This makes me think about playing Go on an etch-a-sketch!
Fischer timing that doesnât add increment when taking back a ko.
Games with one or more long ko battles can last for many more moves than average, because of all the ko threats and because of taking back and forth the ko, which doesnât actually add stones to the board.
But taking back the ko is usually not a move that requires thinking very hard. If I played a ko threat and my opponent answered it, then of course Iâm going to take back the ko. This is a perfect time to use the autoplay, and I shouldnât get any time increment for taking back.
Well, what I really mean is that my opponent who only plays when their time has almost ran out shouldnât get an increment for taking back. No need to delay the game by a whole month just because they captured the same stone thirty times.
And why stop there? They should get a time decrement if they take the ko back without using the autoplay!
6 Likes
Inspired from a recent stream:
More descriptive game results similar to W+Timeout, B+resign:
- W + blunder, W+ misread
- B + tesuji or more specific B+clamp
- B + almost killed everything
Some custom messages maybe 
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B+ âragequit after a blunder, even though they were still aheadâ
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B+ âdo you even read broâ
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W+misclick
B+self-atari
W+ko threat wasnât really a threat
B+didnât read ruleset of the game
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What about
W + â»ââ» ïž”ăœ(`ĐÂŽ)ïŸïž” â»ââ»
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7x7 should be considered a standard small board size instead of 19x19
I seriously think that standard go board sizes should always be a multiple of 6, then plus 1.
So 7x7, 13x13, 19x19, 25x25, 31x31, 37x37. 9x9 completely throws of one of the mathematical balances we got from switching to 19x19, and therefore, 9x9 is just a bad board size. Please use 7x7 instead. Or 1x1 if you have to.
essentially the distance between star points should always be a multiple of three, since itâs the basis of the two-space extension, a sense youâd want beginners to have thatâs lost on 9x9. For that reason Iâll teach beginners with 7x7 and 13x13.
3 Likes
That makes it sound like two-space extensions are much more âfundamentalâ to go than any other shape. Colour me extremely skeptical. But then again, you would probably shudder in horror knowing that Iâve played 8 x 8, 11 x 11, 14 x 14 etc⊠and of course always with integer komi to enable draws. ~
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Player A resigns, player B has a ânuh-uhhâ button which would swap colors, resume the game and give player B a chance to also win a second time from the allegedly lost position. 4x win reward.
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I mean standard sizes should follow some type of reasonable pattern. And in terms of shape, well Iâm inclined to believe the two-space extension is important since they switched from 17x17 to 19x19 for a reason.
You also get to check if any Go equipment theyâre selling is legitimate.
What makes you believe that the switch from 17 x 17 to 19 x 19 was related to two-space extensions?
The âstandardâ sizes do follow a pattern, whether itâs âreasonableâ or not: 13 x 13 has roughly half the amount of intersections of 19 x 19, whereas 9 x 9 has roughly a quarter of 19 x 19 (10 x 9 would be even closer), or roughly half as many as 13 x 13. In comparison, 7 x 7 only has about one seventh of the intersections of 19 x 19 and roughly one third of the intersections of 13 x 13.
Another factor to consider is that there are now KataGo opening books for 7 x 7 and 8 x 8. Lightvector is currently working on a 9 x 9 opening book⊠So if anything, maybe we should switch to 10 x 10. 
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I mean that that length pattern would. 13x13 is the only other fully justifiable âstandardâ si
Okay then, I guess itâs a sign that a compromise is the correct answer.
Thereâs no reason to have either 9x9 or 7x7 as standard but not the other, I guess.
7x7 is waaaay better for teaching absolute beginners than 9x9, when real complications start to occur making it more suitable for seasoned players. Therefore OGS should automatically pair new 25kyu accounts with each other on 7x7 boards. Itâs far more likely to result in beginners sticking to the game.
1 Like
Well, that would be a huge discovery in go teaching history.
I must give it a try, but I really donât get why should it be so much better.
2 Likes
I use 7x7 when teaching new players too. Usually in their first 1 or 2 days.
The good thing I see is a game can be very quick: 2 newbies with absolutely no knowledge of the game can independently complete 1 game within ~15min, and so they can finish 2 or 3 games just in their first day of Go.
Some of them ended up really liking 7x7 and continued to return to it quite sometime after that. The 15 min timespan allow them to fit in 1 game in a rest break, while still allow decent amount of thinking time for each move.
I feel 7x7 is the smallest âfunctionalâ go board.
5x5 is too small: the 3-3 point - the âlivable cornerâ position - is also the tengen, so whoever play there has huge advantage.
Not to say 9x9 is bad, I just feel 7x7 more welcomed by absolute beginner.
6 Likes
On 5x5, the 3-3 point still loses to Black opening adjacent to there:
One can do â â â Blackâs first move canât be tengen â , â â â in which case
White still receives komi, and the komi is â â â 2.5 or 3.5 â .
2 Likes
Have a board with 5x5 on one side to show how the mechanics of the game works, then on the other side have 7x7 for them to play their first game.
Once theyâve played 49 games on 7x7 give them a board with 13x13 on one side and 9x9 on the other and tell them to play both equally, because only playing on 9x9 might skew their play on 19x19 towards local thinking and they wonât be used to thinking in the rhythm of the 2-space jump.
OGS could automatically implement it for people who say they are beginners when signing up.
Could you elaborate on your thoughts about what makes two-space jumps fundamental?
1 Like