Darren Cook wrote:
The chief difference between a 9X9 game and a 19X19 is in the demands
the larger board makes on our _strategic_ reading ability.
Agreed.
And that is not merely another board-size-dependent skill, among many.
That is the most significant difference between a competent player and a
strong one.
Disagreed, sorry. As I said, I think go skill applies to almost all
board sizes. If you go to a go club, try holding a no-handicap
tournament at a weird board size (e.g. 9x9, 13x13, 17x12, whatever). If
the difference between competent players was all about 19x19 strategic
knowledge you'd expect everyone stronger than about 10 kyu to tie for
first place. But what you will find is the ordering will be very close
to 19x19 go rank. (You can also see this on go servers that maintain a
different rank for each board size.)
I think your player who wins the odd-size games is using the same
principles as he uses on the 19X19.
But the application of those principles gives size-dependent results.
3,3 is a much better opening play on a 9X9 board than on 19X19, while
6,6 (definitely wild, but playable on 19X19) looks more reasonable on 25X25.
The ability to respond appropriately to unfamiliar situations may itself
be an ability that correlates well with the ability to deal with the
greater complexities of 19X19--while I can well imagine a mediocre
player specializing in 9X9 long enough to neutralize that advantage in a
less complex environment (roughly equivalent to chess) against players
who could beat him easily elsewhere.
Forrest Curo
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