I just created an account and started playing bots. It was my impression that there was a “stone removal phase” at the end of the game where the players agree on dead stones. But this never happens. As soon as the game ends there is a flicker on the screen of what looks like stone removal agreement, then immediately the game is declared ended and scored. I am never given an opportunity to review it. Is this a site bug? Or a browser issue (I am using Chromium)? Or is it something that happens when playing bots?
For example, in the game https://online-go.com/game/10032299 it marked my entire east group as dead. This did not change the win outcome, but could have and is clearly wrong.
Hello and welcome
yes, normally there is a stone removal phase and you would be completely right.
Bots have kind of a special case in this regard, because some of them are actually ranked and if humans had the last word about alive groups, they would misuse them to falsely rank up their accounts etc. etc.
Unfortunately, as you have encountered, bots sometimes cheat as well It is kind of a compromise, but seems to be the better solution at the moment. Once you start playing humans, you will once again see the stone removal and will decide what is alive.
I haven’t played bots, but if you don’t like one of their assumptions, is there any way to go back and play out a position you believe was incorrectly assigned?
Not at the moment I am afraid. At least as far as I know. (I myself play almost exclusively humans ) Maybe some bots have different behaviour, but those I played just auto score after two consecutive passes.
However, it seems like a logical solution for sure, and I don’t see anything similar on github. You could start a thread there. (link for convinience: https://github.com/online-go/online-go.com/issues) My personal feeling is that devs are more concerned with the human play right now, so not sure if it gets implemented anytime soon.
I think I can explain why the bot incorrectly scored it that way. I have seen this before, and someone here commented about it almost a year ago. The bot sees the cut points at S9, S10, S3, and T5 as representing aji in the position. Of course this is, practically speaking, illusory, as any human better than 30k would instantly refute an attempt to cut. In particular, the bot sees the two QR groups of four to the left of the cuts as not secure (why it doesn’t treat the other group of four like that I don’t know), as well as the T6-12 stones. As someone once advised, this problem can be avoided by filling your cut points. This does not cost anything (except time) under the Chinese rules used to score bot games, because for every territory point you lose, you gain a point for the stone—thus it balances.
It is kind of a compromise, but seems to be the better solution at the moment. Once you start playing humans, you will once again see the stone removal and will decide what is alive.