GO 9x9 128K FOR THE ZX SPECTRUM © LAWLORD 2026, version 3.0 The game of Go on a 9x9 board, against the computer or for two players. Runs on the ZX Spectrum 128K, +2, +2A, +3 and Pentagon. This is the 128K version: it is stronger and uses all of the machine's memory. For the 48K there is a separate version 1.4. Two ways to play: in the ANIMATED view you play in the old Master's room, on the board from the loading screen; the CLASSIC view is the big board. LOADING go9x9_128k.tap is the tape. On the 128K and +2 choose Tape Loader from the menu, on the +2A and +3 choose Loader. Do not load it from 48 BASIC: the game would not have its memory and the screen shows 128K MODE NEEDED. First a picture loads, then the game loads under it, all at once; loading takes about ten minutes. go9x9_128k.z80 is a memory snapshot for emulators; the game starts at once. The file says it is for the 128K, so the emulator switches by itself. CHOOSING THE VIEW After loading, the top of the screen asks: CHOOSE A VIEW (CAN'T BE UNDONE): 1 ANIMATED (IN THIS ROOM) 2 CLASSIC VIEW (BIG BOARD) The choice holds until the game is loaded again. THE ANIMATED VIEW The Master sits across the board. He reaches for his bowl and places his stones himself. While he thinks (HMM...), he holds a closed fan and taps it now and then. He laughs when he captures your stones and when he wins, and he is amazed or cross when you capture his, when you take back a move, when he loses or resigns. If you think for more than a minute, he dozes off; any key wakes him. Now and then a cat comes in from the veranda, meows and takes a nap. Snow falls in the garden. His faces show only in games against him, not in games for two players. The sound is on the AY chip: the stones click on the board, the prisoners rattle into the lid, the cat meows. The menu is in the top band: 1 YOU:BLACK, YOU:WHITE or 2 PLAYERS 2 LEVEL: 10, 20, 30, 60 or 120 SEC (the Master's time per move) 3 HANDICAP: 0, 2, 3, 4 or 5 stones 4 KEYS: QAOP SP, 5678 0 (the cursor keys), SINCLAIR, KEMPSTON, or keys of your own: the screen asks for the keys for up, down, left, right and fire. ENTER or fire starts the game. Moves: the keys or the joystick move the cursor, fire plays (SPACE with QAOP, 0 with 5678; ENTER works as fire too). On an empty point the cursor blinks a stone of the side to move; on a stone it blinks that stone in the other colour. The last move is marked with a small plus of the other colour. 1 pass 2 take back a move (against the Master: his move and yours) 3 resign (press 3 again to confirm, any other key returns to the game) 4 the Master's time per move (also during a game) The bottom line: the move number, whose turn it is, CAPT B and W (the stones captured by Black and by White) and the point under the cursor. Messages: THIS POINT IS TAKEN, KO! PLAY ELSEWHERE FIRST, NO SUICIDE, PLEASE, SUPERKO: NOT ALLOWED (the move would repeat an earlier position), THE RECORD IS FULL (the game has 255 moves), PASS. (you passed), I PASS., I RESIGN. YOU WIN! The end of the game: after two passes in a row the Master marks the dead stones (LET ME SEE...) with a diagonal cross. If you disagree, move the cursor to a stone and press fire: the mark of the whole chain is switched (MARK THE DEAD STONES WITH FIRE). Then: 1 count the score 2 back to the game 3 new game (press 3 again) The territory is marked with small ovals, filled for Black and hollow for White. The bottom line shows both scores, White's with its komi (WHITE 45+7), and the result, for example W+16; at the top the Master says I WIN. THANK YOU FOR THE GAME!, YOU WIN. WELL PLAYED! or A DRAW!. Key 3 (pressed twice) starts a new game. THE CLASSIC VIEW The menu, after loading and before every new game: 1 BLACK YOU WHITE COMPUTER 2 LEVEL 30 SEC A MOVE 3 HANDICAP NONE KOMI 7 4 CONTROLS COORDINATES ENTER START Key 1 chooses who plays which colour: you Black and the computer White, the computer Black and you White, or two players. Key 2 chooses the computer's time per move: 10, 20, 30, 60 or 120 seconds (with two players the line is empty). Key 3 chooses the handicap: none, 2, 3, 4 or 5 stones. Key 4 chooses the controls: COORDINATES (typed on the keyboard), KEMPSTON or SINCLAIR (a joystick). Each key goes round its choices; ENTER starts the game (with a joystick, fire starts it too). JOYSTICK (CLASSIC VIEW) With KEMPSTON or SINCLAIR, a square cursor appears on the board. The joystick moves it, and fire plays there, as if you typed the coordinate and pressed ENTER. The Sinclair joystick is the one on the keys 6 to 0 (6 left, 7 right, 8 down, 9 up, 0 fire). After two passes, fire on a stone marks it dead or alive, and fire on an empty point counts the score. MAKING A MOVE (CLASSIC VIEW) Column letter (A-H and J; there is no I on the board), row digit, ENTER. For example: E, 5, ENTER. What you type appears on the panel after the ">" sign. The letter and the digit can be typed in either order; a new letter or digit replaces the previous one. CAPS SHIFT + 0 (DELETE) clears the input. The last move is marked with a dot on the stone. KEYS (CLASSIC VIEW) P pass. U take back a move. Against the computer it takes back its move and yours. N new game, which also means resigning. Answer Y to the question NEW?, then the menu appears; any other key returns to the game. The menu settings can also be changed during a game: K handicap: 0, 2, 3, 4 or 5 stones. S which side the computer plays: White (S CPU W); nobody, for two players (S 2 PL.); Black (S CPU B). L the computer's time per move: 10, 20, 30, 60 or 120 seconds. Takes effect from its next move. PANEL (CLASSIC VIEW) MOVE move number BLACK TO PLAY Black to move (or WHITE TO PLAY) CAPT. B, W stones captured by Black and by White THINK the computer is thinking I PASS the computer passed WHITE RESIGNS the computer resigned (BLACK RESIGNS if it played Black) TAKEN the point is occupied KO the move is forbidden by the ko rule SUICIDE suicide is not allowed SUPERKO the move would repeat an earlier position FULL the game has 255 moves, no more can be recorded RULES Area scoring (Chinese rules): one point for each of your stones on the board and for each empty point of your territory. White gets 7 points komi, so a draw (JIGO) is possible. Suicide is not allowed. A position that has already occurred in the game may not be repeated (positional superko). HANDICAP 2 to 5 stones, chosen in the menu (in the classic view also with key K). They are placed on G7, C3, G3, C7, E5 (in this order). White moves first; komi is 0.5 points. END OF THE GAME (CLASSIC VIEW) The game ends after two passes in a row. The computer marks the dead stones itself with a cross; while it is thinking, the panel shows WAIT. If you disagree, type the coordinate of a stone and press ENTER: the mark of the whole chain is switched. ENTER without a coordinate counts the score. The panel reminds you of this: DEAD:A1 and ENT=END. Black's territory is marked with filled squares, White's with hollow ones. The panel shows both scores, White's with its komi (B 45, W 29+7), and the result: the winner's letter and the margin, for example B+9 or W+3.5. If a pass was a mistake, key U returns to the game before counting. WHEN YOU PASS (BOTH VIEWS) If you pass, the computer counts the score the same way as at the end of the game, with the dead stones it sees, so it thinks a few seconds longer then. If it is winning, it passes too. If there are still open areas on the board that belong to nobody, it plays on, however often you pass. If the board is divided and it is losing by 15 points or more, it resigns. Otherwise it fills the remaining dame (empty points between its stones and yours) or makes one more try; when you pass again and no dame is left, it passes too and the game goes to counting. In a hopeless position the computer resigns. THE COMPUTER The time per move is kept on average. In the opening the computer often moves at once from its opening book; in clear positions it moves faster, and the time saved goes to the difficult moves. While you think, the computer also thinks about your possible moves. Keys pressed while the computer is thinking take effect after its move. It reads ladders: it knows when a string in atari that runs away will still be captured by a ladder. The 128K version uses all of the machine's memory: - about 8,000 shapes of the stones around a move (the 12 nearest points), learned from games of the program KataGo: the computer chooses better which moves to think about; - a tree of variations of about 1,000 positions in a bank of its own (the 48K one had 700): the more time it has, the deeper it reads, so it is clearly stronger at 60 and 120 seconds; - an opening book of 8,000 positions with the most frequent human replies; - in its quick imaginary games it follows local shapes of 3x3 points learned from a neural network.