An introduction to the game of Go and a discussion of the difference between Chess (complicated) and Go (complex).

1. Complexity & the game of Go
Stuart & Faith French
www.DeltaKnowledge.net

2. The Complexity Journey
Chaos
Theory
Cog‐Neuro
Science
David
Business Snowden
Mgt
Me!

3. “Your Ontology should guide your Epistemology” ‐ Snowden

4. Getting a grip on Complexity
Quick demonstration activity

5. Getting a grip on Complexity
Quick demonstration activity

6. How the idea got started
Resilience Robustness

7. Complexity & the game of Go
"Chess lies on the boundary between
the tasks best accomplished by careful
co‐ordination and design – the
strengths of planning – and those best
accomplished by experiment and
adaptation – the strengths of
markets."
‐ John Kay, Economist

8. Complexity & the game of Go
Chess Go
• 8 x 8 board • 19 x 19 board
• Play in squares • Play on lines
• Kings, Queens, Bishops, • Black stones and White
Rooks… stones
• Aim: to kill the other • Aim: to surround more
players King territory
• 1st 3 moves = 4,352 • 1st 3 moves = 46,655,640

9. What is Go?
• Go is a board game • It is played all over
• It originally came from the world, but
Tibet / China mainly in
• Created ≈ 2300 B.C. • Japan (iGo),
• China (Weiqi) &
• Korea (Baduk)
• Have you seen it
before?
Picture from www.igs.com

10. History of Go
• Played by the nobles
• Generals practiced
it for war
• Simple = Pure Strategy
• Cultured = Calligraphy
+ Archery + Haiku + Go
• Taught in 5 Schools

11. Basic Rules
• Start with a small, empty
board
• Each player takes a turn
placing one stone
4 3
anywhere on the board
• Each stone has liberties
2 1
• When a stone has no
more liberties it is
captured and taken from
the board

12. Basic Rules
• When two stones are
placed next to each other
they form an army
• An army has to lose ALL its
liberties to be captured
• The bigger an army is, the
stronger it is
• Whoever surrounds the
most intersections wins the
game

13. Practice Games

14. Some hints to get started
1. Don’t start near
the edge
2. Place fence posts
7 1
then the palings
8 2 3
3. Surround as
1 3 4 5 much area as
2
6 possible
1 2 4. Try not to play up
against the other
player
White Black
will win will win

15. Lets Play Go!

16. Scoring a Go game
Black: 18 + 1 = 19
The winner is
determined by
their score
Score = Points
Surrounded +
Prisoners taken
Rankings &
Handicaps
White: 15 + 5 = 20

17. Complexity & the 2 rules of Go
From a basic
framework and two
simple rules comes
amazing complexity
1. Suicide Rule
2. Ko Rule

18. Influence & Future Constraint
The famous ear‐reddening game – 1846 Inseki v Shusaku

19. Influence & Future Constraint
Why is move 127 so powerful?
It strongly influences many possible future moves

20. Complicated v Complex
Complicated Complex
More constrained Less constrained
Stable Unstable
Similar input = similar output Small changes => unpredictable results
Manage results Manage boundaries & attractors
Set Objectives Set Outcomes
Break down to details Chunk up & experiment
Apply Best Practice Use Safe‐Fail to discover what works
Dave Gray, Founder XPLANE >
“When you make the complicated simple, you make it better.
But when you make the complex simple, you make it wrong.”

21. More resources
Interactive Go Tutorial Complexity Tutorial
http://playgo.to/iwtg/en/ http://bit.ly/4sfHYG
Video Introduction to playing Go David Snowden’s Blog
http://blip.tv/file/262606/ http://bit.ly/1BOdoN
Free Go Software: Cognitive Edge Podcasts
• iGoWIN (simple 9x9 game) http://bit.ly/28a7Zu
– http://bit.ly/Qt9Tb
• American Go Association
Software List
– http://bit.ly/5BORFw
Kids
• Hikaru no Go – Anime video