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BGonline.org Forums
Clarification of rule 5.6 (USBGT)?
Posted By: Daniel Murphy In Response To: Clarification of rule 5.6 (USBGT)? (Richard Biddle)
Date: Thursday, 3 May 2012, at 3:12 p.m.
Rule 5.6 applies to any score for which the trailer's win of a single game at the current cube level does not "ensure that the match will end with the current game." Ask: what level would the cube have to be on to ensure that the match ended if the trailer won a single game? That's the cube level that would be dead in that game. A centered cube is not dead if trailer is 2 or more away. A 2-cube is not dead if trailer is 3 or more way. A 4-cube is not dead if trailer is 5 or more away. And so on.
Further, the rule does not prevent the leader from doubling when the leader but not the trailer would win the match with a single win at the current cube level before leader's double or redouble.
My answers to your specific questions:
(1) At 4-away 2-away, a 2-cube is not dead since the trailer needs 4 points to win the match. Trailer's win of a single game on a 2-cube would not "ensure that the match will end with the current game."
I think this is clear from the rule as written.
(2) If the leader at 2-away 4-away redoubles to 4, (a) the redouble stands and (b) the trailer must either take or, in a no-contact position, concede game and match. I would surely not assume that a match-ending "pass" was a "resignation" or "concession," despite whatever ambiguities there are in Rule 5.6 and Rule 4.9.
Thus I would apply the rule in any similar situation: if at some score the cube is dead per Rule 5.6 before the double, the double is invalid and the game continues. If at some score the cube is not dead per Rule 5.6, the double stands and may be passed or taken but cannot be passed if a pass ends the match.
With regard to (a), if the intent of the rule had been to prevent the leader from making foolish doubles, it would have been easy enough to rewrite the rule. With regard to (b) I don't think we want matches won with a pass of a double. I concede that if the intent of Rules 5.6 and 4.9 had been that a match result may not be determined by a pass, it would also have been easy enough to rewrite those rules. Even so, my sense of fair play is that those rules as written should not be interpreted so as to allow either player to claim a match as won because opponent's pass has given the player the match point.
At a glance, Tom's suggested revisions seem to better reflect how I think Rule 5.6 should be applied.
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