If God played Go, where would He play Black's first move?

ericosman · Post by **ericosman** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 7:28 am

Of course, an interesting related question to "where would god play the first move" is the question "what would the appropriate number of handicap stones be if god plays our best pros" ?

I'd also like to respond to this:

>>>my most educated guess would be that a black play at the 3-4 or 4-4 would be the move. This is
>>> simply based on the observation that many pros play this way today under these komi constraints

I wouldn't trust this way of judging. Didn't professionals NEVER play 4-4 until Go Seigen or someone like him in about 1950 start studying it ? So if we made such a judgement back then we'd say the 4-4 is inferior.

Extrapolating upon all of this, maybe pros don't play 5-5 tengen much not because they are inferior but merely because the pros haven't yet studied those moves enough to be confident to play them.

ericosman@rcn.com

skydyr · Post by **skydyr** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:40 am

As a perhaps more answerable corollary, where wouldn't God or the devil play their first move?

oca · Post by **oca** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:46 am

The goban of god is a sphere...
Or even an n-hyper-sphere
So the first move doesn't really matter

Bill Spight · Post by **Bill Spight** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:05 am

ericosman wrote:Didn't professionals NEVER play 4-4 until Go Seigen or someone like him in about 1950 start studying it ?

They aren't the first move, but check out :b9:

and

, from a game in 1838. (!)

fanfan · Post by **fanfan** » Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:37 am

ericosman wrote:Didn't professionals NEVER play 4-4 until Go Seigen or someone like him in about 1950 start studying it ?

Thera are a lot of figures in the xuan xuan qi jing (published in 1349) with 4-4 moves as starting points.

TheBigH · Post by **TheBigH** » Tue Feb 03, 2015 4:14 pm

God would play as white, arrange matters so that He loses by a half point, and then spend a long time reviewing the game with you afterwards.

Alcadeias · Post by **Alcadeias** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 1:09 pm

What about on a 9x9 board? Where would God play Black's first move?

Are we 100% sure that tengen is the best first move on a 9x9 board? ("best move" meaning the move which leads to the greatest winning margin if both players play optimally)

Is it possible that 3-4, 4-4 or 4-5 might be better than playing tengen?

Bonobo · Post by **Bonobo** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 3:15 pm

“God”? What “god”? Homo (allegedly) sapiens invented the idea of “gods”, and then they — quite more sapiens now — proceeded to something more fun: Go!

DrStraw · Post by **DrStraw** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 3:53 pm

It occurs to me that the title of this thread is nonsense. If god played black's first move he would be disqualified for playing with the opponent's stones.

Bonobo · Post by **Bonobo** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 5:53 pm

And, in the first place, why “He”?

DrStraw · Post by **DrStraw** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 6:27 pm

Bonobo wrote:And, in the first place, why “He”?

Because "he" is the correct English pronoun when gender is unknown.

Bonobo · Post by **Bonobo** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 8:01 pm

DrStraw wrote:
Bonobo wrote:And, in the first place, why “He”?

Because "he" is the correct English pronoun when gender is unknown.

LOLOLOL, and what a foolish thing to do, when the majority of all beings with genders is female — I mean, even in human population, women are the majority, perhaps it’s long overdue that we open our minds to some new assumptions.

(Of course, in German the traditional use is the same as in English.)

Graffiti on a toilet door in some university:

“I wonder how God looks like.”

Answer, with another another pen: “I’m sure she’s black!”

DrStraw · Post by **DrStraw** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 8:37 pm

Bonobo wrote:
DrStraw wrote:
Bonobo wrote:And, in the first place, why “He”?

Because "he" is the correct English pronoun when gender is unknown.
LOLOLOL, and what a foolish thing to do, when the majority of all beings with genders is female — I mean, even in human population, women are the majority, perhaps it’s long overdue that we open our minds to some new assumptions.

(Of course, in German the traditional use is the same as in English.)

I did not defend it, I merely stated it. But, because English does not refer to humans (and higher beings) by using a neutral case, there has to be a choice between male and female. It is not surprising that, given that history of the west, and in particular English, that the male pronoun has become the default.

Alcadeias · Post by **Alcadeias** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 10:50 am

I would like some answers for this question which I posted on page 2 please:

Alcadeias wrote:What about on a 9x9 board? Where would God play Black's first move?

Are we 100% sure that tengen is the best first move on a 9x9 board? ("best move" meaning the move which leads to the greatest winning margin if both players play optimally)

Is it possible that 3-4, 4-4 or 4-5 might be better than playing tengen?

oca · Post by **oca** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 11:59 am

Alcadeias wrote:I would like some answers for this question which I posted on page 2 please:

Alcadeias wrote:What about on a 9x9 board? Where would God play Black's first move?

Are we 100% sure that tengen is the best first move on a 9x9 board? ("best move" meaning the move which leads to the greatest winning margin if both players play optimally)

Is it possible that 3-4, 4-4 or 4-5 might be better than playing tengen?

To my knowledge, it is not proven that tengen is the best first move, even on 9x9... So yes, maybe another move may be better...

Life In 19x19

If God played Go, where would He play Black's first move?

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Re: If God played Go, where would He play Black's first move

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Re: If God played Go, where would He play Black's first move

Re: If God played Go, where would He play Black's first move

Re: If God played Go, where would He play Black's first move

Re: If God played Go, where would He play Black's first move

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Re: If God played Go, where would He play Black's first move

Re: If God played Go, where would He play Black's first move