Commentary on Korean Times Rules Article

On 19 Jun 2006 10:22:56 -0700, "Peter" <pnassar@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
For an excellent introduction, and very readable account, of the
differences in rules between Japanese & Chinese Go, might I suggest
this link to the Korea Times Go Column (written in English) - this is
article #42, but I would recommend every article in this series for
beginners just learning how to play:
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/culture/200604/kt2006042320102565560.htm

The article is above average in quality (compared to what else one
finds about rules in the internet) but not excellent. The diagrams are
clear.

The article says: "all the rules are basically the same". This is
wrong. The rules are mostly different and typically even very
different. One might say that the functions of many parts of the rules
serve similar purposes. However, the article is rather correct with
"the scores calculated by the different rule sets are usually the
same", provided we translate Chinese half counts into full counts, use
proper komi, and tolerate a 1 point difference with the same winner.

"The only significantly different part is the way of counting
territory when the game ends." There is scope for opinion what would
suffice to be "significantly different", but it is somewhat misleading
to ignore differences about ko rules and - more importantly - game end
phases.

Usage of "counting" leaves it unclear whether scoring definition or
counting mechanics or both are meant.

"The Japanese counting rule takes into account the number of empty
intersections surrounded by the same colored stones and the number of
captured or removed stones; in contrast, the Chinese rule counts the
former plus the number of living stones remaining on the board."
Although this is not false, it is very incomplete and gives a very
wrong impression. The Japanese "counting rule" does not only take into
the mentioned sum but relies on a classification into dead versus
alive strings, into seki versus non-seki strings, into territory
versus non-territory intersections. Hiding all this gives an
impression that both rule systems would equally just form a scoring
sum. In reality, the Japanese rules require much more. Speaking only
of "captured or removed" explains nothing, not to mention what "dead"
might be. "dead" is introduced in commentary on the given diagrams.
However, examples are not a general description of Japanese style
rules.

The article then describes Chinese Half Counting to conclude "The
Chinese counting method may look very complicated". Indeed, presenting
the mechanical counting method for Chinese rules while not going into
equal detail for Japanese Fill-in Counting lets Chinese rules look
somewhat more complicated. A nice trick to advertise for Japanese
style rules... If the article were fair and objective, then it would
go into the details of what is "alive", "dead", and "territory" under
Japanese rules. Of course, then the author could not sell the same
conclusion any longer but would have to conclude that Japanese rules
are very, very much more complicated than Chinese rules.

The article becomes fairer again when it says: "The Chinese counting
method [...] gives clearer explanations than the Japanese counting
method to certain situations, the ``bent four in the corner,?? [...]".
True. But it is a tiny part of the truth. The article should explain
that and why Chinese rules always give clearer explanations than the
Japanese rules, even in "simple" positions to be scored.

Conluding, the article does give an introduction but fails to explain
the core of the Japanese rules and it is not objective.

--
robert jasiek
.

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