PRHG
March 20, 2026, 3:17am
4
Because the score estimator button has confused you many times in the past. You have been under the impression that it shows you things that it does not.
You have come to the forum seeking sage advice from people who play the game, and we are all begging you not to look at the score estimator at all. Forget it exists.
This is one of the most important pieces of advice we have to give you, which is why it has been given repeatedly:
It does not instruct this. It would be better for your development as a go player if you never looked at the score estimator again.
It will no doubt be fun to do this for a bit - it’s great to have a plan to act on, with results you know you can measure.
That said, this will be much like trying to learn to drive by watching the GPS map screen in your car instead of looking out the window ahead.
The score-estimator is certainly not telling you where to place your stones, any more than the little arrow in the GPS map in your car is telling you which way to turn right now.
So it seems very likely that you will absorb as much…
To be frank, I wouldnt ever trust the OGS score estimator. It is VERY inaccurate and often missleading.
Actually, you certainly can have a different outcome each time you press the button.
This is because the estimator has to guess what will happen.
Especially if you are asking it at a time when it is totally uncertain - when the borders are nowhere near clear.
The less certain the outcome, the more different the answer will be each time you press the button.
The analysis tool for score estimation should be used by pressing the button and looking at what it is scoring, then deciding how much …
I would recommend not using the score estimate until you learn how to estimate scores on your own.
@NEWOLDGUY the estimator is not really precise, sometime trapped stones look alive and it depends on who has the next move. the scoring is only really accurate when your review the game after its finished. Its a tool that can help you but you can’t rely on it 100%.
Still, I would discourage using AI or score estimator if you don’t understand why what it’s showing is true. So basically if you’re like: I know this is white’s territory and this is black’s, but it would take me 10 minutes to count the exact score — it’s fine. But if you have no idea where your territory is, relying on a tool is premature and will certainly hurt your developing this ability.
You commonly write comments like “61.5 % for you as of this last move” in your games.
That’s not what “estimate score” means. It’s a rough estimation total of point differential, not win percentage.
You’re relying on this as some kind of useful metric early in the game when the values are wildly wrong. It doesn’t come close to being correct until the game is mostly over anyway.
At your level you shouldn’t even be looking at this. You have a million more important things to worry about.
If I was the boss of OGS I would delete the in-game score estimator feature as it’s worse than useless and actively harmful for beginners such as yourself.
No, you weren’t. As has already been explained to you multiple times, when you click “Estimate Score” you are not given a percentage to win. At all. That is not what that number means.
Stop clicking that button. It’s not helping you.
Stop touching the “estimate score” button
Learn the rules to the game of Go
That’s pretty much it for now. If you actually did those, especially the second one, you’d improve and have more fun.
You’ve logged over 1100 ranked games on this site without knowing the most basic rules of the game.
It is difficult for us to find a way to explain, in a way that you can understand, why it is harmful. Because of this you will just have to take our word for it.
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