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Passing
Keywords: Rules, Go term
In a Go game, players take turns in placing their stones on empty intersection on the board. However, it is legal (in most sets of rules) that a player doesn't place a stone on the board by making a pass (i.e. not playing a stone, doing nothing). Then it's the other player's turn. Thus there is no Zugzwang[3] in Go: no 'unpleasant compulsion' to play when it would bring disadvantage.[1] If both players pass on their consecutive moves the game usually ends[2]; and then scoring and counting starts. See also: Rules of Go and rules of Go - introductory [1] Bill Spight: Under most sets of rules a pass is free. However, under AGA rules of territory scoring a pass costs 1 point. The passer hands his opponent a stone as a captive, called a pass stone. Two consecutive passes end play, but White makes the last pass. The practical effect of pass stones is to reconcile territory and area scoring. Several people have had the idea of pass stones, but the AGA incorporation of them can be traced back to an American Go Journal article I wrote in the 1970s on the Chinese rules in which I called them bookkeeping stones. Pass stones sounds better, doesn't it? [2] Ending the game with two consecutive passes can lead to positions similar to Zugzwang, in the sense that not having even a neutral move leads to a loss. Such positions involve moonshine kos. Andre Engels: The number of passes to end the game need not be two. The rule I have learned, and which I think is the standard in Japanese rulesets, is that three passes are necessary. Depending on the ruleset in use, this might resolve some problems with kos (I may not take back the ko, so I pass, if then my opponent passes as well, I can retake, so he cannot leave an open ko on the board). Bill: I believe that the first person to suggest a 3-pass rule was Yasunaga Hajime, before the codification of go rules. My rule for stopping play is that the same player passes twice in the same whole board position. That usually amounts to a 3-pass rule. [3] Zugzwang is a German compound made of the nouns Zug (move) and Zwang (compulsion). Especially in (western) chess it describes the situation in which one player desperately would like to pass, but is forced to move by the rules. See also: This is a copy of the living page "Passing" at Sensei's Library. ![]() |