It seems you've studied this more than me, so perhaps I'm just misunderstanding you, but it sounds like you are equating a finished game with endgame. Scoring a

It seems you've studied this more than me, so perhaps I'm just misunderstanding you, but it sounds like you are equating a finished game with endgame. Scoring a finished game is obviously trivial, but even when a small number of positions remain open on a Go board, the game tree is still combinatorically vast, and I don't think there are any "simple rules" for determining optimal play.