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Why is there no I column on a board?
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 2:43 am
by 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,
Re: Why is there no I column on a board?
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:02 am
by 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.
Re: Why is there no I column on a board?
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:16 am
by 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.
Re: Why is there no I column on a board?
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:20 am
by Li Kao
lang2 wrote: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.
Re: Why is there no I column on a board?
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:57 am
by 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.
Re: Why is there no I column on a board?
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 11:34 am
by 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.
Re: Why is there no I column on a board?
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 12:06 pm
by 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".
Re: Why is there no I column on a board?
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:25 pm
by BaghwanB
There is no 'I' in go (unless you are speaking Japanese).
Bruce "But there is a U in Dummy" Young