Life In 19x19

I don't think we value how much this kind of puzzles spark a certain kind of interest in Go. Granted, not for everyone (Hell, barely for me!), but... I'm pretty sure it attracts a certain kind of mind, if not yet into the web, and refreshes it, if already captured.

Take care

so a possible resolution to the problem, if black doesn't agree the kos are worth a point, the game is resumed and any stones still on the board after 4 passes are alive.

phillip1882 wrote:so a possible resolution to the problem, if black doesn't agree the kos are worth a point, the game is resumed and any stones still on the board after 4 passes are alive.

You mean "consecutive passes" right? You also have to decide what to do if neither side is willing to pass. And whether pass lifts ko-bans. And whether eyes in seki are worth a point. And if not, how to decide which stones are in seki.


If I understand correctly, the result with existing rulesets is:

• Korean: the double-ko seki is in the "relevant area", so the position repeats forever, so no result - the game must be replayed
• Japanese: during hypothetical play, pass is required to re-take ko, so the black group dies
• AGA, New Zealand (situational superko): eventually black needs to repeat a position, so the black group dies
• BGA (natural situational superko): eventually black needs to repeat a position, so the black group dies
• Tromp-Taylor (positional superko): eventually black needs to repeat a position, so the black group dies
• Chinese: according to sensei.xmp.net, "moonshine repetition is forbidden", so the black group dies? I'm not sure I understand the Chinese rules well enough though.

Personally, I like how superko handles this without requiring any other special considerations. However, applying superko in practice could be quite difficult.

hmm. maybe make a rule if a cycle is repeated 4 times, passes included, any stones involved cannot be captured.
yeah i'd say points in seki count, that makes sense to me.
pass lifts ko ban, but only once.