[Stones and Stories] A Go Draw Rarer Than a Hole-in-One

A Draw Is Rare in the World of Baduk
The First Official Jangsaeng Draw in 2003
Jangsaeng: A Choice That Saves Everyone at the Crossroads of Fate

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] In golf, a hole-in-one is a symbol of luck and miracle. It is the scene where the golf ball is sucked into the hole cup with a single tee shot. Golfers may experience this only once in their lifetime during a field round.

When such an event happens, making a hole-in-one commemorative plaque is a given. Gifts must also be given to the round companions and caddies. It is an event accompanied by a cost burden of millions of won.

So much so that people even take out hole-in-one insurance to prepare for that day which may come at any time. A hole-in-one is certainly a rare event. However, it is not uncommon to hear stories of someone experiencing it themselves or witnessing a colleague’s hole-in-one. It is a scene that can sufficiently happen around us.

In Baduk (Go), there is also a rare and honored occurrence similar to a hole-in-one in golf. That is a draw. Is there a draw in the world of Baduk where you must kill your opponent to survive? Strictly speaking, the structure of Baduk does not allow for a draw. This is because the player with the black stones receives komi (compensation points). In the past, it was five and a half points, and nowadays it is six and a half points as standard.

Simply put, if the territory of the black player is equal to that of the white player, the white player naturally wins. Even if black occupies six more points of territory, white wins by receiving six and a half points of komi. Counting the territories of black and white and adding komi ultimately determines the winner. The closest margin is a half-point (0.5 point) game, which is a loss for the defeated side, even if it is by half a point.

So what kind of scene could produce a draw in such a game of Baduk? First, there can be situations in partial battles within the game where superiority cannot be determined. In Baduk, this is called a ‘big’. A big is a shape where if either black or white plays first, the stones of the side that acts will die.

It is a situation where trying to capture the opponent’s stones results in one’s own stones dying. Neither black nor white dares to enter. They leave it as is until the end of the game. If a big is miraculously created in a situation where a large group of stones is about to be captured, the side in a desperate position can be saved. The big can change the outcome of the entire game.

In fact, a big is a scene that any Baduk enthusiast can experience. It is not common but can happen at any time. In the truest sense, a draw in Baduk is ‘Jangsaeng (長生)’. The dictionary meaning of Jangsaeng is long life. In Baduk, it refers to a repeated shape in life-and-death situations that is not a ‘pa (覇)’ shape. There are various interpretations of the origin of Jangsaeng, with some claiming it comes from ‘Bullo Jangsaeng (不老長生)’, meaning immortality.

Jangsaeng is an extremely rare scene, even more so than a big or a hole-in-one in terms of probability. It is like a unicorn, an imaginary creature. People know it exists, but very few have actually seen it.

In 2003, the first Jangsaeng draw in Korea occurred in the domestic Baduk league, the KB League. It was the first time this scene appeared in an official competition. The protagonists were professional Baduk players Choi Cheol-han and Ahn Sung-jun. When the Jangsaeng shape appeared, the players looked perplexed and sought the referee’s judgment. Ultimately, the referee declared a ‘draw without a rematch’.

Jangsaeng is called the Udambara of the Baduk board. Udambara is an imaginary flower mentioned in Buddhist scriptures. When a Jangsaeng shape appears, the Baduk community regards it as a good omen and attaches significance to it.

Jangsaeng is a choice that saves everyone’s life at the crossroads of fate that separates life and death. In that sense, the true name of Jangsaeng may be Sangsaeng (常生), meaning eternal life, or Sangsaeng (相生), meaning living together in coexistence.