Thanks for sharing and I would also have thought about information about canceling this rule. It was also in tournaments in Europe and America, there was no such rule.
Going to the bathroom is also a law.
KBA to suspend Article 18 for International Competitions until further notice
[Notice on Go Game Rules]
Greetings.
First of all, we apologize for causing concern to the Go players regarding the 29th LG Cup Finals.
This matter was discussed at the first Steering Committee meeting, held on February 3rd. The Korea Baduk Association has determined that the relevant Article 18, including the regulation on captured stones, needs to be reviewed and revised. Until then, the association has decided to suspend its effect in international competitions hosted by Korea temporarily.
However, the current regulations will remain in effect for domestic competitions and league matches until the revised regulations are implemented. We ask that all Go players take note of this to avoid any confusion.
â» Suspension of Enforcement of Article for International Competitions: Instead of the following regulations, the referee will issue a caution (no penalty) for the following:
Article 18 (Warnings)
â The referee shall declare a warning and impose a 2-point penalty on a player who commits any of the following acts:
- Moves a stone more than one space while placing it during a move.
- Moves or picks up a stone that has not yet left the hand during a move.
- Presses the timer while the stone is still moving after placing it.
- Presses the timer and removes captured stones after making a move (if necessary, the referee will adjust the time).
- Touches the opponentâs captured stones or returns captured stones to the opponent.
- Does not keep captured stones in the bowl lid.
- Accumulates two cautions.
⥠The referee shall add 2 stones of the offending player to the opponentâs captured stones container and record it on the score sheet.
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So, the rule on loss due to accumulated warnings will be removed, but the infamous Article 18 is still suspendedânot removed!
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The longer I percolate on that, the more I think itâs actually a good rule. Obscuring open information such as the number of captured stones by not moving them to your lid without unreasonable delay is an angle and as such is appropriate to penalize
Many strong Korean pros think the rule is necessary, but because of people like Ke Jie now they are thinking that the penalty is too harsh. 
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Yeah, on the one hand I can see the penalty being too harsh, on the other hand I think itâs like hitting your clock with a hand other than you played your move with. Not a big deal casually so long as your opponent isnât abusing you letting them get away with it, but needs to be penalized in competition because to let it slide is unfair to the opponent
Yeah people say things outside the board shouldnât affect the game, but there are many things outside the board that will affect the game. Pressing the clock with the hand that you play is one thing, and most of the players have already grown accustomed to it. For this ânewâ rule, I guess it will take the Chinese players more time to get used to it.
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IRL games should be played with computers. That entirely solves this problem and gets rid of the tedium of capturing, scoring, logging moves, checking for superko-forbidden moves, keeping track of time and ambiguous stone placements. Physical Go boards are obsolete.
That defeats at least half the benefit of irl games. Youâd be losing some intangibles doing that. Allowing players to record games on a tablet might be a nice QoL thing as long as there were clear rules ensuring players werenât using it for anything besides that (enforcement wouldnât be too onerous; just require players to record their screen with a camera, and only bother checking the footage if an opponent accuses them of breaking the rules)
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That seems to be your way to say âI have no rational arguments against computer Go replacing physical boards, but I will not admit to this.â.
It can be tournment-provided computers or player-provided computers. It can be desktop, laptop, tablet laying on a table or a computer-phone. It can be one for each player or one shared between both. Any case is better than a physical board.
I still enjoy much more a woodboard and stones with my opponent at the other side of the board.
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Go board and stones are good decoration (subject to taste), but mediocre playing implements (compared to a computer).
There are already much more safe and comfortable for your eyes. Especially if you are considering how focused and how long you will be staring at them.
It doesnât need electricity, a good concern in itself as electricity bring a cost and constraints.
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Still I havenât talked about the main point that till we got these electronic devices, a go activity was like a communication between two people through a game on a board with stones. Present in a together space.
Iâm not favoring isolation and dĂ©localisation either although it has its own advantages (like to solve the scarcity of opponents) but disadvantages (cheating, loss of respect to your opponentâŠ)
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I find reading from computer screens more comfortable than paper. I use a dark theme. You may say that this is not the case for everybody. I counter: In todayâs world, it is a requirement to stare at screens anyway.
The electric consumption of a game of Go is negligible. If you use a physical board and stones, you will eventually have to clean it which requires consumables. Stones get lost and break, another consumable. Therefore, both physical boards and computers use consumables, but it is negligible in both cases.
In todayâs world, electric power is almost always available. Even if you go to a remote place, you will likely bring electronic devices with a built-in battery or a portable power supply.
Nobody is proposing to abolish IRL games.
Not an argument to bring one more
There will always be stones and boards. We donât have to start a discussion about if electricity is an infinite source of energy when we just donât need it.
Well till now playing together on a unique electronic board hasnât been so common practice?
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Playing on a computer doesnât solve every problem, remember Shin Jinseoâs mouse slip.
In addition, people prefer to play on a real board in general. This Lee Sedol playing against Alphago:
Even though he is playing against a computer, he is using a board and stones.
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- It would solve virtually every problem if they use the âconfirm moveâ approach.
- Alleged mouse slip. It may have been a lapsus.
Then their preferences are wrong.
Because the people involved are irrationally guided by tradition.