Sunjang Baduk

Sunjang Baduk is one of the forms of Go, which was common in Korea through the 16th century and into the 20th century.

The first 16 moves are prescribed and Black makes the first free play usually at tengen. There are not enough specific records about komi in Sunjang Baduk, although komi of 4.5 was used in the mid-20th century.

The opening leads straight into a fierce middlegame. Perhaps this is why the character of Korean players is the way it is. The other main difference lies in the way of scoring. After all plays have been made, as many internal stones as possible are removed, leaving nearly continuous boundaries. Then the totals of territory controlled are counted, with prisoners ignored. (source: the Hankuk Kiwon Guidebook)

16 stones to start with  

Scoring

The final borders cannot contain any stone in atari, but may contain cutting points. They need not be continuous. Points are not counted in seki.

See also

• Sunjang Baduk Tournament at OGS
• Sunjang Baduk Tournament at DGS (Oct-2014)
• /ScoringDiscussion

Resources

• Eunkyo Do video
• GoGod article "Sunjang baduk still has lessons for today"
• John Fairbairn discusses Sunjang Baduk on MSO. Yours truly has analyzed a ko fight in a PDF file there.
• There is an article about Sunjang Baduk written by Nam Chi-hyung for Baduk colums of newspaper: The Korea Times
• There are a few examples of Sunjang baduk (up to first 200 movements) online, originated from a go magazine published in 1934.
  • Sunjang baduk without Handicap : http://soonjang.netian.com/gibo/sinjung_1.htm
  • Sunjang baduk with Handicap (after black is set on Tengen, black moves first) : http://soonjang.netian.com/gibo/sinjung_2.htm
  • Sunjang baduk with Handicap (additional 4 black stones are set on the pre-determined positions, while another white one is set on Tengen) : http://soonjang.netian.com/gibo/sinjung_3.htm

• Richard Mullens describing Sunjang Baduk initial layout (link dead as of 2019-08-15, though site exists)