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GoEtiquette

 

Calling Out Atari
Path: BadHabits   · Prev: BelittlingOrDenigratingTheAchievementsOfOthers   · Next: ContinueWhileDozensOfPointsBehind
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exswoo : I'm not exactly sure under what section this belongs in, so I guess variants are as good as any (either that or bad habits).I put it under GoEtiquette and GoodHabits, though personally I think it is to avoid. --Dieter

I've met a number of players who insist on calling out ataris (much like calling check in chess) in friendly games (in real-life games, of course) and I was wondering how other players feel about this "rule".

inserted by Andrew Walkingshaw: For what it's worth calling out check in chess is generally regarded as an insult/breach of etiquette, for much the same reasons Andrew Grant goes into later. I've never seen it happen in an adult tournament.

It doesn't apply to your opponent playing into an atari, so it does't really effect the game too much, but it does seem to encourage players to not read the entire board situation as hard as they should be. What do you guys think?

Charles Matthews I don't know of any group of active players in which saying 'atari' is current (except in a facetious way). They say it was part of the old Japanese etiquette. I'd make it a bad habit.
I keep saying j'adoube in time controlled games purely out of habit as I'm used to doing it in chess. I'd never say atari though unless in a teaching game against a beginner to point out a stone was about to drop.
~ian~

Migeru I like to say atari in teaching games, but not consistently, and as the people I teach become stronger I say it less and less.

Michael Richter: When people start calling "atari" out to me, I start calling "coleco" or "nintendo" or "sega" back at them. They either get annoyed and never play with me again (which suits me fine) or they shut up and stop calling atari. Is this wrong? Tristan Jones No, not at all. They should have a sense of humour about it! :-)

Niklaus: I've met several players who sometimes in friendly games make comments about the game using intentionally inappropriate Japanese or self-made expressions, which can be quite funny. This often includes saying atari even though there is none on the board. Don't do this to the 37k who is playing his first game on a 19x19 board against you. He's confused enough already :) Another situation when I say atari is when my opponent obviously misses that a huge important group is in atari and is thinking long about where to tenuki (probably I wouldn't if I was losing a tournament game :-).

Andrew Grant Announcing "atari" is a bad habit for three reasons:

1. Many opponents find the implication that they're not capable of spotting an atari by themselves insulting.

2. The constant background noise of people saying "atari" is distracting to the opponent and to other players nearby. If you've ever played in a room full of Ing timers you'll know what I'm talking about here.

3. It gives the subtle impression that atari has to be answered in the same way that check must be answered in Chess. Beginners who have come from a Chess background could easily fall into this trap.

The only time when it's sort of OK to say "atari" is when you're teaching an absolute beginner who hasn't quite got the concept of keeping track of liberties yet. But even then you should wean them off it as soon as you can.

Jasonred : Heh, would be quite funny during a ko fight wouldn't it? And what happens during double atari's?

Dieter: It all depends of place and time of course. Me and my clubmates can have lots of fun shouting out loud whatever Japanese term may be applicable to the move we're playing. It starts with onegaishimasu and invariably ends with makemashita.



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This is a copy of the living page "Calling Out Atari" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2003 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.