Art of GO, The

1987 A-Squared Distributions Inc.

Manual
"The Go player must contend less with his opponent and more with conflicting impulses and emotions within himself." CONCEPTION James R. Logan, Jr. GRAPHICS Dana Dominiak AMIGA VERSION Mike Meyer ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING Arthur Abraham Chris Goodman SPECIAL THANKS TO Brian Thompson James Palmer James Connelly and Ishi Press Ursala Bendixen Sue Redding Copyright 1987 James R. Logan, Jr. All rights reserved. Developed and Manufactured in the U.S.A. Limited Warranty: If during the first 60 days from the date of purchase the disk is found to be defective, please return it to A-Squared Distributions Inc., for a free replacement. After 60 days send your disk and $10.00 for replacement. To obtain this warranty, you must complete and return your Art of Go registration card. A-Squared Distributions Inc. makes no warranties, expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. The seller's liability, whether in contract, in tort, under any warranty, in negligence, or otherwise, shall not exceed the return of the amount of the purchase price paid by the purchaser and under no circumstances shall seller be liable for special, indirect, or consequential damages. A-SQUARED DISTRIBUTIONS INC. 6114 La Salle Avenue, Suite 326 Oakland, California 94611 (415) 339-0339 Copy Protection: The Art of Go does not use disk-based copy-protection. The first thing to do is make a backup copy of the master disk and store that in a safe place. Now you're ready to boot up the program and play. We hope that you'll support non-protected software by keeping your Art of Go disk for yourself. This will allow us to stay in business, and bring out future products. Please contribute. General Play: The Go board that appears is a standard 19 x 19 grid. However, be played on boards as small as 3 x 3. With The Art of Go, you option of selecting the size board on which you can play. Each select "New" from the File menu, you'll have the opportunity to new board size. Go can also have the time you choose a Don't distribute! PROGRAMMING James R. Logan, Jr. SOUND David Minor ADDITIONAL CODE Jean Tantra PRODUCT MANAGER Randy Spencer

AMIGA MANUAL Matthew Leeds and Anneli Meyer

The program automatically defaults to "Human vs. Human", an option in the Players menu. To play the computer, choose "Human vs. Computer" from the Players menu. The computer will wait for you to move first. You move by pointing to a position on the game board and pressing the mouse button. Or, you can cause the computer to move first by selecting "Begin" in the

Play menu. When the computer has moved, it waits for you to make the next move. Play continues, alternating between you and the computer until the game ends. You are not required to play a stone on every turn. If you don't want to play a stone, you may decline to play by selecting "Pass" in the Play menu. When you and the computer both pass on consecutive turns the game is over. You should then remove the dead stones from the board (Stones menu; see The Menus section of this manual) and calculate the "Final Score" (Play menu). The Art of Go will display its own calculations for the final score in the game window. However, as territory is often contested, it's wise for you to practice calculating the final score by hand as well! About Go Go is based on the ancient board game of Chinese origin, which is very popular today in Japan and other Asian countries. In recent years, though, the game has become increasingly popular in the United States, Canada, and Europe because of its challenging nature. The game is played with black and white stones on a grid of 19 vertical and 19 horizontal lines. Although the rules of the game are very simple, the strategy necessary to win is very complex -- comparable to chess. The game will stimulate both analytical and intuitive thought processes. The Art of Go Lets You: - Play in three different modes: human vs. computer, human vs. human, and computer vs. computer - See the computer's reasoning for each stone it plays - Play, unplay and replay stones - Keep track of prisoners and owned territories - Save, replay and annotate games - Print game boards on Preferences supported printers - Number the stones as they are played on the board - Play on different board sizes from 3 x 3 all the way up to 19 x 19 - Display a "best guess" final score - Use both the Japanese and Chinese scoring methods - Annotate your games Rules The object of the game is to secure territory on the board. The winner is the player who has succeeded in occupying the most territory at the end of the game, either by completely surrounding an area with his stones, or by capturing the stones of the opponent. The game is played between two players alternately placing black and white stones on a game board. The game board consists of a grid 19 lines wide and 19 lines high. Stones are played on the points where lines cross on the board, not on the squares. Once stones are placed on the board, they cannot be moved unless they are removed by capture. Customarily, the weaker player uses the black stones and moves first. Players take turns placing stones on the game board. Either player may decline to play (pass) on any turn. "Groups of stones" are stones of the same color that are connected along the lines on the board. Stones do not connect diagonally. A group of stones cannot be captured if it has two "eyes", where an eye is territory that is completely surrounded by stones that cannot be captured. Each stone, or group of stones, must have at least one empty neighbor. These neighbors are called "liberties". Stones with no liberties are "smothered" and are removed from the board immediately. A stone cannot be played if it will result in no liberties for itself or for its group. One more rule, the rule of "Ko", forbids playing a stone that causes an exact repeat of any previous pattern of stones on the whole game board. A common example of this is when one white stone is played and captures one black stone, black must wait at least one turn before recapturing the white stone that was just played (if indeed the white stone can be recaptured). The opening moves in Go have about the same importance as the opening moves in chess. The corners of the game board are the easiest place to surround and defend. Therefore, most games begin with the players placing stones near the corners of the board. When both players decline to move (pass) on consecutive turns, the game is over. At the end of a game, dead stones are removed from the game board. "Dead stones" are any stones or group of stones that do not have sufficient territory for two eyes. If there is any question about the life or death of stones, simply continue playing until the outcome is clear.

There is a situation called "seki", which means "dual life". A seki occurs where two opposing groups of stones share one or two mutual liberties, and neither group has enough territory to live by itself. Either player commits suicide by playing a stone on one of the mutual liberties, so both groups of stones live. The Menus Here is a list of the menu items and their uses. The File Menu New (Amiga-N) "New" begins a new game of Go. You have the option to change the board size (and add handicap stones automatically to a 19 x 19 board), or to use the current board size each time you choose New. Open (Amiga-O) "Open" is your key for opening The Art of Go's On-line Tutorial. Just select "Open", and then select "Tutorial" from the file requestor. The Art of Go is now ready to lead a novice player through a trial game. "Open" is also used to open and replay a saved game. be open at any time. Only one game file can

As soon as a saved game is opened, it begins to replay stones on the board. To stop this, hold down the Amiga key along with the period or click anywhere with the mouse. You can then back up and start re-playing from the beginning. Note: The comments which are displayed in the game window are not retained from one play to the next. Therefore, you cannot back up or unplay stones to see previous comments. If the saved game contains comments, then the game action will stop when the comments appear in the annotation window. When this occurs, you can select one of the following two options in the annotation window to resume the game action or stop play from the game file. "Continue" This option causes the saved game to resume playing until it comes upon the next comment. "Quit" This option stops the play of a saved game. Annotate (Amiga-A) "Annotate" opens a new game file and begins recording comments and play actions. First, make a "New" board (File menu). Second, start an annotation file. Finally, "Open" a saved game. You'll see the first stone played as soon as the annotation window appears. The annotation window has 3 options that you can select: "Save", "Skip" and "Quit". These options determine whether or not text in the annotation window is saved in the game file. They don't affect the sequence of stones being played. The position and size of the annotation window is saved along with the comments. A functional description of these options follows: "Save" This option saves the window characteristics and all text from the annotation window into the game file. Saving text this way is the only way to cause a game to be paused when a game file is replayed. "Skip" This option ignores text in the annotation window and proceeds to the next play. This option is most useful when you are simultaneously replaying a game file and annotating the game. Select this option when you don't wish to comment on the last play. "Quit" This option terminates the annotation of a game and saves the annotation file. Note that the comments from a game file are not retained from one play to the next, so you cannot back up or unplay stones to see previous comments. However, if you do back up, you can show the results of several branches in strategy from a single point while adding in new comments. Save (Amiga-G) "Save" opens a game file and immediately writes the current game sequence into a game file. Usually you will select this option at the end of a game.

Save Setting (Amiga-S) "Save Setting" saves the current program settings as defaults. settings include the following parameters:

The saved

- Checkable menu options in the Players, Stones and Display menus; - Parameters and weights in the Settings menu. Print "Print" outputs the game board and stones on Preference supported printers. Quit (Amiga-Q) "Quit" terminates The Art of Go, after asking whether or not to save any game in progress. The Play Menu Begin/Resume (Amiga-B) "Begin/Resume" causes the computer to move if the computer is one of the players checked in the "Players" menu. The primary purpose of this item is to continue play after "Pause" has been selected or the computer has been interrupted with either a mouse click or Amiga-period. Furthermore, use "Begin/Resume" to start the computer's first turn. Pause (Amiga-.) "Pause" temporarily stops the program from playing a game until "Begin/Resume" is selected, or until you make a play. You can also use Amiga-period or a mouse click to interrupt the computer when it is thinking, moving or replaying a game. Pass (Amiga-P) "Pass" indicates that you decline to play this turn, and the opportunity to play moves to the opponent. Change Sides (Amiga-C) "Change Sides" causes the color of stones being used by the players to be switched. Therefore, if you were playing black, you swap bowls of stones with your opponent and begin to play white. If you are black and it is your turn, changing sides does not affect the fact that it is still your turn. This will prove helpful in setting up problem scenarios. Forward One Move (Amiga-]) "Forward One Move" replays a stone from the current game record only if stones have been unplayed or the "Back Up One Move" item has been selected immediately before. Stones are replayed in the same order that they were originally played. Backward One Move (Amiga-[) "Backward One Move" unplays the most recently played stone in the current game. This can be either black or white. To move back one complete turn, you must select this twice. Selecting this item only once effectively makes you change sides with your opponent as well. Final Score (Amiga-F) "Final Score" displays a suggested final game score. Usually a game ends when both players pass. Dead stones are then removed, and the final score is decided upon by both players. Therefore, you may not always agree with computerized scoring. We advise you to practice tallying the final score yourself. The Players Menu Human vs. Human (Amiga-1) "Human vs. Human" indicates that both black and white stones are played by pressing the mouse button. Human vs. Computer (Amiga-2) "Human vs. Computer" allows you to play against the computer. If you want the computer to move first select "Begin/Resume" in the Play menu. Clicking anywhere with the mouse interrupts the computer's turn. Select "Begin/Resume" in the Play menu to continue. Computer vs. Computer (Amiga-3) "Computer vs. Computer" specifies that the computer plays against itself. To start the game select "Begin" in the Play menu. Clicking anywhere with the mouse interrupts the game. Select "Begin/Resume" in the Play menu to continue. Mouse Menu Play Stones Clicking the mouse button plays and unplays stones when this item is selected. To play a stone, point the mouse cursor at a vacant position on

the game board and click the mouse button. One stone or more will be unplayed if the mouse is pointing to a stone on the game board when the mouse button is clicked. The unplay feature can be disabled by selecting "Disable Unplay" at the end of the Settings menu. Handicap Stones Clicking the mouse button adds and removes handicap stones when this item is selected. On a 19 x 19 sized board, handicap stones can be automatically placed on the handicap positions indicated by the black dots. Try starting a "New" game (File menu) with 5 handicaps and see what happens. The weaker player should receive enough handicap stones to make the game a close contest. If you choose only one handicap point, then the traditional Chinese handicap is set. For 2 through 17 handicap points, Japanese handicaps are used. Symbol Stones Symbols are useful for Select "Symbol Stones" are chosen by pressing symbols to the board. Move" feature from the annotating games and preparing instruction material. and click the mouse button to add symbols. Symbols any key on the keyboard. Mouse clicks can only add In order to remove symbols, use the "Back Up One Play menu.

Dead Stones To remove dead stones at the end of a game, select "Dead Stones". Clicking on a group of stones removes it from the board and adds the number of stones in the group to the prisoners. Do this only at the end of a game. You will not be able to undo any removal. Analyze Point Clicking the mouse button on any point or stone displays information about that position. The display information includes the number of liberties, number of eyes, and the results of simple ladders. Disable Unplay (Amiga-U) When "Disable Unplay" is selected, the unplay feature of "Play Stones" is disabled. This mode is useful for tournament play, so that you don't accidently unplay several stones. When this item is not selected, you can click on any stone, and the computer unplays that stone and all stones which came after it.

The Display Menu Marble Board "Marble Board" displays a marble game board with blue and red stones as an alternative to the traditional wooden board with black and white stones. To return to the wooden board, deselect "Marble Board". Columns and Rows "Columns and Rows" displays the traditional column and row symbols at the edge of the game board. The computer refers to the stone positions using these designators. Stone Numbers "Stone Numbers" displays numbers on the stones indicating their order of play. This number is also referred to when displaying the reasons for the computer's move. In order to renumber the stones beginning at, say, stone number 25, hold down the Amiga key and click on that stone. Now stones from 1 through 24 will be blank, and stone 25 will be number 1. Blink Last Stone This causes the last stone that the computer played to blink. Beep After Play This causes the program to beep after the computer plays. Stone Sound This causes the program to simulate the sound of a stone hitting the surface of the game board when a stone is played. Cursor Shape When selected, this changes the cursor shape to a circle when the computer is waiting for your move. Reasons for Moves This displays the reasons that the computer used to play a stone in the text window. The stones are referenced by column and row. Title Bar (Amiga-T) This causes the standard Amiga screen title bar to be displayed for the GO screen. The Settings Menu

Parameters... Select this to change program settings that affect the computer's playing algorithms, change display options, or change sound options. A later section in this manual contains a description of the parameters. Weights... Select this to change the relative weights of patterns that the program uses to choose the best move. The next section of this manual contains a description of the weights. Restore Factory Settings This causes all of the program settings to be reset to the preset factory values. Lock Settings (Amiga-L) Use "Lock Settings" to avoid accidently changing the program settings for parameters and weights. About Game Weights The Art of Go game weights determine the way in which the program plays. Moves are based on a value that is computed for each position, and the value is the sum of the weights for that position. You may change the weights as listed in the Settings menu, thus altering the personality of the computer. They may be altered between any two turns. A short description of the weights in the program follows: Atari Computer moves to atari the opponent. Attack Computer attacks small opponent armies near the edge (row 2 or 3). At least one other computer stone must be present on the board, and the size of the opponent army must be only one or two stones. Capture Computer moves to capture an opponent army (group of stones). Circle Computer moves to the center of an area surrounded by at least one computer stone and one opponent stone. (Same as "Space Empty", but covers a slightly larger circle.) Connect Computer moves to connect two stones diagonally because an opponent stone is nearby and the opponent threatens to cut. Corner Guard Computer moves in its own corner to protect its territory. Cut and Connect The computer moves to an area surrounded by computer stones and opponent stones so that the computer stones will be loosely connected and the opponent stones will be loosely "cut" apart. Cut The computer moves to a position that neighbors on two opponent armies, threatening on the next move to cut the armies apart. Cut Prevent The computer moves to protect against an opponent stone that would loosely "cut" two areas of influence apart. Edge Atari The computer moves to the edge to atari the opponent at the edge. Edge Attack The computer moves on row 2, near an opponent's stone to increase the computer's territory at the edge of the game board. Edge Connect The computer moves to connect under an opponent stone at the edge. The opponent stone must be on row 2. Edge Cut The computer moves to prevent the opponent from connecting under a computer stone at the edge. Edge Guard The computer moves to protect the edge of its territory. Eye Shape The computer moves to make 3 stones into a half-circle shape. Invade

The computer will only move into an opponent's "eye" if this threshold is exceeded by the sum of a position's weights. Protect The computer moves to protect an army from capture. Push The computer moves to push into an enemy-held territory. Retreat The computer moves to protect an army from being a victim of its opponent's atari. Run From Edge On row 2 or 3 only, build a wall extending out from the edge to prevent the opponent from trapping the computer at the edge. This requires one neighboring opponent stone. Run To Edge On row 2 or 3 only, build a wall to the edge to keep the opponent from invading the computer's territory at the edge. This requires one neighboring opponent stone. Space Empty Computer moves to the center of an area surrounded by at least one computer stone and one opponent stone. (Same as "Circle Shape", but covers a slightly smaller circle) Squeeze Run The computer moves to help a small army from being surrounded by opponent stones. This move is designed to run toward the center of the board. Surround In a close battle with few liberties left, the computer moves to surround an opponent's army. Territory The computer moves to an area where no other stones are present. Undercut The computer moves to undercut an opponent stone on row 2 or 3 from the edge. About Game Parameters The Art of Go game parameters affect the way the program plays and affects visual characteristics of the program as well. They may be altered between any two turns. The following is a listing of Game Parameters. 1st Libs Max A threshold beyond which The Art of Go will stop counting primary liberties. "1st Libs max" affects the length of time that the program uses to select a move. 2nd Libs Max A threshold beyond which The Art of Go will stop counting secondary liberties. "2nd Libs max" affects the length of time that the program uses to select a move. 3rd Libs Max A threshold beyond which The Art of Go will stop counting tertiary liberties. "3rd Libs max" affects the length of time that the program uses to select a move. Blink Speed This controls how quickly the last stone played blinks if the "blink last stone" feature is selected. Blink Times This controls how many times a stone blinks when it is played by the computer. Crowded Area A threshold that, when exceeded, indicates that a position on the game board is crowded with other stones. This threshold is compared against a count of stones in a 5 x 5 square around a given position. Invade Value A threshold that must be exceeded before The Art of Go will attempt a move that invades an opponent's area. Komi A value that is added to white's score at the end of a game to offset the advantage that black has by moving first.

Livable Area A threshold of potential area that must be exceeded before The Art of Go will attempt an invasion of area under the influence of opponent stones. Position When The Art of Go is selecting a move it considers the resulting score and the relative value of the position. These two values are added together and the sum is compared against the sum for other positions. "Position" is a value that is multiplied against the value of a position before adding the resulting score. This is to increase the influence of the value of a position in the selection process. Replay Speed Determines the minimum time, in 60ths of a second, that must pass before The Art of Go takes the next sequential action from an open game file being replayed. Search Time Specifies the maximum time, in 60ths of a second, that The Art of Go may use to play ahead as it searches for the best sequence of moves. Small Army A threshold that, when exceeded, indicates an army's size is no longer considered small, thus affecting computer strategy. Unplay Verify A threshold that, when equaled or exceeded, causes a dialogue window to be displayed to confirm that the operator really wants to unplay the indicated number of stones. This value is only valid if "Disable Unplay" in the Stones menu is not selected. For More Information: The following are suggested reading for novice Go players: "The Way to Go" by Karl Baker, which we have included in The Art of Go "Steppingstones to Go" by Shigemi Kishikawa "Go for Beginners" by Kaoru Iwamoto "In the Beginning" by Ikuro Ishigure "Basic Techniques of Go" by Haruyama Isamu and Nagahara Yoshiaki "The American Go Journal" published by the American Go Association "Go World" published by Ishi Press

The American Go Association (AGA) is dedicated to the promotion of Go. It supports projects designed to encourage more people to learn about and enjoy this remarkable game. It provides assistance to clubs and players everywhere. The AGA publishes the American Go Journal and Newsletter, maintains a listing of sources for Go equipment and books, distributes annual listings of all American clubs and AGA members, encourages and sanctions tournaments, maintains computerized national rankings, organizes the annual US Championship Matches, organizes tours by professional players, and manages US participation in international Go events. Go players from all over the American continent and overseas belong to the AGA. For membership information you may contact: American Go Association Box 397, Old Chelsea Station New York, NY 10113 Technical Notes: The Art of Go for the Commodore Amiga was compiled using optimized, ANSII-Standard, Manx Aztec C, version 5.0. For more Amiga documents, visit www.lemonamiga.com