Ing Rules

Ing Rules are complex and few people understand them. When used in EGF tournaments, the Simplified Ing Rules apply, however this page provides a working summary which is hoped will be good enough for practical play by kyu players at the EGC.

• Use the special bowls and check they are properly filled with 180 stones of one colour each. When this happens, the surface of the stones will be level with the top of the bowl.
• If the game is handicap, handicap stones are free placement for Black.
• Superko is used - that is the position on the board is not allowed to repeat.
• Scoring is by area, so play out the dame.
• Scoring is by area, so it is no penalty to play a stone inside your own territory or as a prisoner inside your opponent's territory, except that it is waste of a move that could be gaining you one point if played on a dame point. If there are no real points or dame left it is really no penalty.
• In sekis, play as many stones as you can without preventing it being a seki. So play as many mutual points as you can.
• Suicide (of more than 1 stone) is allowed.
• Keep captured stones (rather than placing them back in your opponent's bowl) until counting at the end of the game.
• The game stops after two successive passes.
• Then if the players agree about all regions that shall be removed, they remove them, and determine the scores by counting.
• If the players disagree, then they resume alternate moving, and determine the scores by counting immediately after the second stop.
• Count using Fill-in counting.
  • In even games, place 4 white stones inside a black territory to achieve the komi of 8.
  • Fill all white areas with white stones (captured or from bowl) and all black areas with black stones (captured or from bowl) and fill pairs of seki or dame points with one stone of each colour.
  • In the end someone will have territory remaining an the opponent will have stones that cannot be put on the board. The player with territory wins by his territory plus his opponent's stones left off the board. RJ: This is OC completely wrong. I can correct it later.