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Dame
Path: Endgame · Prev: MutualDamage · Next: Teire
Keywords: EndGame, Go term
Neutral point(s). A empty point (or area) between forces of the two sides, often of little or no interest to either side. The exact nuance differs depending on the context or game phase. Japanese: 駄目 ダメ. Pronounced "dah-meh", roughly. 1. In the endgame, empty points on the board which are not part of either player's territory and have no prospects of becoming territory. Normally, remaining neutral points are filled in at the end of the game by alternation between the players. In Japanese, this process is called dame wo tsumeru. 2. In terms of basic capturability, an empty point or liberty adjacent to a stone or connected group of stones which will have to filled in to capture it/them. See also liberty - introductory, dame is overloaded, and shortage of liberties (damezumari). 3. In the context of the opening, a region or area not interesting for either player. For instance, if Black has a strong position in the lower left and White a strong position in the lower right, the area in between is of low priority and thus dame. In this case, the suffix ba could be attached to dame, giving dameba, emphasizing that it is an area being discussed and contrasting the area's priority with those called oba (large points or areas) or kyuuba (urgent points or areas). 4. In the middle game as well, an uninteresting point. Often used in the context of "Black was forced to play on a dame point to connect his two one-eyed groups.". Dame wo hashiru. 5. The everyday Japanese meanings bad, don't do it are common in discussing go moves. I don't have any definitive information on the etymology of dame. However, several dictionaries list the go-related meaning first. Perhaps we can conclude that this word originated in the go world. This makes sense. da means low-grade/poor/garbage, as in dagashi/cheap sweets; so dame means low-grade point. (The horse radical on the left of da 駄 shows the character's original meaning of packhorse, thus a horse of a lower-grade than one that would carry a human.)
This diagram shows the first meaning, of neutral points in the endgame context. The circled points are neutral. For all these points, it does not matter (under Japanese counting) which player plays them first. Note that during the filling of the neutral points, Black will at some time have to fill up at a. Because of this, a is regarded a neutral point as well - it is an empty point which (under Japanese counting) is not a point for either player. (See teire.) When using territory scoring, the intersections on which neutral points are filled do not gain points, for either player. When using area scoring, they do give points. Due to peculiar rules definitions even Japanese rules tend to require the filling of dame strategically or even explicitly. --Robert Jasiek Authors: WikiMasterEdit by Andre Engels, original page can be found at DameBeforeMasterEdit. Relinked by DieterVerhofstadt, after the WikiMasterEdit of scoring. Further edited by Bob Myers. Path: Endgame · Prev: MutualDamage · Next: Teire This is a copy of the living page "Dame" at Sensei's Library. ![]() |