while obviously black would prefer to not have the ko on his hands, as he risks the game, I find it hard to call it a "flower ko" in the game position where it appears where white's group is terribly weak and already almost completely sealed in (especially after the false peep sequence that led to the ko...). would you consider white's group not so weak if he loses the ko?

On 20 May 2014 by grolich

Hi Grolich, perhaps 'flower-ko' is not the exact right term, since it is not a completely free ko like you suggest: I agree that if white loses the ko, his group is weak, and he will need to run out (I think black can not immediately seal white in, but it would be a bit painful nevertheless). What we of course mean is that the ko is extremely painful for black. Black can not play it. And even though it is not 100% a 'flower-ko', black would have to ignore a very big threat of white in another part of the board. Hope this helps.

On 24 May 2014 by Kim