Solutions to puzzles

Puzzle 1

No matter what Red does, Blue can connect via either g5 or g8. Both blue stones at the right are connected to the right (see the Strategy guide for details). The stone at d8 is connected to the left because of the ladder breaker at c2.

Puzzle 5

Blue 1 is connected to the right via Template IIIa and threatens to connect directly to the left. The only possibility to prevent this connection is to play out the ladder:

Since the cells for the ladder and those for the edge template do not overlap, Red cannot do anything against the connection.

Puzzle 7

The unique winning first move is Red c3! (e2 is defeated by e3, d3 is defeated by e1, e3 is defeated by e2, and b4 is defeated by d3).

The following seem like horizontal's (Blue's) best tries from the above position.

1. d2	e2	2. d5	c5	3. d4	b3	4. c4	a5
1. d3	b3	2. b5	e3
1. e1	d2	2. d1	d1	3. c4	b3	4. e3	a5	or	4. b5	e3
........	....	2. c4	b3	3. c5	e3	4. e4	f3	5. e6	d5
1. d5	b3	2. d2	b2	3. c4	a5	4. a6	c5	5. b5	e3	6. d5	f5
........	....	........	....	3. b5	c5	4. c4	e3
........	....	........	....	3. b6	a6	4. b4	c5	5. c4	e3	6. e6	d4
1. c4	e3	2. e2	b3	3. d3	a5
1. b5	d4	2. d3	f2	3. f1	d2	4. c4	e2	5. e4	e3	6. c5	e5
........	....	2. e1	d2	3. d1	f1	4. e2	f2...
1. b4	d2	2. d5	c5	3. c4	e3	4. d4	e5