If you've played with shell stones before, you know that the stripes that make them so distinctive only appear on one side. I don't normally look at stones before I place them on the board while playing, and I think most people are the same. But do you feel the need to look at shell stones to make sure the strip is facing up when it is on the board? I catch myself doing that sometimes but, on principle, I don't like adding an extra step to the mechanics of placing a stone...granted, not a complicated affair.

Just curious about others' thoughts. Also, do you know if pros do this when playing with shell stones?

Heh, I try to check the correct side unnoticeably

_________________
“The only difference between me and a madman is that I’m not mad.” — Salvador Dali ★ Play a slooooow correspondence game with me on OGS?

I remember, that in the book Master of Go (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_of_Go), Shusai didn't care and Otake/Kitani did (he'd flip Shusai's stones when setting up the board or something). It's fiction though, I wasn't there to see for myself. At least Kawabata found the subject of caring about the proper side of the stones interesting enough to include it in the book.

_________________
If something sank it might be a treasure. And 2kyu advice is not necessarily Dan repertoire..

the book may be fiction, but its based on a real event and real people.

I seem to recall hearing about other pros who would flip the played stones. (and its why they make "snow" grade stones with virtually no lines on them). Personally, I like the lower grade stones with lines and like the lines to show. I'll sometimes flip them that direction. But I don't often play with shell stones. Usually I only have access to plain glass.

I also often play with single-convex yunzi stones and disregard which side is up -- my opponent will flip them every time (there's only one opponent I have who owns these type stones).

With both single-convex stones and shell stones, this seems like a good psychological strategy if you know it annoys your opponent .

Actually the yuki (snow) grade stones do have lines, more than the other grades on average, they are usually just closer together and narrower (finer) than on the other grades, and they are supposed to run fairly straight across the face of the stone. The jitsuyo (utility, standard) grade stones may fail to have lines, have coarse lines, curved lines, or widely spaced lines. As the name suggests the yuki grade stones are supposed to be perfectly white while the lower grades may have slightly off colors. As you might expect, the idea that one grade is superior to another is an aesthetic judgement and hence a matter of personal choice.

Yeah, but what gets to me, is when my opponent wants to play with the board sideways.

Does it matter which side you put on the board when you play?

one side is longer than the other, and the longer side usually runs with the grain of the wood.

Oh? I have never seen that kind of stones. My stones are Chinese style. So I do not have this problem. My friend has Japanese stones, two sides are the same. So I can not imagine how yours stone look like!!

sorry -- you're talking about stones again. I was still talking about boards. I missed the context switch.

sorry -- you're talking about stones again. I was still talking about boards. I missed the context switch.[/quote]

One side of the board than the other ? I always think the two sides are exactly with same length. I guess I am wrong.

Yes, you are.

_________________
Offending ad removed

So it is possible that you were cheated like I was. The details you could find by reading my post in my forum. I think the good board should be exactly 19 cm multiply 19 cm. So maybe they sold you a fake board?

It seems if one side is a little bit longer than the other, then I assume it is still fine. But of course, if one side is much longer than the other, then, I would say ,oh my god??????

Uhm, you mean Sensei has been cheated, too?

<edit>

OK OK, I admit that was overbored overboard.

</edit>

_________________
“The only difference between me and a madman is that I’m not mad.” — Salvador Dali ★ Play a slooooow correspondence game with me on OGS?

I believe that traditionally, Chinese boards are perfectly square, whereas Japanese boards are slightly longer in one dimension, so the source of your board may reflect the squareness/lack of squareness of it.