Skip to main content
1 of 3
Christopher King
  • 6.4k
  • 1
  • 32
  • 60

Life or death in $\omega$ moves?

As follow up to Checkmate in $\omega$ moves?, we can ask the same question about go. Is there a position on a $\mathbb Z \times \mathbb Z$ goban such that either black can kill a white group, but white can stave off the capture for $n$ moves, or white can make a group live, but black can stave off life of the group for $n$ moves (for any $n \in \mathbb N$).

This is considerably trickier than chess, since go is more of a local game. My first thought is to use ladders somehow. The other thought is that the superko rule, since it actual has global influence.

(Although it does not matter too much, using Tromp-Taylor rules is probably best, since they are the simplest.)

Christopher King
  • 6.4k
  • 1
  • 32
  • 60