Archive-name: games/go-faq

                             rec.games.go 
                      Frequently Asked Questions 

                           by Adrian Mariano
                      adrian@bsdserver.ucsf.edu

What has changed in the FAQ recently

Nov 22:
Moved the table of contents up to the top.  Added information about
Kiseido.  I put some HTML tables into the HTML version of the FAQ.
(Comments anyone?  I've never done tables before.)  Updated the
sections on Computer Go.  I've revised section 11 which lists the go
file viewers.  It now contains a table of programs.  


Table of Contents

1 Go resources.  Where to get the FAQ.  What is the archive site? 
2 What is go? 
3 What do those words mean?
4 What books should I read? 
5 Where can I get go equipment, books, etc?  
6 How does the ranking system work?
7 Is there a go club in...?
8 What is the IGS?  NNGS?  How do I use them?
9 How do I play games by computer? 
10 What are the different game record formats and how can I display them? 
11 What programs can I get to display go game records? 
12 What are the differences between different rules?
13 What public domain programs can I get to play go? 
14 What commercial programs can I get to play go? 
15 How strong are the commercial programs?  
16 What computer go tournaments exist?  What are the prizes? 




1. Go resources.  Where to get the FAQ.  What is the archive site? 

Many FAQs, including this one, are available on the archive site
rtfm.mit.edu in the directory pub/usenet/news.answers.  The name under
which a FAQ is archived appears in the Archive-name line at the top of
the article.  This FAQ is archived as games/go-faq.  Note that FAQs
are available at this site, but NOTHING ELSE.  This is not the general
Go archive site which is described below.  FAQs are also available by
WWW using ¬http://www.smartpages.com/faqs/.

If you do not have ftp, you can request messages from rtfm by using
the local mail server.  Send mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu
containing the line "send usenet/news.answers/games/go-faq" to get
this file.  Send a message containing "help" to get general
information about the mail server.  The rtfm mail server can ONLY be
used to obtain FAQs.  It cannot be used to get files from the go archive
site.  

This FAQ is also available on the go archive site:  bsdserver.ucsf.edu
                                                    (128.218.80.68)

The go archive site (bsdserver.ucsf.edu) has several megabytes of go
releated materials, some of which are mentioned below.
You can log into the archive site with the username 'ftp' and any
password using the 'ftp' command.  The files are in various
subdirectories under Go.  The file Go/README (posted on the first of
each month to rec.games.go) contains a description of all files.
Filenames which appear below are relative to the Go directory.

The archive site maybe be accessed through WWW at
¬http://bsdserver.ucsf.edu/go/ftpindex/top.html which gives the
contents of the Go/README file.  This includes a list of which files
have been added to the archive site over the past three months.  

If you don't have ftp, send a message to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
containing the single line "help" to get information about ftping by
mail.  This server allows you to connect to any ftp site and request
files by mail.  Be sure to tell it to connect to bsdserver.ucsf.edu if
you want to get go files.  If you absolutely cannot get the mail
server to work, send an email request to adrian@bsdserver.ucsf.edu and
I will mail you the files.  When making such a request, be sure to
explain why you can't use the mailserver or you will receive a form
letter.  

The following mirror sites are available:
    ¬ftp://ftp.pasteur.fr/pub/Go
    ¬ftp://rzis1.rz.tu-bs.de/pub/go
    ¬ftp://igs.nuri.net/Go
    ¬ftp://imageek.york.cuny.edu/nngs/Go
    ¬ftp://ftp.fh-wuerzburg.de/pub/go

Gopher is an alternative to ftp.  If you have gopher installed, you
can connect to ¬gopher://philosophy.cwis.uci.edu:7016, possibly by
typing
    gopher philosophy.cwis.uci.edu 7016
at a prompt.  This is the UCI Philosophy Gopher.  If you follow the
menus 
    The World of Philosophy
      Recreation
        Games by wire
          Go 
you will reach the go options, which include access to this FAQ, as
well as access to the archive site.

There are many WWW go sites out there.  This list includes just a few
sites.  Ken's page is an excellent index of many other Go sites.  
  Ken Warkentyne's page: ¬http://ltiwww.epfl.ch/~warkent/go/ 
  Jan van der Steen's page: ¬http://www.cwi.nl/~jansteen/go/go.html

Questions, comments, and corrections should be sent to 
adrian@bsdserver.ucsf.edu.





2. What is go? 

Go is a two player strategy board game.  Players take turns putting 
black and white pieces (called stones) on a board.  Stones are placed 
on the intersection of the lines on the board, and can be placed on 
the edge or in the corner.  Once played a stone can not be moved, but 
may be captured by the other player.  A player can pass at any time.  
Go is generally played on a 19 by 19 board, but smaller boards such as 
9 by 9 or 13 by 13 are used by beginners or for shorter games. 

The object of the game is to surround territory and/or your opponent's 
stones.  The game ends when both players pass.  Under Japanese rules, 
each intersection surrounded and each prisoner counts as a point.  The 
player with the most points wins. 

An empty intersection adjacent to a stone (orthogonally) is called a 
liberty.  For example, a single stone in the middle of the board has 4 
liberties.  Stones that are adjacent form groups.  Every group must 
have at least one liberty.  When a group's last liberty is filled it 
is captured and removed from the board.  


     . . . . . .             . . . . . . . .         . . . . . . . .
     . . . . . .             . . . . . . . .         . . . . . . . .
     . . . . . .             . . . O O . . .         . . . O O . . .
     . . # # . .             . . O # # O . .         . . O . . O . .
     . . . # . .             . . . . # O . .         . . . O . O . .
     . . . . . .             . . . . O . . .         . . . . O . . .
     . . . . . .             . . . . . . . .         . . . . . . . .
    
    The stones in           Now the black (#)       With one move, 
    this group have         group has only          white captures the
    seven liberties.        one liberty.            black stones.

It is illegal to make a move which recreates a preceding board
position with the same person to play (to prevent loops).  The
simplest repeating position is called a ko.

  . . . . . .  
  . . . . . .   This is an example of a ko.  One of the White (O) stones
  . . # O . .   can be captured by black.  When a stone can be captured 
  . # O . O .   it is said to be 'in atari'.  If we didn't have the ko  
  . . # O . .   rule, then Black and White could repeatedly capture one 
  . . . . . .   stone in this situation, creating a loop.               

When a group of stones can never be captured, it is 'alive'.  Stones
can live either with two eyes or in seki.  

     . . . . . . . . . . .            . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     . . . . . . . . . . .            . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
     . . # # # # # # # . .            . . O O O O O O O O O . . 
     . . # O O O O O # . .            . . O # # # # # # # O . . 
     . . # O . O . O # . .            . . O # . O O O . # O . . 
    
     The white (O) group in         This is a seki situation.  
     this diagram is at the         If either Black (#) or white (O)
     edge of the board.  It         plays in one of the two open 
     has two holes or 'eyes'        spaces, then the other player can
     inside, and therefore          capture.  Therefore, neither 
     cannot be captured.            player will play here.

It is advantageous to make the first move in a game.  To offset this
advantage, extra points are usually subtracted from black's score.
These points are called the 'komi'.  The komi is often set at 5.5
points, which makes tie games impossible.

More detailed introductions to the game are available from the archive
site in postscript (RULES.PS.Z) and in Smart-Go format (RULES.SG).
Beginners can also get comp/igo.zip from the archive site.  This is a
stripped down version of Many Faces of Go for the IBM PC which
includes play on the 9 by 9 board and some instructional material.



3. What do those words mean?

Go discussion in English typically uses many japanese go terms.  The
most common ones are:

joseki:  An established, or standard, sequence that ends in a more or
	 less even result locally.  Usually appears in a corner, but
         occasionally on a side or in the center.  Literal translation is
	 "established stone(s)"

tesuji:  A particularly clever local move.  Usually makes possible
         something no other move would accomplish.  

sente:   Initiative, ability to go elsewhere.  Opposite of gote.

gote:    Forced to answer.  Opposite of sente.  

atari:   A group which has one liberty left and hence is about to be
         captured is in atari. 

aji:     Potential.  Something that does not work, but may come to
         work in the course of the game.  Literally "taste".  

A much longer list can be found on the archive site in info/definitions.Z.

A massive dictionary which translates between Japanese, English,
Chinese (pinyin), Korean, Dutch, German, French, Swedish and Italian
can also be found on the archive site in prog/intergo-1.11.tar.Z. 



4. What books should I read? 

Beginners may want to start with "The Magic of Go" by Cho Chikun or
"The Second Book of Go".  The four book series "Graded Go Problems for
Beginners" is good, as is the Elementary Go Series.

A lengthy list of books is on the archive site:  info/books.Z 



5. Where can I get go equipment, books, etc?  

      Ishi Press International         Ishi Press International
      1702-H Meridian Avenue, #193     PO Box 3288
      San Jose, CA  95125              London England NW5 1RQ
      Tel: (408)271-0415               Tel:  +44(0) 171 284 4898
      FAX: (408)271-0416               FAX:  +44(0) 171 284 4899
      Toll Free: (800)859-2086         gb@ishi-uk.demon.co.uk

      Ishi Press
      CPI Box 2126
      Tokyo Japan
      fax: +81-467-57-3069
      SGT00076@niftyserve.or.jp}

The email address ishius@ishius.com has been used for communication
with Ishi but has been inactive for several months as of 21 March
1996.  I am told that they plan to start reading mail there "soon".

      Kiseido Publishing Company (Japan) 
      CPO Box 2126
      Tokyo, Japan
      Fax: +81-467-57-3069
      E-mail: (temporarily) SGT00076@niftyserve.or.jp

      Kiseido (USA)
      454 Las Gallinas Ave., #255
      San Rafael, CA 94903-3618
      E-mail: kiseido@crl.com
      Phone/Fax: 415-499-1543 
      Via fax/modem: 415-499-1543,,,,,,*51
      
      European distributor:
      Schaak en Gowinkel het Paard
      Haarlemmerdjik 147
      1013 KH Amsterdam, Holland
      Tel: +31-20-624-1171
      Fax: +31-20-627-0885
      E-mail: zandveld@mep.tno.nl

According to Bill Franke, president of Kiseido (USA), the Kiseido
Publishing Company in Japan has replaced Ishi Press (Japan) which is
"essentially out of business".  Kiseido Publishing Company publishes
Go books in English.  It sells software and equipment.  Kiseido has
reprinted two of the Ishi Press Elementary Go series: K10 In the
Beginning and K12 Tesuji.  

Go World is now published by Kiseido and distributed in the USA by
Kiseido.  Franke says that people with Go World subscriptions through
Ishi should contact Kiseido and their subscriptions will be honored.
Go World is US$20 for 4 issues in North America.  In Europe, new
subscriptions and renewals are handled by the European distributor.
Old subscriptions are still handled by Ishi UK.

Another source for go equipment is 

     Yutopian
     2255 29th Street
     Suite 3
     Santa Monica, CA 90405
     USA     
     Phone: (310)392-7988
             800-YUTOGO-3
     FAX:   (310)392-7598
     email: yutopian@netcom.com, yutopian@aol.com
     ¬http://www.webwind.co

Yutopian carries boards, stones, English video tapes, computer
programs and books in Chinese and English.  

They publish The American Go Extra ($5 for 4 issues).
Books published: Killer of Go by Sakata, A Compendium of Trick Plays,
Nie Weiping on Go, and Fighting Ko.


Good Move Press is published a series entitled "Learn To Play Go".
Two books are presently available.  The first book comes with a punch
out go set.  Sample pages the tables of contents are available on
their web site. 

     Good Move Press
     105 Duane Street #38B
     New York, NY 10007-3611
     Tel: (800) 600-4373
     Fax: (201) 385-1361
     ¬http://www.edge.net/~gmpress

Products from Ishi, Kiseido, Yutopian and Good Move Press can be
ordered from ¬http://www.portal.com/~rww/top_go.html.

Crystalline Creations (formerly Toyogo) sells some books and a pamphlet
called Instant Go Volume 1.
     Crystalline Creations
     P.O. Box 8289
     N. Brattleboro, VT 05304
     800-869-6469  
     802-896-6121
     802-896-9449 FAX
     nemesis.go@applelink.apple.com


Four foot teaching boards with magnetic stones are available from GMI.
Contact rondoc@rain.org for more information. 



6. How does the ranking system work?

The ranks are "kyu" and "dan".  Kyu means pupil and dan means master,
but there is no qualitative difference.  The ranks are like positive
and negative numbers (with no zero).  A beginner starts out with a
high kyu rank (20-30 kyu) and advances to the strongest kyu rank of 1
kyu.  The next rank above 1 kyu is 1 dan (shodan), and the dan ranks
proceed upward to 7 dan.  On the 19x19 board, the number of handicap
stones is the difference between the ranks.  A 3 kyu gives seven
stones to a 10 kyu.  A 2 dan gives 2 stones to a 1 kyu.  The
professional go players have a separate dan scale which goes from 1
dan to 9 dan.  The professional scale has finer gradations than the
amateur scale: the difference between 9 dan and 1 dan is about 2
stones.

You can determine your strength only by playing aginast others with
known strength.  There are books like "Test Your Rating", but those
tests are very unreliable. 

On a 13x13 board, if the rank difference is "diff", then the following
table gives the handicap and komi:

diff   Handicap  Komi     diff   Handicap  Komi     diff   Handicap  Komi
  0        0      8.5       7        3      5.5      14        5      2.5
  1        0      5.5       8        3      2.5      15        5     -0.5
  2        0      2.5       9        3     -0.5      16        6      5.5
  3        0     -0.5      10        4      5.5      17        6      2.5
  4        2      5.5      11        4      2.5      18        6     -0.5
  5        2      2.5      12        4     -0.5      19        6     -3.5
  6        2     -0.5      13        5      5.5      20        6     -6.5

Instead of trying to remember the table, you can use this formula to
calculate these numbers: Let d be the difference in rank.  Pick r so
that (d + r) is a multiple of three.  The number of handicap stones is
(d + r)/3.  The number of komi points is 3r - 0.5.

On a full sized board, a handicap of 2 stones is about 15 points.  The
third stone is worth 11 more, and each additional stone is worth one
point more than the last.  Hence a five stone handicap is worth 15 +
11 + 12 + 13 = 51 points.  A 9 stone handicap is thus worth 113
points.

This is a chart showing  
the number of handicap   Amateur |        Professional Rank
stones needed for a        rank  |------------------------------------
real (non-teaching)       (dan)  |  1 - 3 dan   4 - 6 dan   7 - 9 dan
game between amateur     ---------------------------------------------
dan players and             1    |  8 - 9         -           -
professionals.  Max         2    |  7 - 8       8 - 9         -
Golem who posted this       3    |  6 - 7       7 - 8       8 - 9
chart to rec.games.go       4    |  5 - 6       6 - 7       7 - 8
says, "If you want to       5    |  4 - 5       5 - 6       6 - 7
find out how strong a       6    |  3 - 4       4 - 5       5 - 6
pro really is, play him     7    |  <= 3        <= 4        <= 5
for money!"



7. Is there a go club in...?

Before asking the net, you should consult the appropriate lists of Go
clubs which are on the archive site.  All of the lists except the AGA
list are in the info directory.  They are:

        aga/clubs.94            Clubs affiliated with the AGA
        clubs.german.Z          Clubs in Germany
        clubs.ishi.Z            Clubs on Ishi's mailing list
        clubs.british.Z         Clubs in Britain
        clubs.australia.Z       Clubs in Australia
        clubs.sweden.Z          Clubs in Sweden
        clubs.canada.Z          Clubs in Canada
        clubs.chile.Z           Clubs in Chile



8. What is the IGS?  NNGS?  How do I use them?

The IGS is operating from:   igs.nuri.net 6969
                            (203.255.112.3 6969)

The NNGS is operating from:  ra.york.cuny.edu 9696 
                                (198.61.17.11 9696)

The European Go Server is operating from:
                            grizu.uni-regensburg.de 9696
                               (132.199.208.131 9696)

Chinese Go server:          bbs.ncic.ac.cn 9696
                            (159.226.43.26 9696)

Internet go servers are the most popular way of playing realtime
interactive go games by computer.  The first and largest server is the
Internet Go Server (IGS).  If you can't find a go club then you can
use these servers as electronic clubs.

You can connect to a server and look for opponents to play or just
watch a game.  To connect directly to the IGS from a unix machine,
type "telnet igs.nuri.net 6969".  The IP number is 203.255.112.3.
When you connect for the first time, log in as "guest".  In order to
gain full access to the IGS you will have to register for an account.
Type "help register" to get information about registering.  When
connecting to the IGS, you must connect to telnet port 6969.  Be SURE
to use the port number 6969.  Please be ABSOLUTELY sure to use the
port number 6969.  If you are on a VMS system, the port is specified
with "/port=6969" after the tenet command.  The IGS is also run on a
site in France: flamingo.pasteur.fr (157.99.64.12).

Once connected to the IGS, you will need to use the help command to
learn how to use the interface.  There is NO other accurate
information about the IGS available.  Ancient (and hence innacurate)
LaTeX and Postscript versions of the server's help files are available
from the archive site as igs/igs.ps.Z and igs/igs.tex.Z.  A more
recent (but still outdated) copy of the IGS helpfiles is in
igs/helpfiles.Z.

New users should read the file Etiquette on the archive site which
explains how to behave when using the IGS, and when playing Go.  

The server interface is quite awkward, so several client programs are
available to ease your interaction with the server.  They are
all available on the archive site in the Go/clients directory:

igc0751.sh.Z            ASCII client for Unix
xigc_v3.92.tar.Z        X11 client
xgospel-1.10d.tar.Z     X11 client
kgo11.tar.Z             X11 client
kgo_vms_v11.tar         X11 VMS client
cgoban-1.4.2.tar.gz      X11 client
pcigc51x.exe            IBM PC client WITH MODEM
tgigc35.zip             IBM PC client for EGA/VGA WITH MODEM
igc075.zip	        IBM PC, ethernet with Clarkson packet drivers
jiango20.zip            IBM PC client
gs1.46.sea.hqx          Macintosh client
macgo.35.hqx            Macintosh client
macgo.35.ppc.hqx        Macintosh client for powermac
stigcbin-1.9.zoo        Atari ST client
nextgo-NIHS.tar.Z       NeXT client
amigaigc077.lha         Amiga client
winigc69.zip		MS Windows, modem or Winsock
wigc1_4.zip             MS Windows with Winsock (without modem)
haicli10.zip            Win32s client with Winsock

DOS users may wish to consult clients/help.dos for information on
using either tgigc or pcigc.  

Linux users may wish to use a utility called term which provides
pseudo TCP/IP.  This program is available from the linux archives.

Xgospel binaries for various machines are available from 
¬ftp://ftp.ifi.uio.no:/pub/obh/xgospel.  

To access IGS or NNGS from Compuserve, download compuserve's WinCIM.
With this package, the Compuserve Internet Dialer will be used together
with an IGS client.  To access a server dial Compuserve using
the internet dialer.  When connected, start a client (like WIGC). 

In order to use the IGS, you must be able to use telnet.  You can pay
to get this capability through Holonet.  To find your closest number
for a free demo, conneect by modem to 1-800-NET-HOLO.  For more
information, send email to info@holonet.mailer.net.  Another service
that provides telnet ability is Delphi.  Call 1-800-695-4005 for more
information.

For more help see ¬http://www.well.com/user/mmcadams/igs.howto.html.

If you are interseted in running your own Go server, the source code
for the NNGS is available at ¬ftp://imageek.york.cuny.edu/nngs/src/.




9. How do I play games by computer? 

Since computers make poor opponents, we use them to connect us to
other humans.  There are two types of computer games: email, and
interactive.  Email games can be handled manually, by creating a board
in an editor, or only exchanging move coordinates.  The other option
is the use the unix program 'mailgo' which is included with mgt
(mgt/mgt231.sh.Z).  It sends Smart-Go records of your game back and
forth, and invokes mgt for moves.

There are several ways to play interactive games.  Probably the most
popular is the Internet Go Server (IGS) which was described in the
previous section.  Another interactive options is the internet go
program, available on the archive site as prog/inetgo72.sh.Z, which
allows BSD Unix users to play interactive games with ascii text
screens.  The xgosh program (prog/xgosh17.sh.Z on the archive site)
allows people with X-Windows to play interactive games with a
graphical board.  The two interactive programs are NOT compatible.  A
third program XMango (prog/xmango10.tar.Z) also permits interactive
play with X.  Windigo (prog/windigo0.zip) for MS Windows permits play
over a LAN.

To help find suitable opponents, check out the go players email
address list, available on the archive site as go-players, and also
posted monthly. 

There is a standard go modem protocol which is used by go programs for
modem play.  It is implemented in Many Faces of Go, Nemesis, Smart
Game Board and Telego (a shareware go modem program for the IBM PC).
The protocol spec and sample code are available from the archive site
as prog/protocol.Z.

Fotland's program, Many Faces of Go for X Windows on HP machines
supports two players on two screens.

The Imagination Network provides on line game players for IBM-PC
owners with a modem.  They have Go, Chess, Checkers, Othello, bridge,
Cribbage, Hearts, as well as a Dungeon game and a multiplayer flight
simulator.  Graphics are pretty good, software is free.  Connect
charge is $12.95 per month for 30 hours.  Call 1-800-SIERRA1 to sign
up.

An electronic Go club is present on NovaNet, a Computer-Aided Learning
system that is installed in schools.  NovaNet uses a special terminal
program, with color graphics, mouse and sound support.  To find out
more, contact Dietrich Schuschel at schuschel-dialup@nova.novanet.org
or schuschel/dialup/nova.  NovaNet accounts are available from Bill
Strutz, (217) 244-4300.  Cost is $2.50/hour usage and $10 for the
terminal program (spec Mac, IBM, Sun, X format).  The lesson name is
goclub.



10. What are the different game record formats and how can I display them? 

There are several different formats for game records.  The two most 
popular formats are Smart-Go and Ishi "Standard" Format.  Definitions 
for these two formats are on the archive site in info/smartgo.def.Z and 
prog/standard.sh.Z respectively. 

The Liberty format is a binary format which is not common.  Many of 
the files on the archive site are presently in this format.  They can 
be converted to other formats with prog/convert.tar.Z. 

There is a program prog/sg2ishi05.sh.Z or prog/sg2ishi05.zip on the
archive site which attempts to convert Smart-Go to Ishi format.  It
cannot handle variations, and has problems with the short form of
Smart-Go.  A second option is the SG2GO program contained in the
prog/gobase20.zip utilities.  This is available as C source or as an
IBM PC executable and does handle variations.



11. What programs can I get to display go game records? 

The program mgt will display game records under Unix (either ascii or
X11), MSDOS, MS-Windows, Atari ST or RISCOS.  The Unix and MSDOS
versions do not use graphics, however.  The mgt program was created
originally by Greg Hale at the request of rec.games.go readers who
wanted an interactive program that would read a series of tutorial
files posted to the net.  The program was expanded by Adrian Mariano
to edit and save game records. The purpose of mgt is to display and
edit game records in Smart-Go format.  It can be used to display a
game board.  Pieces can be placed and removed, and games can be
scored.  Mgt is in mgt/mgt231.sh.Z (Unix ascii), mgt/xmgt231.tar.Z
(Unix X11), mgt/mgt231.zip (MSDOS) mgt/stmgt.zoo (Atari ST),
mgt/winmgt60.zip (MS WINDOWS), mgt/arcmgt101 (Acorn Archimedes).

Many other programs have been written to display and edit these
formats:

 Program    OS    formats   edit?  Where can I get it?
mgt        many    sgf       yes    mgt/
wingo      win     sgf        ?     prog/wingo1.zip
yago       win     sgf,ishi  no     prog/yago07.zip
sgview     dos     sgf        ?     prog/sgview11.zip
gorecord   dos     sgf       yes    prog/record12.exe
telego     dos     ishi      no     prog/telego44.zip
tgigc      dos     ishi      no     clients/tgigc35.zip
goscribe   dos     ishi      yes    Ishi press ($60)
xgoban     X11     sgf       yes    prog/xgoban-1.0.sh.Z
xsgfedit   X11     sgf       yes    prog/xsgfedit-1.01.tar.Z
cgoban     X11     sgf       yes    prog/cgoban-1.4.2.tar.gz
"go"       unix    ishi       ?     prog/go.sh.Z
NeXTGo     NeXT    sgf        ?     clients/nextgo-NIHS.tar.Z
Pon Nuki   mac     sgf,ishi  yes    prog/ponnuki10.hqx
smart go   mac     sgf       yes    prog/smartgo41.hqx
gob        os/2    sgf,ishi   ?     prog/gob12.zip

The xgoban program is also available compiled for linux as
prog/xgoban-linux.tar.Z.  In addition to displaying Smart Go, this
program can communicate with wally to provide a graphical interface.

Go Record can display chinese comments.  The program sgview is written
in German with both German documentation and German program text.




12. What are the differences between different rules?

Several minor variations in the rules can change the game slightly.  

Scoring

  Under Japanese rules, the score is calculating by counting points of
  territory and subtracting the number of captured stones.  Points in
  seki are not counted, even if they are completely surrounded by one
  player.  

  Under Chinese rules, the score is calculating by counting points of
  territory and stones left on the board.  The number of captures is
  not counted.  Points surrounded in seki are counted as territory and
  points shared in seki are counted as 1/2 point for each player.
  Because the sum of the scores is always 361, only one color needs to
  be counted.  

  The komi for Japanese scoring is a number of points to subtract from
  black's score.  With Chinese counting, the komi is a number of extra
  white stones to place in black's territory.  Placing a white stone
  in black's territory gives white one point and deprives black of one
  point, so the total value is 2 points.  A 2.75 stone komi
  corresponds to a 5.5 point komi.

  In handicap games, the Japanese system makes no adjustment, but the
  Chinese system deducts half of the handicap from black's score and
  adds it to white's.

  In the absence of sekis, and assuming that white plays last, these
  two scoring systems will produce the same score difference.  

  The big difference between the systems is that under the Japanese
  system, players are penalized for playing inside their own
  territory.  This makes it difficult to resolve disputes about the
  life status of groups on the board at the end of the game.  Until
  recently, the Japanese rules handled this by enumerating cases at
  great length.  

  A famous example is the "bent four in the corner".  

  # # . O # . .  What is the status of the white group?  If black (#)
  # O O O # . .  plays inside, then white must capture.  Then black 
  . O # # # . .  can start a ko fight.  Only black can start the fight.
  O O # . # . .  If white plays, the white stones are dead.  Therefore,
  # # # # . # .  black will not start the fight until the end of the 
  . . . # # # .  game after black has removed enough of white's ko 
  . . . . . . .  threats so that black will win the fight.  

  Under the old Japanese rules, the white group would have been ruled
  unconditionally dead.  Under Chinese counting, the status of the
  group depends on the number of ko threats.  If white has unremovable
  ko threats, the white group may live.  A seki can provide an
  unremovable ko threat.

  The Nihon Ki-in adopted new rules in 1989 which remove the special
  rulings like the bent four ruling.  The new rules say that to
  resolve life and death questions at the end of the game, you play
  them out on a different board.  While playing these disputes, the ko
  rule is altered: the only legal ko "threat" is "pass".  This means
  that direct ko fights are automatically won by the first player to
  capture.  With this new rule, the bent four is still unconditionally
  dead.

  The GOE rules use Chinese counting.  Before 1991, these rules had a
  more complex way of counting shared points in seki.  Instead of
  dividing them equally, they were divided in proportion to the number
  of stones each player had around the disputed point.

  . . . . .  With the pre-1991 GOE rules, this situation would have   
  . # # # #  split the left point 2/3 for white (O) and 1/3 for black.
  . # O O O  The right point would have been divided evenly.           
  # # O # O  So black would get 5/6 points and white would get 7/6.   
  # O O # O  This method was abandoned because dealing with the various
  # O . # .  fractions was annoying.  

Suicide

  Suicide is playing a stone which does not capture an enemy group,
  but does remove the last liberty of one of your own groups.  Since
  your group has no liberties, it is immediately removed from the
  board.  It is possible to use suicide to make ko threats available
  sooner.  There are even situations where suicide plays a direct role
  in life and death problems.  

   . . . . . . . . . 
   . . . . . . . . . 
   O O O O O . . . . If suicide is legal, black lives in seki.  If  
   # # # # O . . . . suicide is forbidden, all the black stones die.
   . . . # O . . . .                                                
   O O O # O O O . . See games/suicide.sgf on the archive site for  
   # . O # # # O . . details.                                       
   # # O # . # O . . 

Ko
  
  The purpose of the ko rule is to prevent infinite loops in the game.
  The simplest way to do this is to forbid repeating a board position.
  This is generally called the "superko" rule.  

  The Japanese rules only prohibit immediate repetitions.  If the
  players managed to form a longer loop, which can happen with three
  simple kos on the board, then the game is is replayed.  This triple
  ko situation has arisen in professional games.
  
  The GOE rules specify a very complicated ko rule involving a
  distinction between "fighting" kos and "disturbing" kos.  
  See info/ing.ko.rule.Z for some discussion of this rule.

Handicap stones

  Japanese rules dictate that the handicap stones be placed on the
  star points in fixed patterns.  Other rule sets simply give black
  free moves without restriction.  

Pass stones

  In order to bring Japanese counting and Chinese counting into
  agreement, the AGA rules dictate that whenever a player passes, that
  player must give a prisoner to the other player.  This stone is a
  captured stone and will be counted as such if Japanese counting is
  used.  AGA rules also require that white make the last move.  
  This allows life and death disputes to be played out on the board
  without changing the score, even though Japanese counting is used.  
  Note also that AGA rules do award points for surrounded territory in
  seki.  

The full statement of the current GOE rules is on the archive site as
igs/goe.rules.Z.  The AGA rules are in aga/aga.rules.Z.  



13. What public domain programs can I get to play go? 

Very few public domain programs exist.  Those that do are extremely
weak. On the archive site, you will find comp/wally.sh.Z, which can be
compiled anywhere.  If you think wally is too strong, you can get the
even weaker gnugo from prep.ai.mit.edu in pub/gnu/gnugo-1.1.tar.gz.
If you have X11, you can get xgoban from the archive site
(prog/xgoban-1.0.sh.Z) to act as a graphical interface to either wally
or gnugo.  A compiled version for linux is in prog/xgoban-linux.tar.Z.
Macintosh users can try MacGo or Dragon Go (available on the archive
site), though these programs are incompatible with some macs.  Amiga
users can get Amigo (comp/amigo.lzh on the archive site).  Amigo has
been ported to X11 (comp/xamigo.sh.Z) and to GEM atari
(comp/gemamigo.zip).  If you have access to an HP9000 either 680x0
based or HP-PA risc based, you can get Many Faces of Go for X11 from
the archive site in comp/hp-xgo.tar.Z.  Many Faces of Go is available
commercially for other platforms and is one of the strongest Go
programs.  A restricted version of Many Faces of Go for the IBM PC
which can play only on a nine by nine board is available from the
archive site (comp/igo.zip).  This program makes a good introduction
to the game.  EGO is a strong Go program which is distributed as
shareware.  The restricted version EZ-GO is at comp/ez-go.zip and can
play on a full board but only with unbalanced playing styles.  



14. What commercial programs can I get to play go? 

The information in this section may be somewhat out of date. Prices or
version numbers may be wrong.

  Program        Ver   Price  Platforms           Supplier
Many Faces of Go 9.0    $59  dos               Ishi
Star of Poland   3.1   $110  ?                 OPENetwork
Nemesis          5      $69  mac, dos, win     Crystalline Creations
Go Intellect     5.0    $59  mac               Yutopian
Explorer                $25  mac               Anders Kierulf
Handtalk         94.10  $59  dos               Yutopian
Goliath                 $60  mac               Ishi
Ego                     $25  dos               Bruce Wilcox
GoTools          1.03   $59  dos               Yutopian (USA), Thomas Wolf
Encyc Life/Death 1      $60  dos               Kiseido

A demo version of Many Faces of Go which plays only on the 9x9 board
is available free (comp/igo.zip).  Many Faces comes in a Basic version
which has play on 19x19 board, move explanations, suggestions, hints,
200 beginner problems, some commented pro games and go lessons from
Zhu Jiu Jiang.  For an additional $60 you can get the Deluxe version
which adds a joseki tutor, game editor, problem solver, modem play,
conversion from Smart Go format to Ishi format, and over 100
professional games.  

Demo versions of Nemesis which only allow computer vs. computer play
are available for mac, DOS and MS Windows on the archive site.
(comp/nem-dos.zip, comp/nem-win.zip, comp/nemesis-mac.sea.hqx.)
Nemesis Go Master Delux includes a Joseki tutor and a life and death
analyzer.  It costs $139 from Crystalline Creations.  

A restricted version of Ego is available at comp/ez-go.zip.  The
restricted version plays on a full sized board but with unbalanced
playing styles.  The full version can be ordered directly from Bruce
Wilcox for $25.

Explorer by Marin Mueller is shareware.  It is available from its home
site ¬ftp://ftp.icsi.berkeley.edu/pub/theory/mmueller/Explorer.sit.hqx
or it can be obtained from the archive site in comp/explorer.sit.hqx.

Contact information for Ishi Press, Kiseido Yutopian and Crystalline
Creations appears in section 5.

OPENetwork 
215 Berkeley Pl. 
Brooklyn, NY 11217 
(718) 638-2266 

Anders Kierulf 
Smart Game Board 
P.O. Box 7751 
Menlo Park, CA  94026-7751 

Bruce Wilcox
8249 Shelter Creek Lane
San Bruno, CA 94066
wilcox@slip.net


GoTools by Thomas Wolf only does life and death problems.  The program
comes with 10000 problems, it can create new problems, and solve
problems posed by the user.  For an additional $39 you can get 12000
more problems and support for LaTeX printing of Go diagrams.  Outside
of the US, the program can be ordered directly from the author for 39
pounds.  See the WWW page below for more information on this program.

Thomas Wolf
30 Ernald Avenue
East Ham
London E6 4NS
UK
Tel: (+44)(0) 171 975 5493 daytime
     (+44)(0) 181 470 6862 evening
email: T.Wolf@qmw.ac.uk
¬http://www.eng.ox.ac.uk/people/Harry.Fearnley/go/t.wolf.html



15. How strong are the commercial programs?  

(Much of this section is taken from posts by David Fotland, the author
of Many Faces of Go.)

It is difficult to rank the programs because they are all very 
inconsistent in their play.  They may play a sequence of moves that 
look dan level, or solve a dan level problem during play, but then a 
few moves later they will make a move that a 20 kyu would never make.  
Since none of the current programs can learn from their own mistakes, 
when the same situation comes up they will make the same bad move 
again. 

A few years ago, the top program in the world (Goliath) claimed to be
around 8 or 10 Kyu. Many Faces of Go and Nemesis claim to be 13 Kyu.
Poka claims to be about 17 Kyu, and Dragon Go is about 17 kyu as well.
These claims are generally based on games that are the first game the
human has played against a computer.  Nemesis has played in AGA rated
tournaments for its rating.

At the 1995 FOST tournament a pro observed the games of the top
programs and played against them.  Based on this, Handtalk was awarded
a 5 Kyu diploma, Go4++ a 7 Kyu diploma, and Many Faces of Go an 8 Kyu
diploma.

David Fotland says, "I know someone who was having trouble beating
Many Faces at 13 stones until I suggested he could beat it at 29
stones.  He spent a few weeks trying odd moves and found some
weaknesses, and now he has no trouble beating it at 29 stones. Each of
the programs has different weaknesses, but they all tend to collapse
tactically in a complicated position, so if attach and crosscut a lot
you can usually win big."

1995 World Computer Go Congress Results

This year's competition had a smaller than usual field of 10 programs.
Since there were only 10 programs, and the results of the first 3 places
were clear after 5 rounds, the sixth round was not played.

The top programs are still fairly close.  Handtalk won all its games,
but only beat Go Intellect and Go4++ by 9 points each.  Go4++ beat
Go Intellect by 15 points, and in 3 additional friendship games after
the tournament, Go intellect won two (by 35 and 23 points), and Go4++
beat Go Intellect again by 60 points.  Many Faces and Go4++ were not
paired in the tournament, but in 3 friendly games afterwards, Go4++ won
two and Many Faces won one.

Handtalk won NT$200,000 for first place, then went on to
challenge 3 human experts at 15 stone handicap.  The 15 stone prize has
been attempted 4 times before (by Goliath, Handtalk, and Go Intellect)
without success.  This year, the human experts were 3 youth champions,
9 or 10 years old.  They were given a few minutes to practice, then
the games began.  Handtalk looked like it was doing very well, then
around move 100, a reporter stepped on the main power cord and all the
computers shut down.

All 3 games were started from the beginning, and Handtalk went on to
win 2 of the three games, losing to the 9 year old, and winning
another 100,000 NT dollars.  Handtalk immediately challenged at the
13 stone handicap and won 2 of three again, for another 133,333
NT dollars.  Next year the Human challenge will be at 11 stones
handicap.

1st, 5 wins, Handtalk, by Chen ZhiXing
2nd, 4 wins, Go4++, by Michael Reiss
3rd, 3 wins, Go Intellect, by Ken Chen
4th, 3 wins, Many Faces of Go, by David Fotland
5th, 3 wins, Stone, by Kao Kuo Yuan and Chih-wen Hsueh
6th, 2 wins, Explorer, by Martin Muller
7th, 2 wins, Sason, by Chang Ho Lee
8th, 2 wins, Big Stone, by Dong Chul Lee
9th, 1 win,  Rex 95, by Han Jung Kim
10th, 0 wins, Right Thought, by Min Ho Kwak

Summary of results of computer go competitions:

This competition takes place every November, with a prize of about
US$6,000 for first place.  The top program gets to play a match
against people at a handicap, for prizes from about US$6,000 to US$1.6
Million.

I include all programs that have participated more than once, or that
finished in the top 4 places.  Programs are listed in order of long
term relative strength, with recent results weighted slightly higher.

87 - Ing, Taipei, Taiwan
88 - Ing, Taipei, Taiwan
89 - Ing, Taipei, Taiwan
89o - 1st Computer Olympiad, London, England
90 - Ing, Beijing, China
91 - Ing, Singapore
92 - Ing, Tokyo Japan
93 - Ing, Chendu, China
94 - Ing, Taipei, Taiwan
95F - 1st FOST Cup, Tokyo, Japan
95 - Ing, Seoul, Korea

                                   87 88 89o 89 90 91 92 93 94 95F 95  rating
ZhiXing Chen      Handtalk                          6  2  1  3  1   1   2.3
Ken Chen          Go Intellect         5  4   3  2  2  1  3  1  4   3   2.8
Michael Reiss     Go4++            10                           2   2   3.4
David Fotland     Many Faces of Go  4  8      7    10  6  4  2  3   4   4.2
Janusz Kraszek    Star Of Poland    9  4  3   6  3  5  5  2  4          4.5
Mark Boon         Goliath           7  3  2   1  1  1  3                4.8
Kao Kuo Yuan      Stone                7  5  10     7     6  5      5   5.7
Dong-Yue Liu      Dragon            2  2  8  12  4  3                   6.1
Japanese team     GOG                                  4                6.3
Alfred Knoepfle   Modgo                   6         8     5  6          6.7
Anders Kierulf/   Explorer                1   4  7 13     8         6   6.8
Martin Mueller
Toshikazu Sato    TY '96                                     9  5       7.0
Noriaki Sanechica Igo                 10      5  6  4                   7.1
Chung Ho Lee      Sason                             9    10  7      7   7.8
Bruce Wilcox      Nemesis           5 11      2  5 11  7                9.0
T. Yoshikawa      Dai Honinbo                    9 14  8 13    11      11.1
K. Hayashi        Codan                1
Loh-Tsi Wang      Friday            1
Kaihu Chen        Peanut            3
Allan Scarf       Microgo 2         6 13  7

Rating is a weighted average of results, with each year weighted
2/3 of year after it.  For years where a program did not participate,
results are interpolated.  A program that has not participated recently
is penalized one rank per year from its most recent result.



If you are interested in computer go you may want to join the moderated
computer-go mailing list.  The computer-go mailing was established in
Feb 93 to discuss programming computers to play go.  The volume of
mail on this list is rather low, but sometimes goes up in bursts.  To
join the list, send a request to
    listproc@listproc.anu.edu.au
consisting of the line
   SUBSCRIBE COMPUTER-GO <first_name> <last_name>
To post to the list, send a message to 
   computer-go@listproc.anu.edu.au
Please do not post to the whole list your request to join or leave the
list.  An archive of the mailing list is on the archive site in the
files comp/compgo-mail-*.Z.  An automatically generated archive of all
recent messages sent to the list is available from 
¬ftp://ftp.comlab.ox.ac.uk/pub/Documents/computer-go/mail-archive.



16. What computer go tournaments exist?  What are the prizes? 

There is a North American Championship every year at the Go Congress
the first week of August.  Plaques and the title of North American
Computer Go Champion are the prizes.  There is a similar competition
at the European Go Congress.  The Usenix conference used have a
computer go competition every year, and may still - no prizes.

The World Computer Go Congress, sponsored by Ing Chang Chi and several
other companies including Hangul and Computer Company, has been an
annual event since 1987.  They have a preliminary competition every
August (formerly held in Europe, USA, and Japan, but now held in
Taipei with programs that are mailed in by their authors).  If you do
well in the preliminary (defined as beating two of 3 benchmark
programs -- in 1994 the benchmarks were Handtalk, Stone and Modgo) you
will be reimbursed for 1/2 of your air fare to the Congress.  If you
beat last year's champ you travel for free.  The congress is held in
November in various places.  It has been in Beijing (1990), Singapore
(1991), Tokyo (1992), Chengdu in the Chinese province of Szechuan
(1993), Taipai (1994), and in Seoul (1995).

First prize for the best computer program is NT$200,000 (about
US$8,000).  Second is about $1,000 and 3rd is about $500.  The winning
computer program plays a 3 game series against three local kids and
gets another $6000 if it wins.  This prize went unclaimed for five
years, but in 1991 Goliath beat all three human challengers, so the
handicap has been decreased to 14 moves.  The top prize for winning a
7 game series against a professional (of unspecified rank) is about
$1.6 Million.  The contest only runs through the year 2000 so the top
prizes will go unclaimed.

The Foundation for the Fusion of Science and Technology (FOST) is a
non-profit organization, founded in June, 1994, to sponsor research on
gaming and simulation as well as projects that bring together basic
science and technology.  The FOST competition is held every September
in Japan with a prize of 2,000,000 Yen (about US$20,000) for first
place.



17. What are the dimensions of a go board?  How do I make my own board?

The official size according to Nihon Ki-in is 45.45 x 42.42 (cm).
Measurements of an Ishi board indicate that the lines are 0.8 mm
thick and the hoshi points are 3 mm in diameter.

Stones are supposed to be 20-21 mm in diameter.  

Net discussions about making your own board are on the archive site 
in info/board.Z.  



