Given the other usage of wedge Wedge at Sensei's Library where it seems to make sense of the English term in the verb sense of squeezing in between stones, it doesn’t make sense to call the splitting move a wedge. It’s hardly a narrow space by comparison since it’s about half the board or so in width.
An interesting idea from a decade or so ago, with a clever disproof.
The suggestion is that Black can always win a game of 25-stone free placement handicap Go by making this pass-alive shape and then playing mirror Go – whatever move White plays in one half of the board, Black can play its equivalent in the other.
Whilst still a very good practical strategy, the technical validity of the proof was refuted by showing that White can play an under-the-stones tesuji to introduce positional asymmetry.
A parity seki is a special kind of seki where one of the players can remove any of the shared liberties in sente so that the other player must reply by removing another.
I couldn’t find any results for “parity seki” in the forum search, so it’s apparently never been discussed.
A classic article. Your Shusaku number is how many games you are away from Shusaku.
I used to compute my Shusaku number through xhu, but I’ve forgotten what xhu’s number was. In any case, I’ve played many more strong players since I had that first go, so I wouldn’t be surprised if my path has shrunk a step.
If I can count my 13x13 against Yoonyoung then I’m sure it’s been reduced, but small-board games feel like cheating… I’ve played many games against GoDave, though, who has in turn played several 19x19 handicap games against Yoonyoung; so I have a maximum 19x19 Shusaku path that is Yoonyoung + 2.
A good way for to find at least a Shusaku path for yourself is to first check Professional accounts and games on OGS and see whether you’ve played against any of the accounts on the list, especially spicydragon. Then poke around Waltheri using their real name.
According to this article, btw, Michael Redmond has a Shusaku number of four, with the path
Shusaku (0) → Shuho (1) → Kita Fumiko (2) → Shiratori Sumiko (3) → Michael Redmond (4)
Since I’ve played GoDave, who’s played against Redmond, that makes my maximum number six.
As a side note, though, it’s my opinion that a “pure” Shusaku path has its links in consecutive order. That seems to be the case for the Redmond path, but not for all paths.
I’m sure this book as been discussed here before, perhaps in the Go books thread.
But here it is anyway: Arthur Smith’s 1908 book The Game of Go – The National Game of Japan, apparently written with some reference to Korschelt’s 1880 Das Japanisch-Chinesische Spiel ‘Go’ (The Sino-Japanese Game ‘Go’, published in English as The Theory & Practice of Go), and incorporating comments by Shuei (who died shortly before publication, in 1907).
This is a small article, so I’ll quote it in full:
Round Table is a teaching strategy, employed by Robert Rehm at Zomergo camps - Summer Schools. Players of all (kyu)-strengths gather around a round table. Everyone gets a turn to propose the next move first. Next all others express their ideas and propose alternatives. After some discussion the teacher choses an interesting move.
His task in deciding the next move is delicate. It is a compromise of keeping the game balanced, simple enough for weak players and easy enough to explain why this particular move was chosen. The strategy works best with groups of 7 to maximum 11 players. Odd numbers help students to look at the position with a fresh mind, every time it’s their turn, as they are black one time and white in next.
The Chinese term 西洋滚包 or 西洋滚打, which literally translates to “Western squeeze”, refers to the mistake of squeezing the opponent into a dumpling shape but leaving oneself full of weaknesses afterwards. It can be seen as an instance of the atari-atari mistake. This term was invented by the Japanese and was used derogatorily when the level of Go in the Western countries was very low. These days, the term 西洋滚包 or 西洋滚打 is very rarely used, but it is occasionally found in literature ten or more years ago. [article written in 2008]
Pechin Hamahiga played Dosaku [twice, on four stones, with one win and one loss] in 1682.
Yara Satonushi[or Satonoshi] played Dochi [twice, at three stones, losing both games] in 1710; then Aihara Kaseki[the teacher of Honinbos Chihaku, Shuhaku and Hakugen (6th, 7th and 8th)].
There was a previous visitor from the Ryukyu islands in Japan in 1634, Tsuhako Genju, who played San’etsu.