"Dumpling shape" is a term from the game of
Go (
Wei Qi/
Badouk). It refers to the shape formed by the stones shown below:
.....
.00..
.000.
..0..
.....
It is the epitome of bad shape, because it has no eyes, few liberties and is extremely overconcentrated. No player would ever deliberately make this shape, but weak players often get forced into it after making an empty triangle, as shown in the following diagram. (White is now x, black is o, white plays 1, black is forced to play 2 or lose his stones)
.......
..xx...
.xoo1..
.xo2o..
..xo...
.......
.......