OLDEST KNOWN GAME
THIS GAME of sunjang go (go played according to old Korean rules) was published in the Chosun Ilbo newspaper in March 1937. The players were No Sa-ch'o (White) and Ch'ae Keuk-mun. Komi was 4.5 points given by Black. In the final position arranged for counting in sunjang style Black has 57 points and White 53.
Figure 1 (1-288)
173 = 47; 182 = 60; 185 = 47; 188 = 60; 190 = 177; 191 = 47; 194 =
60; 197 = 47; 200 = 60; 203 = 47; 206 = 60; 215 = 47; 220 = 45; 231 = 225; 238 = 228; 241 = 225; 244 = 228; 247 = 225; 256 = 157; 267 = 228; 288 = 233
Move 281: It is possible to make a bent-four in the corner, but it is
a yose ko. Moves 284 and 285 are worth 1 point in sunjang go.
Downloadable Game Analysis
Bill Spight, who will be well known to readers of rec.games.go as a rules and endgame expert, has taken a fancy to the old Korean style of counting, and has made an in-depth analysis of the ending of this sunjang go game - in particular the thorny question of the possible ko missed (deliberately?) in the top right-hand corner. Bill's analysis is given with full and clear diagrams in the downloadable pdf file available here (112KB).
This is how Bill describes himself:
"I am currently a Ph.D. student in psychology at Saybrook Graduate School in San Francisco, looking to practice psychotherapy. I have been studying ko for many years, and have in recent years written on the mathematics of ko evaluation and composed a few ko problems. I agree with Confucius that music is (or should be) the basis of education, and think that musical ability is worth many stones at go."
From Traditional Korean Go - Sunjang Go by
John Fairbairn
