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Ancient Chinese Rules And Philosophy
Keywords: Rules, Culture & History
In ancient Chinese philosophy, Black is Yin and White is Yang. Yin and YangYin and Yang are unity in opposition. If you put down a stone first, then your opponent puts down a stone. Passing is prohibited. The number of moves is even. This is an important principle. Under Japanese rules, however, you are allowed to pass. This does not comply with ancient Chinese philosophy. QiIn ancient Chinese rules, the basic two liberties (qi) of a group (needed to make life) are not real territory.
More accurately, if a group has no qi, it will be removed from the board (die), and if a "one eyed" or "eyeless" group has some liberties (qi),and your opponent has not taken away ALL liberties of the "one eye group" or "no eye group" by some moves, the group is still living on the board, despite having only one eye or no any eye!
White (marked) has not died, she is alive on the board.
After some moves, White will die.
A Chinese weiqi proverb:"there are qi, a group is living on the board, there are no qi,a group is removed from the board." Generally,if a group is alive on the board _forever_, it must have two eyes. In some special cases, a group which has only one liberty still can live on the board _forever_. (-> ... if your opponent has not removed your "one-eyed group" by two moves ... or maybe I don't understand this -- Dieter <-) Example
Why are the basic two liberties of a group not real territory in ancient Chinese rules? For example:
In Japanese rules it is a tied (jigo) game. But in ancient Chinese rules, Black will win the game. This is because, if Black wants to continue the game, White cannot pass. Again the important principle here is: Yin and Yang are unity in opposition, therefore you can not abandon your move (pass). So, after Black has put down more than m+n+1 stones, White can not put down any stones on the board, because she cannot fill in the two basic liberties (qi) of her groups! When you don't have any liberties to fill in, a virtual move is needed. A virtual move is a legal move. These virtual moves are not put down on the board, they are captured by the opponent directly. Please notice the difference between "virtual move" and "pass". After two virtual moves in a row, the game is over. The player who has captured more stones wins the game. Because of the above reason, when we count the territory, we cannot count the basic liberties of a group into someone's territory. So, cutting your opponent's stones into two groups has two points value. This is why the group tax is reasonable. In Japanese rules, cutting doesn't have any value,unless a group of your opponent dies. If in a game, Black and White have the same amount of territory(not including the basic two liberties of a group), and Black occupies the last dame on the board, then the next move, White has to put down a stone in her or her opponent's territory. In ancient China, the above example results in a tie. That is fair. Ancient Chinese people liked a tied game. Yin and Yang are in a congruency situation. The last dame which Black occupies on the board, must be shared with Black and White.
The ancient Chinese weiqi rules embody the essence of WeiQi.
get a sgf file here: --Zhang Hu I think this a very interesting topic. I have been so free to add a few spelling corrections, and I also added some hints for better comprehension. The latter are marked with (-> hint for better comprehension <-). I leave it to Zhang Hu to WikiMasterEdit this topic.
Mmm. A couple of weeks later, Zhang Hu still hasn't. I removed the marks, but leave the content master editing to others. Remove my remarks when doing soĻ
All lovers of go lore should go to This is a copy of the living page "Ancient Chinese Rules And Philosophy" at Sensei's Library. ![]() |