing Black two moves in a row in the top is BIG, we know that Black can play there with sente. The miai value is the gain for
White of playing the reverse sente. The gain for Black's first play is BIG, which is all we need to know for comparison. And by inspection we know that Black does not have to preserve a play in the top as a ko threat.
More later.
