Near ladder escape

From HexWiki
Jump to: navigation, search

There are a number of ladder situations where a player does not technically have a ladder escape, but in practice often ends up escaping the ladder anyway. This usually happens because the opponent must play extremely precisely in order to prevent the ladder from escaping, and can easily miss the correct move. In such cases, we may speak of a near ladder escape.

This pages lists some common near ladder escapes, and how to thwart them.

C4 does not escape a 5th row ladder

A single stone at c4 (or the equivalent cell on the opposite side of the board) does not escape a 5th row ladder, even when there is a certain amount space on the 6th row as shown here:

1

However, there is only one way to prevent the ladder from connecting. Blue must play as follows.

1324

In this situation, 2 followed by 4 is the only winning sequence for Blue. The best Red can do is the following, which is not sufficient to connect Red's ladder:

131411985127610

Note that Red gets a 5th-to-3rd row foldback, so if Red escapes a 3rd row ladder moving left, Red connects.

Also note that Red would be able to connect if the stone to the left of 13 were not occupied. Therefore, with slightly more space on the 6th row, a single stone at c4 actually does escape a 5th row ladder:

1

Conversely, if there is less space on the 6th row, Blue has additional ways of blocking the ladder, such as this:

13524769810

D5 does not escape a 4th row ladder

A single stone at D5 (or the equivalent cell on the opposite side of the board) does not escape a 4th row ladder, even when the 6th row is empty as shown here. However, the situation is still very threatening. Red gets both a foldback and a switchback.

1

In the above situation, Blue's only winning move is to push.

132xyz

For move 4, Blue has three possible choices: x, y, or z. If Blue plays moves 4 and 6 at y and z (in either order), Red gets a foldback and a switchback, but does not connect outright:

151313142512119741068

Note that Blue cannot play move 6 on the 2nd row, or else Red gets a forcing move that allows Red to connect outright:

1113275109864

If Blue plays move 4 at x, then on the next move, Blue again has three possiblities:

13524xyz

If Blue plays moves 6 and 8 at y and z (in either order), Red gets a foldback and a switchback:

1713516152471413119612810

If Blue plays move 6 at x, Red also gets a foldback and switchback:

1713516152476911141310812

In all other cases, Red connects outright.

Climbing. If Red lacks both a switchback threat and a foldback threat, Red's goal may be to deny Blue a ladder escape in the corner, and to climb as far as possible. Red can play as follows:

19181715135816141324971211610

Or if Blue plays a different move 12, Red can even do this:

212019131713581816142497121511610

Joseki "C" does not escape a 4th row ladder

It is fairly common to play the 4th row joseki "C", which leaves the following position in an acute corner:

This position obviously escapes 2nd row ladders. It is perhaps less obvious that it also escapes 3rd row ladders approaching from far enough away:

7513692410811

Note that Red is connected by a span, and the connection only requires the shaded area. The "magic" move is 5. If Red just continues to push on the 3rd row, Red does not connect.

Does the above corner position escape a 4th row ladder? If Blue naively keeps pushing the ladder, then Red does indeed connect:

7135246

On the other hand, if Blue yields at any point, Red connects by switchback, for example like this:

913258764

Indeed, for a 4th row ladder approaching the corner, there is only one possible Blue move that prevents Red from escaping the ladder. This "magic move" is 4 in the following diagram:

971325846

Red still gets a foldback and a switchback. Instead of 7, Red could have played anywhere in the corner, but since 7 captures the entire corner, it is usually the best move in this situation.

See also