Page:Smith - The game of go.djvu/64

38 A group with five vacant “Me,” as shown in the preceding diagrams, is a situation well known to the Japanese, so much so that they have a special phrase or saying that applies to it, to wit, “Go moku naka de wa ju san te,” which means that it takes thirteen turns to reduce a group having five such “Me” in the center.

As we have previously seen, in actual play this white group would be regarded as “dead” as distinguished from “taken,” and this series of moves would not be played out. White obviously would not play in the space, and he could not demand that Black play therein in order to complete the actual surrounding of the stones, and the only purpose of giving this series of diagrams is to show theoretically how the white stones can be killed. However, the killing of these stones would be necessary if the surrounding black line were in turn attacked (“Semeai”), in which case it might might be a race to see whether the internal white stones could be completely surrounded and killed before the external white group could get in complete contact with the black line.

Stones which are sacrificed in order to kill a larger group are called “Sute ishi” by the Japanese, from “Suteru,” meaning “to cast or throw away,” and “Ishi,” a “stone.”

It may be noted that if a group contains four connected vacant intersections in a line it is safe, because if the adversary attempts to reduce it, two disconnected “Me” can be formed in the space by simply playing a stone adjacent to the adversary’s stone, as shown in Plate 5, Diagram, where if Black plays for instance at K 11, White replies at L 11, and secures two “Me.” Even if these four connected vacant intersections are not in a straight line, they