ARGRules

ARG Rules are rules that allow one to enjoy a game of Go.

• ARG stands for Awfully Respectable Go Rules, they are influenced by Button Go and AGA rules.
• ARG Rules use the natural superko rule.

• 1) The Board and Stones: Go is a game between two sides usually played on a 19x19 grid (the board). The game may also be played on other grid sizes. The two sides, known as Black and White, are each provided with an adequate supply of playing tokens, known as stones, of the appropriate colour. Each side will also be provided with an adequate supply of passing tokens, known as Grue, of the appropriate colour.

• 2) Play: The players alternate in moving, with Black playing first. In handicap games, White moves first after Black has placed his or her handicap stones. A move consists in playing a stone of one's color on an empty intersection, or of passing. Certain moves are illegal (Rules 5 and 6), but a pass is always legal (Rule7). Points are awarded for controlling space in a manner described below (Rule 12). The object of the game is to end with the greater total number of points.

• 3) Compensation: In an even (non-handicap) game, Black gives White a komi (compensation) of 6.5 points for the advantage of the first move. This komi is added to White's score at the end of the game. In handicap games, Black gives White 0.5 points compensation.

• 4) Handicaps: The game may be played with a handicap to compensate for differences in player strengths. The weaker player takes Black, and either moves first, giving only 0.5 point compensation to White, as in Rule 3 (this is known as a "one stone handicap"), or places 'n' stones on the board before the first White move - where 'n' is the number of stones handicap., ranging from 2 to 9. There is no restriction on where the handicap stones may be placed.

• 5) Capture: A liberty of a stone is a vacant, horizontally or vertically adjacent intersection. A single stone in the middle of an empty board has four liberties: the vacant intersections immediately above, below, left and right of the stone. The intersections diagonal to the stone are not adjacent and are not counted as liberties of the stone. A single stone on a side intersection has a maximum of three liberties; a single stone in the corner has a maximum of two liberties. Stones of the same color are said to be connected if they are adjacent along horizontal or vertical lines on the board (each occupies a liberty of the other). Two stones are part of the same string if they are linked by a chain of connected stones of the same color. The liberties of a string of stones are the liberties of all the individual stones in that string.

• After a player moves, any stone or string of stones belonging to the opponent which is completely surrounded by the player's own stones, leaving no liberties, is captured, and removed from the board. Such stones become prisoners of the capturing player. It is illegal for a player to move so as to create a string of his or her own stones which is completely surrounded (without liberties) after any surrounded opposing stones are captured.

• 6) Repeated Board Positions: It is illegal to make a play which would exactly recreate a previous full board position from the game, with the same player to move, unless that play would capture more than 1 stone. (Natural Superko) The most typical example is a situation where the players can each alternately capture and recapture a single stone. This is known as ko. ("Ko" is the Japanese Buddhist word for eternity.) After the first capture, the player moving next may not recapture immediately, as this would repeat the board position; instead, that player must play elsewhere on the board (or pass).

• 7) Passing: On his or her turn, a player may pass by handing the opponent a passing token, referred to as a Grue, rather than playing a stone on the board. Each Grue aquired through passing counts for 0.5 points.

• 8) Illegal Moves: An illegal move is one violating the rules. If a player makes an illegal move, it shall be taken back, treated as a pass, and he shall be fined 3 points.

• 9) Ending the Game: Two consecutive passes normally signal the end of the game. After two passes, the players should attempt to agree on the status of all groups of stones remaining on the board. Any stones which the players agree could not escape capture if the game continued, but which have not yet been captured and removed, are termed dead stones. If the players agree on the status of all such groups, they are removed from the board as prisoners of the player who could capture, and the game is scored as in Rule 11. If there is a disagreement over the status of some group or groups, play is resumed as specified in Rule 10.

• 10) Disputes: If the players disagree about the status of a group of stones left on the board after both have passed, play is resumed, with the opponent of the last player to pass having the move. The game is over when the players agree on the status of all groups on the board, or, failing such agreement, if both players pass twice in succession. In this case any stones remaining on the board are deemed alive. (An additional commentary is needed here.)

• 11) Those empty points on the board which are entirely surrounded by live stones of a single color are considered the territory of the player of that color. An empty point is surrounded by stones of a single color if one can't reach any stone of the opposing color from that point by moving only to adjacent empty points. There are rare situations (Japanese seki) in which empty points are left at the end of the game which are not entirely surrounded by stones of a single color, and which neither player dares to fill.

• When counting, players add up their total territory less any prisoners held by the opponent (including dead stones removed at the end of the game). The player with the greater total (after adjusting for any compensation offered according to Rule 3, and after adjusting for any Grue according to rule 7) is the winner. (It is customary for the players to fill in their opponent's territory with their prisoners, and to then rearrange their territories to facilitate counting. These are merely mechanical conventions to simplify counting.)

Construction of Grue

To make a Grue one can simply cut a piece of sugar paper or card into small squares, and optionally write Grue on it.

Problems and Limitations pertinent to ARG Rules

• ARG rules, just like most rulesets, do not define the conditions for tournament play.
• ARG rules, just like most rulesets, rely on the players having a basic knowledge of life and death in order to have an enjoyable game free from disputes.
• ARG rules demand that you create Grue, but this is much less onerous than say purchasing a clock.
• ARG Rules suggest that the life and death situation of certain groups be resolved by playing them out, when compared to other rulesets this can be seen as a problem.
• ARG Rules use a form of superko, superko is notoriously difficult to implement.
• Please use the Discuss Page option at the top of the page to discuss other problems with the rules as per Senseis Library tradition, adding perceived problems to the page on an ad hoc basis is messy and unwelcome.

Positive Aspects of ARG Rules

• Not filling dame or pseudo dame will cost you points.

Commentary on Dispute Resolution

A diagram showing groups with 2 eyes and nothing else is essential here. This problem also occurs in AGA rules, but is ignored.