Go: Prolonging the game

I have a game in progress at the minute, where it looks as if my opponent doesn't really know the rules of the game game. He is basically playing every legal move possible, although he is about 300 points behind and can't possibly live with what he's doing. Is it ever possible to get an adjudication instead of having to play out some 250 pointless moves?

I've played this opponent before (I think). Usually, he passes after I pass first, and accept whatever dead group I propose. He never resign, never pass first (maybe to avoid doing the scoring). I never dared to tell him he should learn the rules.

I assume you mean game 1294378. One piece of advice I've seen in these cases is "Don't do any captures. It just frees up empty space for your opponent to make pointless moves."

And put it on the forum... Richard will give you the win when he reads this and has time (and of course the same insight, as you have)

I searched for a win of this player... he is black; guess who won the next game....

[game;id:1294583;move:76]

"it looks as if my opponent doesn't really know the rules of the game" "I never dared to tell him he should learn the rules." ...

exactly "what rules" are being broken here?

are you sure you know the rules of the game?

Nobody said he's breaking a rule. It seems the player's understanding of the game is so minimal he likely doesn't understand life and death, which could be characterized as a rule. Personally, I don't think it's quite right to consider to be rules anything about life and death beyond when a stone is captured, ko, and that one can't suicide. But it's even quite possible that the players doesn't understand even that much and is clicking random points on the board until a legal one is found.

The point is not that the play is illegal, but that an understanding of the rules would lead to different play. (Specifically, a cessation of play.)

it's javaness' choice to undertake to play this game where being forced by one's opponent "to play out ... pointless moves" is perfectly legal. lacking "an understanding of the rules [that] would lead to different play" isn't illegal either.

Nobody said it is illegal. It is, however, clueless and, to some, annoying.

And if it were being done by a beginner, it would be one thing. Instead, it's done by a player who has played, I think, thousands of all sorts of games here, including hundreds of Go games, and is terrible at all of them except the two at which is is easiest to cheat, where he is supposedly among the best.

Sorry, my last comment was about the loser of the game in the picture, not the winner.

in any event, if one wants to play GO online, one has to be ready for players such as these who throw etiquette out the window and push the rules to the limit. what if richard isn't able to intervene because he's on vacation? unfortunately, these situations are part of the game.

That I agree with. But politely discussing etiquette with your opponent and hoping for a more rapid conclusion is also something one should be prepared for. I don't think one should ask for intervention before taking that personal step and offering an explanation and acculturation to the opponent.

It's all in the game, and Go is the greatest game in the world, to argue about :)

Not always, Christian, not always.