Unkx80: Contents and presentation of this page. (2008-08-31 00:35) [#5045]

We seem to agree that we need a new introductory page on ko. I assume that this will be written in a tutorial style. There are a few existing pages on ko that appear to target beginners:

• Ko - Good short introduction to ko, I like this article as it is.
• Ko Threat - Pretty good short introduction too. A minor thing I dislike is "(3n)" and "(3n+1)" in the lead - what do they mean to those not mathematically inclined?
• Basics on kos? - As mentioned, too abstract and without examples.
• Ko threats - basic? - One mega example with lots of symbols making it difficult to read. Probably assumes too much knowledge from the target reader.
• Basic Kofight Example? - Seems quite close to what we want. Good for readers who already have a notion of ko-threats. Should we assume the knowledge of big eyes from the reader?

As you can see, there are already a couple of attempts at introducing ko to the beginner, but none of them seems really good.

Therefore, I suggest a presentation style where we use many small examples rather than one mega example so that it is easier to follow, although we can incorporate a full-length ko-fight at the end if we want. Also, I suspect that most beginning players will encounter ko before even knowing what is two eyes, so we probably should not use examples that assumes knowledge beyond that. What do you think?

Last but not least, what do we want to include in such an introductory page? I am not too sure, which is one reason why I decided to open the floor for discussion. Some things that might be included:

• What is a ko.
• The ko rule and why we need such a rule.
• What a ko can involve or threaten (e.g., capturing stones).
• Resolving a ko.
• Notion of the ko-threat (seeking for an exchange).
• Value of kos and ko-threats.
• Strategies (local threats, loss-making threats, etc.)
• A full-length example of a ko-fight.

Do we include topics such as approach ko and double ko?