Haengma and Sunjang Baduk

I read the rules of Sunjang Baduk (the traditional form of Korean Go in use until the mid-20th century) and suddenly the Korean concept of Haengma seems very self-evident in relation to the rules of Sunjang Baduk since both players begin with 8 predetermined bases along the fourth line so apart from playing Tengen as the first free move every move made will be in a clear relationship (haengma) to stones that are already present on the board.


Starting positions of Sunjang Baduk

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I <3 sunjang baduk!

Sent you a challenge for a game^^

Sadly there isnt a sunjang baduk rule/scoring implementation on ogs, but with chinese rules and no komi it should result the same score ^^

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Here’s the deciding game IIRC I lost of a Sunjang baduk tournament on OGS 13 years ago with some comments. Interesting to see the AI review does agree with my analysis I lost it around move 81.

Another: Sunjang Baduk Tournament (Group A)

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It will be interesting to try. :smiley:

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Since Sunjang Baduk is so weird for me I have even sat up our game on my small study board.

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From trying Sunjang Baduk now, I would say that it is much more pedagogical for a beginner or low-ranking player since the concept of haengma becomes so clear. I would think that it would actually be more pedagogical for a beginner to start with Sunjang Baduk, then move on to the old Chinese rules (i.e., diagonal bases at the 4-4 and a group tax of one stone for every group you have more than your opponent), and last play according to the Japanese rules, since you would have learnt basic concepts and not do so many weird and random moves as beginners do when they play with Japanese rules or modern Chinese rules.

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http://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/tz/view.do?levelId=tz_b38

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