Entire Board Territory Problem

   

What is the smallest number of stones it takes to make the entire board Black's territory? I was inspired by looking at the HandicapsBeyondNineStones page. Maybe somewhere in the 25-40 range? Here are some thoughts:

Alex: This is easy to theorise about, but more or less impossible to prove. Examining local sequences isn't enough, because there could be some complex sequence of probes around the whole board that eventually lead to some kind of miai for life.

Nightvid (author of page)?: Maybe it would make an interesting computing challenge of the decade! But seriously, based on hunches, does anyone care to say what they think?

[Diagram]

27 stones, invasions possible?

[Diagram]

29 stones, invasions possible?

[Diagram]

36 stones, appears totally secure.


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(OC) 2005 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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