What are the rules?

[Glyconis]

Further discussion in these threads:

Ko at the end of the game: Please help [does pass remove ko-rules on OGS?]

Well it is kind of a special case. Problem is that it should not even have come to this. Both players should not pass before the situation was resolved. Common sense dictates not to end a game when there is a life or death ko still unresolved… Normally you would even fill dames before passing (esp. in Chinese rules) Problem is white cannot fill the ko to end it, for he would die immediately. Yes, technically black should have probably played elswere instead of passing (just to make it simpler, …

Ko ban goes away if you can't agree on which stones are dead?

Under area-scored rule systems and AGA-like systems filling the ko doesn’t cost you anything, so you may as well. If one of those systems has a local ko rule instead of the AGA’s super-ko rule as cited above, then filling the ko becomes mandatory. Japanese rules technically don’t allow play to continue to resolve disputes, since under pure territory scoring forcing a capture can change the score. Hence complicated rules like “bent 4 in the corner is dead.”