Go Online

Let Me Count The Ways, Part II
March 24, 2003
By Roy Laird

The Japanese and Chinese systems were the prevalent conventions for playing Go throughout the world until the 1970's. Ing Chang-ki, a prominent industrialist and philanthropist based in Taipei, developed a new set of rules based on the "Stones + Spaces = Territory" principle. Using special equipment that counts to ensure that each player has exactly 180 stones, Mr. Ing developed an elegant system that in which both players fill their territory, leaving at least one space vacant inside the winner's area. The Ing rules also introduced the "super ko" principle, replacing special rules need to resolve double-, triple- and other complex ko situations with a simple dictum that no position can be repeated on the board. These rules, also translated by Davies, are available at http://www.usgo.org/resources/SST.asp. Korean pro Janice Kim comments further on Mr. Ing's "SST rules" at http://www.usgo.org/resources/KSS.asp

In the West, problems would occasionally arise at small events, where no one might be available who understood the finer points of any of the above rule sets. In 1991, the AGA adopted a rule set intended to bring Japanese and Chinese conventions together in one comprehensive protocol, suitable for use in all circumstances, including events where no one may be available. A concise version of this rules can be seen at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/AGA.concise.html. For a more detailed version, go to http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/AGA.html. Further commentary on the AGA rules can be found at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/AGA.commentary.html.

Today, players all over the world use Japanese, Chinese Ing SST and AGA rules to reach a mutually agreeable result. In addition to the these four rule sets, several other variants exist. Rules vary in their use of "territory" or "area" counting, free or specified placement of handicap stones, and in the amount of komi (Black's debt to White for the advantage of the first move) which ranges from 5.5 points to 8 points, and in other particulars. The Korea Baduk Association's official rules are posted at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~barryp/rules.htm. Commentary on the Korean rules appears by clicking "Korean Rules" on the menu at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~barryp/kiwigo.htm. (Careful,. you may wind up clicking a few other intriguing titles like "Early Go in Itago" and "Go With the Flow.") Some say that The New Zealand Rules at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~barryp/rules.htm do not really constitute a complete rule set because they specify no particular method of counting, but they are listed in the "Rules" section of The Go Player's Almanac. John Tromp and Bill Taylor have put forth what they call "Logical Rules of Go" at http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/rules.html. The rules used on the Internet is described at http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/igsrules.html. To see the simplest rule set, go to http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/simplest.html.

If you looked at more than a few of the above page, by now your head is swimming. Two sites offer simple side-by-side comparison of the various rule sets -- the British Go Association's chart at http://www.britgo.org/rules/compare.html, Jasiek's comparison at http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/bascomp.html, and David Fotland's comparison at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/fotland.htm.

Now that you understand the various conventions in use around the world and the differences between them, you may have formed some opinions as to the relative merits of each system. Not surprisingly, others are also intrigued by these question. You can join a listserv the AGA maintains on the subject at by sending a message to webmaster@usgo.org with "subscribe go-rules" in the subject line. But first, you'll want to get familiar with some of the points that have already been raised as time goes by and lines of thought that have evolved from those points. Check out Tromp's pages at http://www.cwi.nl/~tromp/go.html, in Robert Jasiek's collection of pages at http://home.snafu.de/jasiek/rules.html and at Fred Hansen's pages, located at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/.

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