Discussions on Ko

[RobertJasiek]

What is the tournament rule for a long cycle in the Samsung Cup 2012?

[daal]

A 4-ko from Gu Li and Lee Sedol's game yesterday

Thanks for posting! What was the result? Was it annulled due to referee headache? To me, it looks like a seki, with neither the white R15 group nor the black R12 group being capturable.

[RobertJasiek]

It is a nature of such disturbing lifes that they resemble seki with the feature of current mutual coexistence.

[EdLee]

No result from the 4-ko game. I think Gu Li suggested they decide the winner by
something like a coin-flip (or nigiri, etc.) -- because the winner would have to
play another tournament game the following day (today); so it would be very tiring to play a second game
the same day (yesterday) -- but the Korean side declined.
So Gu Li and Lee Sedol played again (later, the same day, yesterday),
but under faster time control ( 1 hour initial time, then 5 x 1 minute byoyomi ?). Gu Li won.
(So Gu Li was playing again today -- tiring.)

[Laman]

No result from the 4-ko game. I think Gu Li suggested they decide the winner by
something like a coin-flip (or nigiri, etc.) -- because the winner would have to
play another tournament game the following day (today); so it would be very tiring to play a second game
the same day (yesterday) -- but the Korean side declined.
So Gu Li and Lee Sedol played again (later, the same day, yesterday),
but under faster time control ( 1 hour initial time, then 5 x 1 minute byoyomi ?). Gu Li won.
(So Gu Li was playing again today -- tiring.)

interesting info, thanks. except it was the loser who had to play another game, so Gu Li had today a day off. and Lee beat Cho U, so both Chinese and Korean star made it through this stage

[kivi]

No result from the 4-ko game.

I read (probably gogameguru or here) that it was declared as draw, not no-result or void. Practically all mean same thing, but not exactly. So do you know if it was draw or no-result?

[EdLee]

Laman, thanks.

[gogameguru]

No result from the 4-ko game.

I read (probably gogameguru or here) that it was declared as draw, not no-result or void. Practically all mean same thing, but not exactly. So do you know if it was draw or no-result?

We said it was a draw because that was the best information we had, but in Chinese it seems to be being written both ways (i.e. people are writing draw, but some others have written no result). I think this happens so rarely that a lot of people are confused about what to call it.

In any case, the officials ruled that the game had to replayed. The second game started in the early evening of the same day so, like Ed said, it must've really been tiring. Especially for Lee, to get up and play again the next day.

This exact situation is rare, but in general, I think this is one of the main reasons why top players get burned out and it's harder to stay at the top for long periods than it has been historically. Every year there seem to be more new tournaments and the strongest players seem to be flying between countries all week. It must be hard on their health and their families too.

Anyway, this is ostensibly a topic about ko. Does anyone want to analyze the position from a rules perspective? How would this have played out if superko applied?