why is the analyze mode blocked in some games?

It’s usually blocked in live automatch games because it’s kind of an additional aid to players.

In correspondence I don’t think it’s usually blocked unless the player creating the custom game say chooses to turn it off.

I think, again, some players would think that it’s an additional aid and they don’t like it, but I think it’s standard enough to expect that in correspondence players might play out variations before choosing a move, since they have a lot of time. If not on the website then when recreating the game on another board, physical or digital.

Plus even if the creator chooses to disable analysis, it’s not clear that they themselves won’t recreate the position elsewhere at some point during the game.

I guess it does block downloading the game while it’s ongoing in some extent.

People from other Go servers ask “Why does ‘Analyze mode’ even exist at all (in live games), isn’t it cheating?”.

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I’ve seen some streamers like dwyrin or Yoonyoung use it to explain their ideas to the audience.

E.g.

Probably beyond a certain level, and against certain levels of lower rated opponents, it’s not making too much of a difference to the players reading skill, and they’re using it to show visually what they’re thinking.

I won’t say strictly teaching games, since sometimes it’s just random games with a low rated account against lower rated players in the case of some streamers say.

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If anyone thinks it is cheating, rationally they must think the same about analyzing on a physical board while playing – which is clearly not enforceable unless you require the device camera to be enabled :slight_smile:

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Ian

Yes and yes. Just like using KataGo to play for you is cheating but you can’t stop it.

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I thought some players prefer to play out the game on a physical board even when playing online. I did that when I first started playing online too.

I’m not sure whether in tournaments there are explicit rules stating that you can’t play out the game in another board? Assuming that there is another board for you to use, of course. I think in the World Chess Championship, there is a board in their resting room which they can use?

I think almost no one actually able to use analysis efficiently in live game. If ladder not happens result of game most likely would be same with analyze and without analyze.

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That’s an opinion unless you link some study

Seeing as the use of analyze board let me, an EGF 3 dan at the time, beat an EGF 7d / Korean 3p in Alexander Dinerstein at a correspondence game, it does clearly make a difference. Though would need to be a leisurely rather than blitz live game.