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The Full Board
June 28, 2004
By William Cobb
If a game starts with the board
empty, does that mean the board is full when the
game is over? And if so, with what?
When a thing is empty, there is something missing
that it can be filled with. If a glass is empty,
for example, you can pour in a liquid until it is
full. If a room is empty, it can be filled by
moving in people or furniture. But what is missing
from the board at the start of a go game?
You might think that what is missing at the start
of a game is stones, and on one level that is true.
However, we don't fill up the board with stones, so
that must not be it. (If you're counting Ing-style,
you do fill the board with stones, but that's after
the game has been finished; it's not part of the
game.) So, filling the go board is about something
other than simply placing stones on the board.
What is missing at the start of a game is not
stones. The board is empty when neither player
controls any of the intersections. Eliminating that
condition is what the game is about, and placing
stones on the board is simply the means of
accomplishing that end.
The process of the game is a negotiation to
determine who will control which intersections.
When every intersection is definitely controlled,
that's when the board is full and the game is over,
regardless of how many stones are on it. Go is not
a game of stones, it's a game of control.
The Empty Board #39; Past columns are archived at
http://www.slateandshell.com/billcobb.asp
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