Go?

[arun82]

Nice to find mention of go around here. Haven't played for years, but used to about 1k

Brag: played in a couple of WAGCs.
Beat: finished at the bottom in one, and near the bottom in the other (not surprising being only 1k ).

[river_tilt]

Originally Posted by arun82

Nice to find mention of go around here. Haven't played for years, but used to about 1k

Brag: played in a couple of WAGCs.
Beat: finished at the bottom in one, and near the bottom in the other (not surprising being only 1k ).

Cool, which WAGCs were in you in? I've done 3, and 1 pair Go. (Most recent was last year, I think.)

[arun82]

^^1998 and 1999. First ever Indian representative!

What about you?

[river_tilt]

Originally Posted by arun82

^^1998 and 1999. First ever Indian representative!

What about you?

I think I was there in 1998. Was that in Hokkaido?

I chatted with the Indian representative quite a bit that year- I am from the UK. It's good to talk you again, if right. (In fact, it's kind of awesome.)

It's a suprisingly small world.

EDIT: I think we played in one of the rounds.

[arun82]

'98 was in Tokyo, '99 was in Oita (Kyushu).

I did chat with the UK representative both times, and in fact in '99 he was supposed to coach me (but I didn't really follow through afterwards). Does that ring a bell? Don't think I played against either of them though, but am not sure.

In any case, if it was you - yes, it's quite amazing to meet you here! Small world indeed.

[river_tilt]

It seems that we didn't actually meet - I was there in 1997, 2004 and 2009. It was remembering 2002.
Presumably it was Matthew MacFadyen who offered to coach you? He's a nice guy, and a good coach.

WAGC link here.

[arun82]

Yes it was him, and he was indeed very nice.
I don't think I even got back to him later or thanked him for analysing a couple of my games. (My only excuse is that I was 16 and easily distracted).

I was supposed to play again in 2003, the year it got cancelled.

[SinK]

It seems that there are two scoring systems. Janice Kim's Learn to Play go Series seems to count territories as being areas surrounded by stones of a certain colour but not including the stones, while the brief tutorial I had a look at on KGS says the stones are counted as part of the territory.
1)When is each system used?
2)Which is more common or offical?
3) And are there specific names for them so I can spot when each one is in use?
It seems that it would greatly affect strategy, particularly when to pass.

Also Niel S. Is that offer of a learning game still open?

[kokiri]

Counting stones is called area scoring, and is typically associated with the Chinese tradition of the game, whereas scoring territory is known as, imaginatively enough, territory scoring, and is associated with the Japanese tradition.

Assuming that people don't pass through the game except to indicate the end (which they pretty much shouldn't) it's not a handicap game, and one other technical condition, then there's basically no difference to the result from which system you use.

It does slightly alter the way you play out the end of the game and how you do the counting, as well as how you handle prisoners (in territory scoring you have to keep them to include at the end, in area scoring you don't), but these are pragmatic issues not strategic ones.

This page explains more, but is a bit anarchic i think on a quick glance: http://senseis.xmp.net/?TerritoryAndAreaScoring

[Neil S]

Originally Posted by SinK

It seems that it would greatly affect strategy, particularly when to pass.

Area v. territory affects when to pass but it doesn't really affect strategy. Mathematically the two are equivalent.

Rules differences between Japan, Korea, PRC, ROC, New Zealand, US, and Europe (did I miss any? :-) do affect strategy but not because of this.

Also Niel S. Is that offer of a learning game still open?

Right now not really. It'd been a year since I posted in this thread and since then I drifted back off and have taken on new commitments that really suck too much time for me to study this game seriously right now.

[funkyj]

Originally Posted by SinK

It seems that there are two scoring systems. Janice Kim's Learn to Play go Series seems to count territories as being areas surrounded by stones of a certain colour but not including the stones, while the brief tutorial I had a look at on KGS says the stones are counted as part of the territory.
1)When is each system used?
2)Which is more common or offical?

KGS allows you to chose which rules to use if you create a new match request ("custom game" button). If you join someone else's match request then you use the rules they have selected.

In the US and Europe, Japanese (territory) counting is more common.

The official USA (AGA) rules are actually much closer to chinese rules although they allow you to use territory or area counting mechanisms (with minor modifications to the territory counting to make it match area counting).

Also Niel S. Is that offer of a learning game still open?

If you are a n00b, I can play some teach games with you. I was never very good but I can probably still teach you a few things.

PM if you want to play on KGS.

Yeah, the Sensei's Library website already mentioned, along with godiscussions.com are the two best social resources. The folks as godiscussions.com will be happy to talk go with you all day long.

[SinK]

Thanks all for the informative replies.

Had a quick browse of godiscussions.com (now Lifein19x19.com) and it looks good.

[river_tilt]

Originally Posted by Neil S

Rules differences between Japan, Korea, PRC, ROC, New Zealand, US, and Europe (did I miss any? :-) do affect strategy but not because of this.

There's also the Ing rules, named after a Taiwanese businessman who donated $millions to Go. You both have exactly 180 pieces each, and instead of countiing territory you fill the empty spaces, and whoever has pieces left over loses.

[Neil S]

Originally Posted by river_tilt

There's also the Ing rules, named after a Taiwanese businessman who donated $millions to Go. You both have exactly 180 pieces each, and instead of countiing territory you fill the empty spaces, and whoever has pieces left over loses.

I thought those were standard in ROC. No?

[Deppir]

I tried searching for videos on youtube but I couldnt find any good ones. Are there any Go matches with commentary I could watch? I'm really interested in the game.

Thanks