Tromp - Taylor Rules

1. Go is played on a square grid of 19x19 lines, each intersection of which is called a point. Two players play, called “black” and “white”.
2. Each item can be either black, white, or empty.
3. From point P that does not have color C, color C is available if there is a continuous path from points of the same color as P connected vertically or horizontally from point P to any point of color C.
4. Color purification - the process of removing color for all items from which an empty color is unattainable.
5. The game begins with an empty board. Players take turns, Black makes the first move.
6. During his turn, the player can either walk or pass. If the player walks, this move should not lead to a repetition of the coloring of the board points previously encountered in the game.
7. The move consists in coloring one of the points in the color of the player. Then the opponent’s color is cleared, then the player’s color is cleared.
8. The game ends after two consecutive passes.
9. The player’s points are made up of the number of points of his color and the number of empty points of which only his color is achievable.
10. The player with the most points after the end of the game is the winner. With an equal number of points, a tie is declared.

It is easy to see that the Tromp-Taylor rules describe the game process as a formal procedure for coloring the playing field in three colors. These rules, unlike most well-known codes, are intended to be perceived not by a person, but by a computer, in connection with which the requirements of clarity and clarity were not presented. For the same reason, the rules are entirely based on the simplest calculated characteristics of the position and do not contain references to more complex tactical elements of the game. Additional rules of the game, such as handicap or Komi , are not entered into the main set at all, since they are considered as additions that do not affect the essence of the game.

If you try to state the Tromp-Taylor rules in a more familiar language for people, we can distinguish the following features:

• The rules are based on a topological definition of the concept of territory - the territory is a set of empty points, from which you can find the way to points either only black or only white. Thus, unlike the Japanese rules, where no points in secs are taken into account when calculating points, in this case the points surrounded entirely by one color will be the territory of the corresponding player.
• Similarly to the territory, a dead group is defined topologically, which allows dispensing with the concept of “dame” (respiratory station). In practice, the “color purification” rule is similar to the standard formulated rule for the life of a group that has at least one dame, so in this sense the Tromp-Taylor rules are no different from all other go rules.
• Super positional - a move is forbidden, leading to the appearance of the same coloring of the board.
• Suicidal moves are permitted in which one's own group is removed from more than one stone. This follows from a three-step move procedure (paint over a point, clear the color of the opponent, clear its color). Suicide of one stone is prohibited, since the repetition of the position is prohibited.
• The order of scoring is in accordance with Chinese rules - the territory and its own live stones bring points. Therefore, for a final finish, all neutral points on the board must be occupied.
• Removing doomed groups after the end of the game is not provided at all. The player must not pass until all groups of the opponent that can be removed have been removed, since after two passes all stones remaining on the board are considered to be alive. For practical application in people’s games, the rules must be supplemented with the procedure of agreeing on the status of groups and playing out games (similar to the rules of Inga or AGA ).

• The logical rules of go