Fractional Go Game 5

[Feijoa]

It seems that once Green dies, there’s going to be an interesting battle for White to connect. If Red-White and Blue-White manage to connect and make 4 eyes, we’ll have to kill Red to make progress.

[benjito]

I’m not sure it’s particularly helpful, but there’s also an opportunity to kill white in the top right

[martin3141]

Round 23

[martin3141]

Round 24

Game link

@Feijoa @Tschej and @PRHG collide at C2.

@benjito and @martin3141 collide at D2.

[benjito]

I’m glad i played where I did, but darn it I was hoping to get a stone in where Sadaharu did as well

[martin3141]

Reminder @Tschej

[Tschej]

Ah, sorry. Thanks

[benjito]

Is there a Ko rule in this variant? Can games end by stalemate?

[Feijoa]

I think these are the latest complete rules. Please let me know if there’s a more up-to-date version somewhere! If the board position repeats, the game ends immediately. The idea is probably that repetition indicates that there are no more useful moves left.

@martin3141

Game Setup
We play on a 19x19 board, where all players place stones of two colours. Each round players submit their move fomulated in an unambiguous way (i.e. “D4”) via private message to the arbiter (martin3141). Rounds last 48 hours, and after the deadline the arbiter places all stones simultaneously and presents the new board position in the public thread. Players will be allowed to discuss the position and their strategy only in the public thread.

Fractional Capture Rule and Collision
Chains of a colour are determined in the same way as in “normal” go, however stones can be part of multiple chains (one for each of the stones colours).
At the end of a round, if two or more players submitted the same move, a stone is placed of all of these players colours combined.
After the arbiter placed all stones, all chains that do not contain a recently placed stone and have no liberties are removed simultaneously. Then all chains that contain a recently placed stone and have no liberties are removed simultaneously. Note that the first step may free up liberties. Also “suicide moves” are allowed.

Teams and Objectives
Players will be grouped into two teams of equal size, each team being associated with a team colour. Each player places stones of their team colour, the second colour being shared by a player on the opposing team.
The game ends when one team resigns with unanimous agreement or when the board position repeats itself (for example due to all players passing). In the latter case we proceed to counting (unless all players agree to keep playing).
Teams receive points for all stones of their team colour, as well as their territories. A maximal connected set of empty intersections is called a territory of a colour if all adjacent stones feature this colour. All intersections in a territory count as one point.
If both teams have the same number of points, the game ends in a tie. Otherwise the team with more points wins.
In the event that a player prematurely drops out and no substitute player can be found, a teammate may take over for this player, however they must submit the move in the public thread for everybody to see, at least 24h before the deadline, and they cannot change the submission afterwards. This is to counteract the information advantage they would otherwise have.

[martin3141]

Yes though I remember us discussing whether one repetition is enough or not.

[martin3141]

Round 25

@Feijoa @martin3141 and @Sadaharu collide at D3.

Game link

[benjito]

Good to know! Thanks for the link

[Feijoa]

@martin3141

I remember us discussing whether one repetition is enough or not.

That rule does seem overly strict/arbitrary to me. For example I can imagine a group being killable in a way that the opponents have a chance to block. Maybe 1/2 the time the stones cancel out in suicide, and we have to try a few times with different permutations to break the stalemate.

[Jon_Ko]

I think I suggested, that one team can decide to end the game, if a board position repeats three (or more) times.

[hoctaph]

I believe the ​ Detailed Rules ​ at Simultaneous Fractional Go Game 2
are more recent: ​ ​ ​ They indeed were the result of Jon_Ko’s suggestion.

[Feijoa]

Aha, we’ve been over this before! This does sound better:

@martin3141

Game Over
The game ends either by agreement (e.g. all players of one team resign, or all players agree to tie), or when a fixed board position occurs for the third time. In this case the game proceeds to counting, unless all players agree to continue.

[martin3141]

Round 26

The green chain in the lower-left was captured.

Myself played i1, @Tschej must have played at B1 (otherwise A1 would be captured as an old chain, and B1 would have survived).

I don’t know where @PRHG @Sadaharu and @benjito played (among B1, E4 and i1)

Game link

[benjito]

Do we consider “who played where” hidden info?

It’s usually easy to infer, but wondering if govariants should surface that up somehow (maybe a semi-transparent ghost stone) in the case of throw-ins

[martin3141]

In past games, we played it such that the moves of the last round were clearly revealed. For example in the first couple of games, where I had the arbiter role, I presented two board updates; One after stone placement, one after captures.

[martin3141]

Though now that I think about it again, even that might not be enough to reconstruct all moves, when there’s multiple collisions.