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Subject: Re: Go programming

Author: Peter McKenzie

Date: 16:31:00 02/13/04

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On February 13, 2004 at 16:58:05, Roy Eassa wrote:

>On February 13, 2004 at 16:02:29, Janosch Zwerensky wrote:
>
>>
>>>Go games between strong players of similar strengths are often decided
>>>by very long, complicated forced lines where both players repeatedly
>>>have to make deep and precise calculations in order to find the right
>>>moves.
>>
>>I don't think so. Most of the time, a complicated fight is in my experience
>>merely the last and most obvious symptom that something went horribly wrong long
>>before that (a big group that has to run obviously was weak before the opponent
>>started to chase it), and hence most of those games are not really decided by
>>miscalculation on one side or the other.
>>Of course, this doesn't mean that (deep! complicated!) tactics aren't a crucial
>>part of the game of Go, it's just that, as is the case also in chess, tactics
>>don't fall out of the blue anywhere.... :)
>>
>>Regards,
>>Janosch
>
>
>I'm wondering if it's possible to get quite strong at Go even if you're
>tactically at a level only a little above beginner.  In other words, if your
>feel for "shape" is very highly tuned, can you regularly beat Go players who are
>much stronger tactically?

I would say no.
To be strong I think it is necessary to be strong in life and death, which I
would call tactics.

>My best anaolgy is that I met Edward Lasker when he
>was in his 90s and he outplayed many local chessplayers positionally but fell
>victim to tactical errors in a few games.  In chess, tactics are basically
>everything -- if one player is clearly better tactically, the other one has
>little chance to win.  But in Go, it seems like tactics are (is?) almost more of
>a "tiebreaker" between two players of equal strategic strength, assuming neither
>is makes gross beginner-level tactical blunders.
>
>The theory is this: In chess, tactics matter much, much more than strategy.
>Only when both players play equal tactically is strategy a big deal.  In Go,
>strategy matters more than tactics.  Only when both players play equally well
>strategically is (are?) tactics likely to matter much.



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