Why is there no I column on a board?

[lang2]

Hi,

I noticed that on a computer go program, the "I" column is skipped. Why is this? The SGF file from kgs apparently refer to I, e.g ;B[ig]


Thanks,

[Joaz Banbeck]

I've heard that it was because I and J looked too much alike. This could be apocryphal.

In older English alphabets, there were 24 characters: I and J had not yet separated ( "J" was originally an uppercase "i"), and U and V had not separated either. ( 'u' was used in the middle of a word, and 'V' was used at the beginning of a word. ) This could also explain why there is no column 'U on the board.

[Jordus]

I believe it was because of I and L looking similar when I is capitalized and L(l) is not.

So to avoid confusion when printing comments one of them needed to be removed.

[Li Kao]

Hi,

I noticed that on a computer go program, the "I" column is skipped. Why is this? The SGF file from kgs apparently refer to I, e.g ;B[ig]


Thanks,

The sgf format and the displayed coordinates are logically unrelated. For example many programs have the origin of the display coordinate system in the lower left, but sgf has the origin in the upper left.

[xed_over]

over the years, this question gets asked a lot on various newsgroups and forums, yet I'm unable to find a definitive answer published on Sensei's or anywhere else

Helel's answer has been the closest to my understanding of the issue.

[daniel_the_smith]

Go used to be played on a 20x19 board, but then people decided that was weird and changed it to a 19x19 board. The "I" column just happened to be the one that got removed.

[gowan]

My guess is it is a superstitious thing. Tall buildings don't have a 13th floor. Go players want to avoid the evil "I".

[BaghwanB]

There is no 'I' in go (unless you are speaking Japanese).

Bruce "But there is a U in Dummy" Young