Life In 19x19

jlt wrote:The video: https://www.youtube.com/live/AlrwjeHzDBs?t=6359s

White put black stones in the lid, a few stones slid out, he put them back immediately into the lid.

Thanks for the video link! The White player (Mok Jinseok?) did the best he could in that situation. The key issue is that the lid is clearly too small to hold a large number of stones. Enforcing such a rule introduces ambiguity and relies on a third party (the referee) for interpretation, which crucially is not/should not be an inherently part of the game. Moreover, it contradicts the widely held belief that rules should be clear-cut and absolute (how many fans argue 'rules are rules' after the incident).

BTW, shortly after that moment in the video, the female player captured a stone, pressed the clock before placing the stone in the lib. Does that action also violate the existing rule?

Either you make rules which everyone can follow, or you don't and end up arguing about them.

The KBA has bowed to pressure from the CWA to the extent of softening the rule. Now, apparently, repeated violations of the rule will only result in further point penalties.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202502/1327786.shtml

I tend to find the analysis of what happened by kvasir and deungsan convincing: the rule is reasonable (given that it's sponsored by a Korean chaebol), the application of it in the third game is reasonable, and Byun's decisive advantage needs to be taken into account in interpreting the different parties' actions.

If Ke Jie wanted to make it a matter of principle he should have withdrawn from the tournament after the second game. Playing the final game hoping for a decisive win and then reproducing the same rules crisis from a losing position makes it look like a kind of mega-resign button.

Looks like the Chinese are so angry about this that they decided to boycott LG cup. At least that is how I understand the google translation of 'the Chinese team was absent from tournament': http://www.eweiqi.com/index.php?m=conte ... 7&id=35917.

Also, is Ke Jie participating in any tournaments anymore?

kvasir wrote:Also, is Ke Jie participating in any tournaments anymore?

go4go doesn't have any Ke Jie games since Jan 2025. And he doesn't show up in the Chinese ranking from gotoeveryone. So he is outside the top 30 this year? I don't know where he is in this list: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/fUHmrNanjFjcsHyfTM-Zng, because it's an image and google translate doesn't work on it. So I can't tell what he is doing nowadays.

I also looked for his games since LG cup earlier and couldn't find any.

He is number 4 in that list from wechat but the column for the change in rating is blank. His rating is also 2689.8 on the list. This does round to 2690, which was his rating during the LG cup match.

All of this suggests that he didn't have games since February.

I found this article by chance:
https://sports.sina.com.cn/go/2025-05-1 ... 2792.shtml

It doesn't say if Ke Jie has played since February but I might also just have missed that. However, it does say that he wasn't on the national team roaster in April and it gives some reasons why he might not want to participate in the training. It also says that he will be in the Chinese A League when it starts.

I guess the league is the litmus test on if he is playing competitively and the start date can't be very far in the future.

kvasir wrote:I found this article by chance:
https://sports.sina.com.cn/go/2025-05-1 ... 2792.shtml

It doesn't say if Ke Jie has played since February but I might also just have missed that. However, it does say that he wasn't on the national team roaster in April and it gives some reasons why he might not want to participate in the training. It also says that he will be in the Chinese A League when it starts.

The google translation of that page says this: "In the 2024 LG Cup final, Ke Jie gave up the third game and walked out of the competition venue. Since then, he has never returned to the professional Go arena."

It seems he has been so discouraged or outraged by that loss that he stopped playing. And yes, it seems he is coming back soon.

He has played two games in league A now. One on Tuesday and one today.

Hopefully this is the end of the whole conflict.