The Throw-In (Suteishi) in Go: Sacrifice a Stone to Capture

⏱ Read ~4 min · Updated July 2026 · Part of: Learn Go

The throw-in (扑, suteishi) is a clever tesuji: you deliberately play a stone where it will be captured — and that sacrifice wins you the fight by wrecking the enemy's eye shape or reducing their liberties.

1. Why sacrifice a stone?

Giving up a stone sounds backwards. But a throw-in does one of two things:

• Wrecks eye shape — plays on the vital point where the enemy wanted to make an eye, so they can't live.
• Reduces liberties — inside a capturing race, the extra stone steals air from the enemy group.

🎁 Analogy: a throw-in is a gift you give so the opponent is forced to spend a move opening it — and while they do, you take the real prize.

2. The throwing-in capture (倒扑)

The most satisfying version: you throw a stone in, the opponent captures it… and in recapturing, their own stones fall into atari, so you capture them back, bigger. The sacrifice reversed the fight.

😱 Beginners never see it coming. They happily capture the "free" stone and lose three.

3. When to use a throw-in

• The enemy is trying to make two eyes — throw in on the point that splits their eye space.
• A race is close — throw in to steal one liberty.
• You can set up a recapture (倒扑).

4. On a 4×4 board

Tiny boards make throw-ins easy to verify: you can read the sacrifice and recapture fully. Many 4×4 puzzles hinge on a throw-in that wrecks the only possible eye — the "winning move" is the sacrifice, not a capture.

Try it

Feel the reversal by playing a puzzle whose answer is a sacrifice.

👉 Play brainGO — the throw-in tesuji

Related guides

• Learn Go: the visual beginner's guide
• Eye in Go — what a throw-in destroys
• Capturing race (semeai) — where throw-ins steal air