computer-go: Re: unconditionally alive

[Martin Mueller <mmueller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>A silly question from yet another flash in the computer go pan:

Not silly at all...

>Does anyone have an algorithm for determining whether or not a
>group of stones is unconditionally alive (i.e. cannot be captured
>by the opponent even if the player does nothing but pass for the
>rest of the game)?  If so, would you be kind enough to explain it?
>

Benson's is the one you want. A more recent extension - where players can
reply to attacks - is "Playing it safe", item [5] on
http://web.cs.ualberta.ca/~mmueller/publications.html It contains
references to Benson's papers.

I have some better results in the meantime but it's not written up yet.

	Martin