Kee Rules of Go

KEE RULES OF GO (2020)

Written by Wilton Kee on 16-Mar-2020.

I. STRENGTH OF KEE RULES

1. It is applicable to any types of boards with any pre-defined connections between intersections for stone placement.

2. It is applicable to any number of players (even 3 players or more).

3. A game always ends in a finite number of plays, as long as the board is finite.

4. A game always ends with one single board for a definite score.

II. CONTENTS OF KEE RULES

Kee Rules prefer area scoring.

Kee Positional Superko Rule: A player may not make a board play that repeats a board position encountered by any player before, unless a pass of any player has intervened.

Disturbing Play: If a player makes a board play immediately after a pass play but not immediately after a consecutive series of pass plays of all players, then that board play is disturbing.

Kee Disturbing Ko Rule: The same player may not make a disturbing board play in the same board position again.

Kee Game Termination Rule: The game ends when a consecutive series of passes of all the opponents of the same player occurs the second time in the same board position, unless a disturbing board play has intervened.

III. EXAMPLES OF APPLICATION

A. John Tromp's sending-2-returning-1

See Rules Beast 1.

= pass John Tromp pointed out the peculiar consequences of superko rule if White does not connect in the lower left.

Black plays as the superko threat.

= pass

With normal superko rules, White 11 ( ) is prohibited as it repeats the outcome of White 7. All concerned white stones are dead as the result. Under Kee Rules, White 11 ( ) is not prohibited because the pass White 9 has lifted the positional superko.

= pass Instead, Black 14 ( ) is prohibited, as it is a disturbing play made by the same player and in the same board position as the disturbing play Black 10.



edit] B. Sending-2-returning-1 + Seki with one-sided irremovable ko threat

Unlike John Tromp's sending-2-returning-1, White cannot even connect to remove the superko threat.

Black plays as the superko threat, which is a one-sided irremovable ko threat only available to Black.

= pass

With normal superko rules, White 8 ( ) is prohibited as it repeats the outcome of White 4. All concerned white stones are dead as the result. Under Kee Rules, White 8 ( ) is not prohibited because the pass White 6 has lifted the positional superko.

= pass Instead, Black 11 ( ) is prohibited, as it is a disturbing play made by the same player and in the same board position as the disturbing play Black 7.



edit] C. Unfilled simple ko on fully occupied board

White has two eyes but Black has only one. Can White capture all the black stones as we expect?

Black captures the ko by . With normal ko rules, White's recapture is prohibited and the game will end there. It is not fair to White as Black does not resolve the ko when White is prohibited to make a stone play due to the ko. Under Kee Rules, White can choose to pass first. Then when Black can do nothing but responds by another pass, White can recapture (with the positional superko lifted by the passes) and then capture all the black stones as a fair outcome.



edit] D. Unfilled simple ko on fully occupied board in a 3-player game

Black has two eyes but White and Red have none (where Red stones are denoted by ). Can Black capture all the stones as we expect? Let's assume the playing sequence is Black > White > Red.

Black 1 ( ) starts by capturing the white stone.

With White passing, Red can then recapture the black stone because it does not repeat the board position. However, note that Red's recapture is a disturbing play. With normal superko rules, Black's recapture is prohibited and the game will end there. It is not fair to Black as Red just leaves the ko unresolved.

Under Kee Rules, after Red's recapture, Black can pass and wait until Red has passed before making a recapture ( ), so as to ensure his stone play is not disturbing.

After Black's recapture, White 8 ( ) can immediately recapture.

After White's recapture, with Red passing, Black 10 ( ) can recapture again. This time White cannot immediately recapture due to positional superko rule. Red cannot recapture either, because it will be another disturbing play.

Black 13 ( ) can eventually capture all the stones and win.



edit] E. Triple ko without eyes

With normal superko rules, Black would capture all the white stones. It is the same under Kee Rules.



edit] F. Triple ko with White having one eye but Black having none

With normal superko rules, Black would end up capturing two out of three ko's. Under Kee Rules, White would capture all black stones. This is a fair outcome because White has one eye but Black does not.



edit] G. Triple ko with both players having one eye

With normal superko rules, Black would end up capturing two out of three ko's. It is the same under Kee Rules.



edit] H. Bill Spight's 4×3 board See SpightRules/Example.

This is a position similar to a ten thousand year ko. White takes the ko, but after Black passes White should not fill. With normal ko rules, Black's recapture is prohibited and the game will end there. It is not fair to Black as White does not resolve the ko when Black is prohibited to make a stone play due to the ko. Under Kee Rules, Black can recapture after a pass by Black and then White. Then White can recapture too after a pass by White and then Black. The game would end after two passes again on White's recapture because there is no new disturbing play.



edit] I. 2×1 board

Starting from an empty board, can Black do better than a draw?

With normal ko rules, Black's recapture is prohibited and the game will end with White winning by 2 points. This means should be a pass and the game is a draw. Under Kee Rules, Black can recapture after a pass by Black and then White. Then White can recapture too after a pass by White and then Black. The game would end after two passes again on White's recapture because there is no new disturbing play, with White winning by 2 points. This means should be a pass and the game is a draw.



edit] J. 2×2 board

Starting from an empty board, can Black do better than a draw? With normal superko rules, Black would win by 1 point. Under Kee Rules, the game is a draw.



edit] K. 3×2 board