Hello,
I am new so im a bit confused about this.
Do diagonal connections count?
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Hi, welcome in the forum!
No. A stone is connected only to another when they are touching each other.
Now two stones put in diagonal are most of the time implicitly connected because if the opponent try to cut them, he can’t.
Here we have 4 groups of stones not connected.
Now we say that 2 stones in diagonal are “almost” connected because if white plays 1 black answers at 2 (or reverse)
Here the implicit connection is not working, white can disconnect the 3 black stones in two groups
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Yeah, when applying the rules, only orthogonal connections count, as explicated above, but when we say stones or strings or groups are connected casually, we often mean “should be able to be solidly connected with best play locally”
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I think that in the world of go, a diagonal connection can be considered a contradiction in terms.
bamboo is similar
if white tries to cut at 1, black connects at 2
if white tries to cut at 2, black connects at 1
if white tries to cut at 1, black connects at 2
if white tries to cut at 2, black connects at 1
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When speaking strictly, yes, in most situations, it’s perfectly cogent