I believe that beginners should not resign in games, instead they should play until there is almost no possible move left. Why? Well because the assumption that something is possible or not, either a successful invasion or the life/death of a group, is based on little experience, and is probably wrong. Even though this may irritate experienced players, among beginners it should be accepted.
In the following game, my Japanese opponent, followed this principle to the extreme. Many of his moves where absurd to the point that by move 312, after passing 11 times! I asked him "Are you a bot?", but received no answer. Looking at his game history, he had an enormous amount of games played, and his level hadn't improved, so I am 99% sure I was playing against a computer, after all, he definitely didn't pass the Turing test.
In move 249 I passed for the first time, but the game continued for another 100 moves! In situations like this, the fastest way to end the game is to kill any aji that's left even though we loose some points. Notice, however, how white managed to live in the upper right corner from move 320 onwards.
Maybe next time I could politely ask at the beginning of the game: "Are you human?".
Yeah I've run into players like this before too. One reason he probably didn't respond to you is that he didnt know English. Another thing is that you have to consider the fact that he didn't think he was losing. Or he was just waiting for you to make a big mistake so he could win.
ReplyDeleteIn order to deal with these kind of opponents, especially when I have a HUGE lead. I just make sure to remove all the stones off the board to show them how bad the situation is.
"Oh look. Those 50 stones are gone now. Please resign. You have no hope of winning. All aji is gone." =D