67
votes
Accepted
Is "Adversarial Policies Beat Professional-Level Go AIs" simply wrong?
One of the authors of the paper here. It might shock you to find that I believe the paper was not "simply wrong". I do however think that we did a poor job explaining our evaluation setting, ...
- 732
33
votes
Accepted
Why doesn't a go board have an 'I' ('i') column?
Zeiss isn't completely correct, this is actually the less common reason for omitting the I. The more common reason why I is often omitted where it would normally be expected between H and J is because ...
- 15k
21
votes
Why don’t you capture more territory in Go?
Suppose there is a black stone in the corner but it is impossible for black to survive, no matter how well played.
By convention, both sides recognize this and the black stone is counted as a prisoner....
- 427
21
votes
Go: Why did I lose? How is territory defined?
5x5 boards are actually harder to understand than a little bit larger board. There are a lot of weird situations that can happen because the board is so small, so I would recommend starting with 9x9 ...
- 3,488
19
votes
Accepted
What are the differences between Chinese and Japanese rules in Go?
In most games (as already noted) the two rulesets produce the same strategy and outcome.
Differences between the current Japanese and Chinese rules:
Japanese counts enclosed territory (of groups able ...
- 306
19
votes
Why doesn't a go board have an 'I' ('i') column?
In most cases, where "I" is omitted between "H" and "J", it's to avoid confusion with number "1". It's also common to omit the letter "O" for the same reason (confusion with number "0", more of a ...
- 1,697
18
votes
Accepted
In this Go position, can black capture the entire length of the white arm?
Yes. That white chain has only two liberties - A and the space next to A. If black fills both of them the chain will be captured. None of the surrounding black stones are vulnerable to capture ...
- 12.5k
15
votes
In this Go position, can black capture the entire length of the white arm?
Yes, but Black doesn't need to. Since each of the surrounding groups already have two eyes, there's no reason to play those stones. In fact, it will cost Black two points in Japanese scoring.
If ...
- 3,488
15
votes
Is "Adversarial Policies Beat Professional-Level Go AIs" simply wrong?
Regardless of the validity of this particular strategy, the general technique seems quite valid.
They did not simply discover a bug in KataGo and then write a program to exploit the bug. Rather, they ...
- 251
12
votes
Accepted
How much of AlphaGo's success is due to novelty?
I would argue that AlphaGo's advantage cannot be significantly attributed to the novelty of its moves.
The original public AlphaGo games were those against Lee Sedol, the second ranked player in the ...
- 82.6k
11
votes
Accepted
In Go can you put a counter in a place that had a prisoner
After a piece and/or group is completely out of liberties, it is removed immediately.
The only rule that would really prevent you from placing a stone back on the captured space is the ko rule, in ...
- 6,682
11
votes
Who won this match of Go?
Summary
You needed to finish the game, after which, assuming optimal play, White would have won by a very large margin (if it was their turn next) or a large margin (if it was Black’s turn).
The ...
- 1,448
11
votes
Is it possible to live with false eyes, only?
Yes, this is possible. It requires the living group to circle back on itself like this:
$$Bcm0
$$ ............
$$ ...OOOOOO...
$$ ..OOXXXXOO..
$$ .OOX.XX.XOO.
$$ .OX.XOOX.XO.
$$ .OXXO.OOXXO.
$$ ....
11
votes
Is "Adversarial Policies Beat Professional-Level Go AIs" simply wrong?
In the Tromp–Taylor rules, the concept of dead stones is left out—all stones on the board at the end of the game are treated as being alive. The KataGo AI was trained primarily using the Tromp–Taylor ...
- 404
10
votes
Do Go players play to minimize score difference after realizing they cannot win?
In general, if you realize that you can't win, you should resign. It's considered rude to make plays that will only allow you to catch up if your opponent makes a stupid mistake.
I don't think Go ...
- 3,488
10
votes
Accepted
Why do asymmetric ko fights exist?
I think the easiest way to think of this is in terms of options, and the freedom to take whatever options benefit me.
In your example, you have no options: You need to win this ko, or you will lose.
...
- 6,682
10
votes
Accepted
Why do player start with fighting for the corners in go?
Common starting practices are to open by placing stones on a Hoshi (4-4 point), or close to it, in order to "claim" that corner. As the players are trying to secure as much area as they can, it makes ...
- 9,251
10
votes
Accepted
Is there more than one solution to this problem about cutting in go
Your idea does keep the stones connected, but it isn't as good as the correct answer.
$$W
$$ ------------------
$$ . . . . . . . .|
$$ . . 1 . . . . .|
$$ . O X 2 B . . .|
$$ . O O X . X . .|
$$ ...
- 3,488
10
votes
Go: Why did I lose? How is territory defined?
Territory is a conceptual shortcut, not fundamental
Motivation
The fundamental idea of Go is to get your stones onto the board and keep them there.
The first question you should ask yourself is: what ...
- 737
9
votes
Accepted
Do Go players play to minimize score difference after realizing they cannot win?
Sadly I do not have a reliable source for this answer, but as far as I know, continuing when clearly behind is not generally considered rude, at least at professional level.
One reasoning was that it ...
- 7,028
9
votes
Accepted
Go Surrounding Rules
The game is incomplete.
Literally nothing is "surrounded" here, and if the game ended in such a state nobody would get any points at all until you can mutually agree on which groups are "dead" and ...
- 6,682
9
votes
Accepted
Why do we surround the corner in go?
It's entirely a question of efficiency: It simply takes fewer stones to secure more territory if you play in the corner.
Taking, for example, the eleven stones White plays in your sample game, if ...
- 6,682
8
votes
Accepted
How do I effectively use a big wall?
The biggest strength of a wall is that it keeps your opponents stones from connecting to anything on the other side of it; this forces him to worry about living in general, either by making life ...
- 6,682
8
votes
Accepted
Is this a correct formal heuristic for invalid moves due to Ko?
No, this logic unfortunately doesn't work: It prevents moves that are in fact legal, because they include a snapback.
$$ white to play
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . X O X . .
$$ . X O X . X .
$$ . X O O O ...
- 589
8
votes
Accepted
Best move for this pattern, in Go
Four stones is an enormous handicap on a 9x9 board. With perfect play by Black, White probably can't make a living group. If you're taking four stones, you presumably aren't going to play perfectly. ...
- 3,488
7
votes
Accepted
Are there any legal go arrangements that can never occur in an actual game?
Assuming you're only interested in what's on the board and passes are allowed.
I would go backwards then: what was the position just before?
It's quite easy to see that if you remove any stone of ...
- 202
7
votes
Accepted
Building a live group on a quarter board where two sides are already black
This has been discussed a lot in Sensei's Library (http://senseis.xmp.net/?BiggestCorner and http://senseis.xmp.net/?10x10CornerGame1). The consensus seems to be that white dies with 8 free spaces, ...
- 188
7
votes
Accepted
When should Beginners finish a Game of Go?
Under Chinese scoring (AKA area scoring), you can (and with new players should) play until each player has no move they can make.
There is no downside under Chinese scoring for a player to play ...
- 17.9k
7
votes
Go - How does one count territory in these scenarios?
For each intersection, ask yourself if it belongs to white or black.
The issue with your examples is that the games are not finished yet. You should keep playing until you can answer the question ...
- 1,116
7
votes
Why do player start with fighting for the corners in go?
Capturing territory around the edges of the board is simpler and quicker, because the edge forms a boundary which does not have to be constructed with stones, and which can not be attacked from "...
- 171
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