Life In 19x19

* edit there is a white stone missing at K2. giving white 29.5

:b2: is inaccurate. (It would be a mistake, but Black cannot win with correct play, anyway. )

K2

D1 is 2 points (+2 for the capture, up to +3 if B gets E1 first, down to +1 if W gets E1 first) and K6 is 3 points. Since W then gets the first 2-pt move he should play any of them except for D1 - when B finally plays D1, W gets the last 2 pt move at E1. Then I assume B plays L10 and everything else as freegame shows. So W wins by 0.5?

If I understand you are to play the complete endgame as white perfectly. I did a quick count and the position on the board is close to even or even (at most a 2 point difference). I also think there are no sente endgame moves left.

Step one

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W White to play. Japanese rules. 6.5 komi.
$$ ---------------------------
$$ | . . X O . . . O O . C . . |
$$ | X . X O O O O . O . X X . |
$$ | . X O M . . . O O O X O . |
$$ | C X X X X B X C X O B X . |
$$ | O O O O X . X . X X . X . |
$$ | . . O X . X . X O X . X . |
$$ | . . O X S X . X O X X X . |
$$ | . O O . O X . X O S O X . |
$$ | . X O O X X X O O X . X . |
$$ | . O . O O X X . O X X X O |
$$ | . . O . . . X O O O O X X |
$$ | . . O O X X X O . O O X . |
$$ | . . O W O O X O O . O M . |
$$ ---------------------------[/go]

are 1 point gote moves. are 2 point gote moves. The moves are worth 3 and 4 points respectively. Notice that I have added stones to the board to make it easier For my board I think the correct sequence is:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W White to play. Japanese rules. 6.5 komi.
$$ ---------------------------
$$ | . . X O . . . O O a 9 0 . |
$$ | X . X O O O O . O . X X . |
$$ | . X O 5 . . . O O O X O . |
$$ | 7 X X X X B X 8 X O B X . |
$$ | O O O O X . X . X X . X . |
$$ | . . O X 2 X . X O X . X . |
$$ | . . O X 1 X . X O X X X . |
$$ | . O O 3 O X . X O 4 O X . |
$$ | . X O O X X X O O X . X . |
$$ | . O . O O X X . O X X X O |
$$ | . . O . . . X O O O O X X |
$$ | . . O O X X X O . O O X . |
$$ | . . O W O O X O O . O 6 . |
$$ ---------------------------[/go]

My thoughts: 1 is the biggest move since a black move at 3 is worth 4 points. Next 2 is sente so black will play it immediately. (The next largest play is 3 points, answering the move is not losing 4). Then 4 is the next largest play with 3 points. Then both players get a 2 point move. White gets sente so gets 2 of the remaining 1 point moves (he has to connect at a)

Total time spent reading: about 5 min.
Estimated chance that I screwed up: 5%
Conclusion: solving this board is probably 10k (maybe even 15k).

Step Two

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W Weird points
$$ ---------------------------
$$ | . . X O . . . O O . . . . |
$$ | X . X O O O O . O . X X . |
$$ | . X O . . C . O O O X O . |
$$ | . X X X X . X . X O C X . |
$$ | O O O O X . X . X X . X . |
$$ | . . O X . X . X O X . X . |[/go]

The points are weird (don't know what to call them). If black plays one he gets 2 points in gote, but if white plays them he can only reduce blacks potential by one point in gote Now, if white starts the 2 point period by playing them and black blocks, he gets 1 point in gote for each. They then continue like in my fist diagram where white gets one more point. If he instead ignores whites threats and plays the other circled point, he gets 2 2-point endgame moves and white gets one. Additionally there are then 4 1-point moves and black gets the same amount as white.
First Variation: B: 5 | W: 4
Second Variation: B: 6 | W: 4
So what if white starts with one of the normal 2-point plays? Black has a choice either to play the other 2-point move or one of the moves. If he plays the normal one, White will definitely play one of the points. Black ignores (since it seems better) and plays the second point. We have the same result as the second sequence. If black plays both he ends up in a worse position, because the number of 1-point moves is odd again and white becomes an additional point.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W White to play. Japanese rules. 6.5 komi.
$$ ---------------------------
$$ | . . X O . . . O O . b . . |
$$ | X . X O O O O . O . X X . |
$$ | . X O 5 . 7 . O O O X O . |
$$ | 0 X X X X a X 9 X O 8 X . |
$$ | O O O O X . X . X X . X . |
$$ | . . O X 2 X . X O X . X . |
$$ | . . O X 1 X . X O X X X . |
$$ | . O O 3 O X . X O 4 O X . |
$$ | . X O O X X X O O X . X . |
$$ | . O . O O X X . O X X X O |
$$ | . . O . . . X O O O O X X |
$$ | . . O O X X X O . O O X . |
$$ | . . O W O O X O O . O 6 . |
$$ ---------------------------[/go]

Total additional time spent reading: 10 min.
Estimated chance that I screwed up: 5% (I'm still pretty certain)
Conclusion: I would still say that it can be solved by a 15k because it is not complicated, just tiresome. Is it practical in an actual game? HELL NO. I've played tournament games in less time than to find the last 10 moves of this game.


If I have some more time I'll look at the position on the lower side. Hope I could help/make you laugh

Could you post your answer more unambiguously ? Like, a final two diagrams (1-10 and 11-15) or an SGF ? I have a little bit of trouble following your thoughts. You could just arbitrarily choose between equivalent value moves.

Also, it might be worth noting that the way I, and I imagine freegame and jts all solved this wasn't an extensive calculation; starting with white, we looked for their best play, then did the same for black, then white again etc etc and so came to our solutions that way (maybe with some notes added in posterity).

[sgf-full](;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2]
RU[Japanese]SZ[13]KM[0.00]
GN[White to play. Japanese rules. 6.5 komi.]DT[2011-01-30]PC[http://lifein19x19.com/]AW[da][ha][ia][db][eb][fb][gb][ib][cc][hc][ic][jc][lc][jd][ae][be][ce][de][cf][if][cg][ig][bh][ch][eh][ih][kh][ci][di][hi][ii][bj][dj][ej][ij][mj][ck][hk][ik][jk][kk][cl][dl][hl][jl][kl][cm][em][fm][hm][im][km]AB[ca][ab][cb][kb][lb][bc][kc][bd][cd][dd][ed][gd][id][ld][ee][ge][ie][je][le][df][ff][hf][jf][lf][dg][fg][hg][jg][kg][lg][fh][hh][lh][bi][ei][fi][gi][ji][li][fj][gj][jj][kj][lj][gk][lk][mk][el][fl][gl][ll][gm]C[Diagram from http://lifein19x19.com/

White to play. Japanese rules. 6.5 komi.]PL[W]
;W[eg]
(;B[jh]C[ 2nd pass, slight move differences. 30.5 30 ('cause of E1 area)]
;W[ek]
;B[dc]
;W[lm]
;B[dm]
;W[em]
;B[kd]
;W[fc]
;B[fd]
;W[ka]
;B[la]
;W[ja]
;B[ad]
;W[hd])
(;B[ef]C[ first pass, this move is not necessary. 29.5 29]
;W[dh]
;B[jh]
;W[ek]
;B[dm]
;W[dc]
(;B[em]
;W[lm]
;B[kd]
;W[fc]
;B[hd]
;W[ka]
;B[la]
;W[ja]
;B[ad]
;W[fd])
(;B[lm]C[30.5-30 again this way]
;W[em]
;B[kd]
;W[fc]
;B[ad]
;W[fd]
;B[hd]
;W[ka]
;B[la]
;W[ja])))[/sgf-full]
Edit: tried posting my sgf properly as an attachment and it bugged somehow, so copypasting the text...

A collection of such problems segueing into more and more complex endgame exchanges would be a fun/good exercise book, especially for people like me who tend to lose dozens of points in late yose in actual games, I think. I do suspect that a lot of the people saying "too hard/cannot solve with any confidence" think that the problem is to know the score at a glance from the first diagram, which indeed would involve a painful amount of meaningless reading to reach black's score.