Re: computer-go: Most simple Go rules

[Don Dailey <drd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

   Xinwei Kong wrote:
   > The most simple Go rules:

   The simplest in which context of simplicity, please?

   > Rule 1: never allow to repeat a previous board state unless pass
   > Rule 2: both pass end the game
   > Rule 3: only stones on the board counts

   E.g., clearly rules without passes are simpler in the context
   of numbers of defined rules objects.

   --



This is just my  opinion, but I consider  these rules (see below)  the
very simplest rules.  I fouund them two or three years ago on the web.
They are extremely appealing, especially for computers.

These rules are  also ideal for beginners.  I   say this because  most
human based rules are confusing to  beginners because they assume that
you have already  grasped a few fundamentals, which  is  just not true
for beginners.   

I  have posted this before,  but it's  appropriate for this discussion
now so here goes again:

=====

Below   you'll find  a  rather  mathematical  definition of  Go, quite
suitable for Computer   Go for example.  These rules  were compiled by
Bill Taylor  in  cooperation with John   Tromp. This version  has been
posted on newsgroup rec.games.go:


The set of Rules
----------------
 
1. Go is played  is on a  19x19 square grid  of points, by two players
called black and white.
 
2. Each point on  the  grid may be  colored  black, white or empty.  A
point P is said to reach a color C, if there is a path of orthogonally
adjacent points of P's color from P to a point of color C.
 
3. Starting with an empty  grid,  the  players have  alternate  turns,
black first.
 
4. A turn  is  either a  pass; or a  move  that does not leave  a grid
pattern identical to one that that player has previously left.
 
5. A  move consists of  coloring an empty  point one's own color; then
emptying all the opponent-colored points that  don't then reach empty;
and then emptying all the player's own-colored  points that don't then
reach empty.
 
6. The game ends after two consecutive passes.
 
7. A player's score  is the number  of points of  his color, plus  the
number of empty points that don't reach the opponent's color.
 
8. The player with  the larger score  at the  end  of the game  is the
winner. If the scores are equal at the end, it is a tie.