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  • rationale on "official" go board sizes

    From marc@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jun 7 00:54:13 2018
    The "official" go board sizes are 19, 9 and 13, in decreasing popularity order, being 19 the only one used in serious tournaments. Other sizes that have been used are 17, 11 and 25.

    When googling with text "go board sizes why" you may get the following links, depending on your country and google profile. I have sorted by decreasing order of interest.

    - Francis Road's take at https://www.britgo.org/bgj/01310 (1971!)
    - a debate on a php forum (2014) https://lifein19x19.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=10814 that contains some interesting answers, but also noise
    - a Quora entry that does not say much https://www.quora.com/Of-all-the-possible-sizes-why-is-19x19-the-standard-board-size-in-the-game-of-Go
    - a senseis library entry, but information but no conclusive info https://senseis.xmp.net/?DifferentSizedBoards

    Still, it seems that the go board sizes have no rationale whatsoever, but however if you are a somehow seasoned player it does not feel that these numbers have been randomly chosen. But what is the relationship between these numbers (9, 13, 19)?

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  • From Robert Jasiek@21:1/5 to marc on Fri Jun 8 13:32:32 2018
    marc wrote:
    what is the relationship between these numbers (9, 13, 19)?

    The are odd so have a tengen. 19 is popular because of its balance
    between territory and influence, and balance of complexity of just
    being complex enough to offer at least centuries of exitement as a
    possible lifetime occupation for many players. 9 is the smallest odd
    board of interest for regular players (who do not care whether smaller
    boards are interesting for researchers). 13 is the best compromise odd
    size between 9 and 19, and allegedly is the smallest odd size to offer
    en miniature all strategic concepts of 19.

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  • From Bernhard Kraft@21:1/5 to All on Fri Jun 8 13:48:18 2018
    Am 07.06.2018 um 09:54 schrieb marc:

    Still, it seems that the go board sizes have no rationale whatsoever, but however if you are a somehow seasoned player it does not feel that these numbers have been randomly chosen. But what is the relationship between these numbers (9, 13, 19)?

    19 is tradition. 13 is half the territory. 9 ist half it again.

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