In the board game
Go, a is a tactical situation created in positions when both players have
groups
A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together.
Groups of people
* Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity
* Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...
striving to capture each other, in some closely delimited area of the board. Typically it is not possible for each side to create a safe group with
two eyes.
One common outcome is that one group is captured, resolving the race. In the most simple situations it is possible to predict this result, by counting the
liberties
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society f ...
on each group: if for example there are four liberties each, the advantage will lie with the player able to play first, while if one side has four liberties and the other five, the result is already decided and neither player will continue (the player who is behind will normally leave the area alone, seeing it as a future source of
ko threats).
There are numerous other possible outcomes, for example a ''
seki'', a
ko of a direct or indirect nature, and (rather rarely) more exotic types of repeating situation such as
triple ko or ''chosei''. In the more orthodox races some theory is available to help understand the status as far as liberties goes, when these are not completely
WYSIWYG
In computing, WYSIWYG ( ), an acronym for What You See Is What You Get, is a system in which editing software allows content to be edited in a form that resembles its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product, such as a printed d ...
; but such theories are not so far able to give an exhaustive description of all capturing races.
Example
See also
*
International Go Federation
The International Go Federation (IGF) is an international organization that connects the various national Go federations around the world.
Role
The role of the IGF is to promote the sport of Go throughout the world, promote amicable relations ...
External links
Sensei's Library page
{{Go (game)
Go strategy and tactics