The Game of GO

Go is a strategic board game for two players, typically played on a wooden board marked with a grid composed of 19x19 lines (9x9 and 13x13 boards do exist, however, they are primarily used for teaching games, quick play, or to emphasize key points.)

Full size board

Players begin a game of Go by choosing either black or white stones (generally, the stronger player takes white). Each player, in a single turn, places a stone on the board on an empty intersection, called a "point". Black always plays first.

1.1: Liberties and Capturing

"Liberties", (also called "dame" in japanese) are the empty points surrounding a stone placed on a "point". Liberties give the stone life, in that once all of the surrounding liberties are occupied by stones of the opposite color, the stone is captured. When a stone or group only has one liberty remaining it is known to be in "atari". Atari is often used as a warning to a player that a group on the board is within only one stone placement from "capture". With the resulting capture, the white stone is removed from the board and kept by the other player, for later counting.

Capturing Diagram 1 Capturing diagram 2 capturing diagram 3 capturing diagram 4 Liberties Atari Capture Result

When stones are placed along side each other, the liberties of a group are increased thusly.

liberties 1 liberties 2

Inversely, when all the liberties of a large group are taken away,
the opponent not only gains several "captured" stones but also crucial territory.

group kill group kill 2

1.2: Creating Territory

The object of Go is to control territory. Territory is decided by the number of empty spaces or "points" presently secured by a player. The player who controls the most territory wins.

end game

Here is an example, of a 19x19 board at the end of the game. Black has 30 empty points surrounded in the top left corner, and a total of 64 in other places on the board. Black's total is 94. White has 30 on the left side, 32 in the top right corner, and 21 in other places on the board, for a total of 83. Black would win this game by 11 points by securing the most territory. Territory is created most easily in the corners, then the sides, and finally in the center. It takes only two walls of stones to surround territory in the corners, and three on the sides, compared to four in the center.

1.3: Maintaining Territory ("Creating Life")

The basic rules of Go state that when a group's last liberty is removed, the group is captured. It follows that if a group has at least two liberties which cannot be removed, the group cannot be captured and is known to have "two eyes" a sign of a "living group." As long as a group of stones has these "two eyes", it can never be captured.

two eyes

1.4: Further Rules: Ko, Suicide, Seki

Rule of Ko: In a position where one stone has just been captured, the player with the turn may not take back to leave the same position, they must first however play elsewhere on the board before playing that position.

Ko fight 1 Ko fight 2 Ko fight 3 Ko fight 4

Rule of Suicide: Capture takes precidence over "suicide". A player can never play a stone where he immediately takes away all the liberties of that stone, unless it is to capture a stone or group.

Suicide

Rule of Seki: "Seki", which can be translated as mutual life, is a sort of symbiosis where two live groups share liberties that neither of them can fill without dying.If Black unwisely allows White to play three times inside the territory on the left, with out answering, Whites stones will be safe from capture. Black tries but is taken. White equally cannot captue Black. Neither player counts any territory in a "Seki" position. Therefore, if a "Seki" position persists until the end of the game, the area involved is simply left out of counting

Seki1 Seki2

1.5: A Lifetime of Learning

Many Go masters spent an entire lifetime perfecting strategies in Go. Unfortunately for them, ancient Go players did not have the advantage of the Internet. The internet is a major resource for further strategy as well as online play.
Today's Go players have several resources online:
American Go Association (AGA), Sensei's Library, GoBase.org and Kiseido.com (also known as KGS).
Beginning Go players should also look for local clubs and groups in there area, in order to learn Go firsthand.

About Go: Rules

Minutes to learn, a lifetime to master.

1.1: Liberties and Capturing

1.2: Creating Territory

1.3: Maintaining Territory ("Creating Life")

1.4: Further Rules: Ko, Suicide, Seki

1.5: A Lifetime of Learning