Bad Shapes, Ranked

A collection of bad shapes from black’s perspective, as seen on the Shibano brother’s Youtube-Channel: Episode 1 & Episode 2.

Bad shapes arise when stones are placed inefficiently. They have no power, are hard to defend and pose an ideal target for attacks. Of course they need to be evaluated in context and sometimes their creation is neccessary in order to gain an advantage (i.e. to put the adversary into even worse shape). However, in most cases they need to be avoided at all cost.

# 15 White pushes into black’s jump.

# 14 Severed shape: broken Keima.

# 13 Stuck in the triangle – the empty triangle turns into a good shape.

# 12 Empty triangle.

# 11 Peep on both sides of a bamboo joint.

# 10 Hane at the head of three stones.

# 9 The net’s vital point & hane at the end of three stones.

# 8 Hane at the head of two stones.

# 7 The net’s vital point & hane at the end of two stones.

# 6 Allowing the Pon-Nuki.

# 5 Severed shape: broken jump.

# 4 Allowing the turtle’s shell.

# 3 Severed shape: broken bamboo.

# 2 Samurai’s helmet. Note: A white stone stuck in one of the ‘angles’ turns this into a good shape.

# 1 Turtle’s shell & broken jump.