It does not matter to me who wins. Right now, it seems Green and Gold are the next ones to die. I would like to see if there is a way for one of us to reach a higher position, even if it means sacrificing a group.
The only color we have any hope to defeat before ourselves is Orange, but that is proving difficult given the current state of the game. I am not seeing anything so I was hoping someone with more wisdom could offer some insight.
This leads me to wonder if, in a future game, rules along these lines would be interesting:
A player is only eliminated once they have zero stones on the board
Groups die when they run out of liberties
The game ends when all players pass or one player eliminates all others
Final score is determined by territory
That seems like it might be more in-line with “normal” go rules. We would need some kind of ko rule.
Well, if you don’t mind Blue winning instead of Red, then I think my proposal is the best way for us to ensure that Orange is the next to be eliminated.
I’m promising to help Blue win, if Blue does not counter our plan to eliminate Orange. Anyways, I think it is in Blue’s (diplomatically unstated) interest to see Orange eliminated next, since otherwise Orange might eventually sacrifice their top-right group for the sake of Red.
If you wish to just continue filling territory, then we might instead just reach this state:
If you play anywhere other than B1, I will guarantee your win (by eventually suiciding my left-side group).
If you play at B1, I will do my best to help Red win, and your lone stone there will be in peril of Orange possibly capturing you, which might even drop you down to fourth place.
Dear Orange (@Sokoslav),
surviving with five separate groups against multiple other players is a tall task, yet you drive a hard bargain and fight valiantly. You can be proud.
Blue is selfish in nature, and not willing to play a vulnerable stone at B1. Furthermore Greens (@yebellz) expressed preferences reassure us in this decision.
If you capture the orange stones around H5, you can gain a lot of territory, and take away potential territory from Blue. In fact so much territory that you could outlast everybody … if it weren’t for your lonely A1 stone.
There is no doubt in my mind that Yellow can still influence the ranking in this game. But I’m having difficulty envisioning a scenario that doesn’t put Yellow in fourth place. Unless there is a way to open enough space for Green (@yebellz) to support the A1 stone long enough, or Green is willing to sacrifice themselves to allow Yellow rank higher.
So my question is: Yellow, what do you want to achieve going forward?
Well, I think that suiciding your large group would probably favor Red, while connecting your H4 stone back to the rest would favor Blue. I imagine that Blue would greatly favor the second option.
I’ve promised to help Blue win (in exchange for not capturing you last turn), so I will follow through on that.
As for what you do, it depends on what you prefer in terms of how Red and Blue finish. I guess you expressed earlier that you don’t have much preference, but Blue did help us both last turn by not preventing our capture of Orange, and allowing you to finish ahead of Orange.
Next, Blue should play G4 to open some space for Green and Blue. Blue should still win in the end (And Green has promised to support that), but at least it will allow some hopefully interesting moves in the meantime.
Making the game interesting is certainly an incentive that I appreciate.
However I think it is also fine if not all parts of the game are interesting / exciting. In a long drawn-out game like this, it seems inevitable that there are some moves filling in territory or the likes. This game has already been very exciting and intriguing
