I'm not sure about the strength of professional players on 9x9 but basically agree with Don.
Of course, there are no definition what Go is. So, I'd just like to introduce some in Japan. - Meien O 9p is radical in some sense. He wrote in his book that Go is already unified in the sense that baseball is unified. Say, although the size of the ball, for example, is different in US and Japan, people don't say threre are two baseballs or Japanese baseball is not a baseball, at lease these days :-). So, according to his idea, 9x9 is, of course, Go. #Oh, if you can read Japanese, please visit the site below titled "Kanpai, Monte-Carlo". http://taisen.mycom.co.jp/taisen/contents/igo/meien/meien_30.htm "Kanpai" here has two meanings, "perfect loss" and "to toast". - There had been a TV program of professional 9x9 Go for years (some member of this list have the records of the games played in this program). Takemiya 9p and Yuki 9p were the strongest. - A vert famous and one of the strongest 9p in Japan, Chikun Cho is well known by his research about 9x9 Go. So, I'm sure all professtonal Go players in Japan think 9x9 is Go. - There are threads for discussions and online 9x9 games (by beginners, kyu and dan players) on the largest BBS in Japan. - Finally, Mr. Okasaki, a researcher of the game of Go, sometime argued 9x9 is not Go. He sometime also argued computer's Go is not Go :). Hideki Don Dailey: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: >The rules are exactly the same for 9x9 as for 19x19. The boardsize is >different and that changes the game some. > >I would suggest that if a top go player plays a game of chess >immediately after first learning the rules, he would lose very badly >to even mediocre players or even advanced beginners. > >I really doubt this would be the case with 9x9 go. I don't think you >can really make a strong argument that 9x9 isn't go or that it's not the >same game. You CAN argue that the characteristics of the game are >different and different aspects of the game are emphasized. > >Some really strong players may not be specialists in 9x9 and may lose to >players who specialize in 9x9 but are otherwise a few stones weaker at >19x19, but that's not remarkable. In chess you can also be weakened >significantly and be "thrown off your game" by a surprise opening - or >we could imagine a game where your opening is decided for you and it >would make you very uncomfortable. > >My guess (and it's only a guess) is that strong players playing on the >9x9 board are simply very uncomfortable but probably do not play as weak >as they imagine. In chess I heard that someone once did a study to >find out if playing speed chess weakened the performance of some players >more than others and despite the fact that many players imagine that it >does, it turned out that there was a remarkable correlation, although no >doubt some players who specialize at different time controls would have >an edge. > >- Don > > > >On Wed, 2008-09-10 at 11:27 +0900, Hideki Kato wrote: >> Christoph Birk: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: >> >On Tue, 9 Sep 2008, Olivier Teytaud wrote: >> >> testbed for >> >> parallelization because it's more difficult) and as "real" targets (as >> >> there >> >> are players >> >> for both). >> > >> >Sorry, but there are (almost) no players for 9x9. To repeat >> >D.Fotland's earlier comment: 9x9 is just for beginner's practice. >> >It's not go. >> >> Other than the match CS vs. Kaori Aoba 4p, which Rémi reported >> recently, there was a 9x9 match CS vs. Meien O 9p with no komi at >> FIT2008. CS (B) won by 3 points. >> >> I'd like to emphasize "9x9 is Go." >> >> Hideki >> >> >Christoph >> > >> >_______________________________________________ >> >computer-go mailing list >> >computer-go@computer-go.org >> >http://www.computer-go.org/mailman/listinfo/computer-go/ >> -- >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Kato) >> _______________________________________________ >> computer-go mailing list >> computer-go@computer-go.org >> http://www.computer-go.org/mailman/listinfo/computer-go/ > >_______________________________________________ >computer-go mailing list >computer-go@computer-go.org >http://www.computer-go.org/mailman/listinfo/computer-go/ -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Kato) _______________________________________________ computer-go mailing list computer-go@computer-go.org http://www.computer-go.org/mailman/listinfo/computer-go/
