A Guide To Go

[ZeroFox]

You know the Go board game. Anyone plays it? I do.

Tutorial
1. What is Go?
2. How the Game is Played
3. Capturing
4. The Point Without Liberties
5. Gaining Liberties by Capturing
6. Life and Death
7. A Special Form of Life
8. The Rule of Ko
9. Ending the Game

[ZeroFox]

What is Go?

The basic rules of Go are easy. You can become a Go player in one afternoon.
Go is a game that two people play with a Go board and Go pieces, called "stones". The players take turns putting black and white stones on the board to surround area, or territory. Whoever has more territory at the end of the game is the winner.

The Go board is a grid. The lines of the grid intersect to form points, where you place your stones.



The darker points on the board are called starpoints, and are used to locate your position. The diagram above is a picture of the standard board, a 19x19 grid with 361 points (9 of them star points). An average game on the 19x19 grid (above) takes about an hour.

You can also play on smaller grids, usually 13x13 (average game time: 30 minutes) or 9x9 (average game time: 15 minutes). I recommend starting on a 9x9 board. With still more variations than chess, 9x9 retains all the interest of Go, while not taking as long and being a little easier to manage.

[ZeroFox]

How the game is played

Two people sit face to face with the board between them.
Notice one side of the grid is slightly longer than the other. The players should sit on the shorter ends.

The stronger player takes the white stones.

If the two player's abilities are similar, they choose for color. First, the older player takes a handful of white stones, and the younger player guesses odd or even. (If there is a language barrier, you can put one or two stones down instead of saying "odd" or "even.") The guesser takes black if he or she guesses correctly. Black has an advantage.

The player with the black stones begins. Take one stone between your index and middle fingers and place it on a point on the board. You can put your stone on any point you like, including the points along the edges. Next your opponent plays a stone on another point, and so on.

The players are referred to as "Black" and "White." The number on each stone in the diagram is the order in which it is played. To review the diagram below, find the point on your board where Black 1 was played and put the first stone there, then put down White 2, and so on. Each stone is played one at a time. You can't play two stones at once.



In an even game (one between opponents of more or less equal ability), players start with an empty board and Black makes the first move. If there is a gap between the player's abilities, the weaker player needs a head start to make the game more balanced. A handicap game begins with some black stones already on the board, and White makes the first move.



At the end of the game, compare the size of of Black's and White's territory. Whoever has more territory wins.

Territory consists of the points surrounded by stones of the same color. The points surrounded by the black stones are black territory, and the points surrounded by the white stones are white territory.

Each point of territory is marked with an X. By counting the number of Xs, we see that Black has twelve points and White has ten points, so if this is the end of the game, Black wins by two points.

[ZeroFox]

Capture

In the battle for territory, you may capture your opponent's stones, or your stones may be captured.

One black stone is on the board (below). Notice the lines coming out from it. These lines are the stone's liberties.

A stone in the middle has four liberties. A stone on the edge has three liberties. A stone in the extreme corner has only two liberties.



Below, four black stones are blocking all the liberties of the white stone. There are no lines coming out from it, so White is surrounded completely. Stone without any liberties are captured. Once stones are captured, they are taken off the board



Below is the result of capturing the white stone. Stones that you have captured are like prisoners of war. These stones are put in the lid of your bowl. Keep track of your prisoners, as they have value



On the edges, three of your stones are needed to capture your opponent's stone. In the extreme corner, just two stones are needed.

Except when captured, once played, stones do not move out of position.

Stones with only one liberty left (below) are said to be in atari. Stones in atari can be captured on the next move. It is not necessary to say atari when you play a move that threatens to capture your opponent's stone.



No matter how many stones there are, if all their liberties are blocked, the stones are captured.

Below, the two black stones are in atari. If White plays at A, all Black's liberties are blocked, so Black's two stones are captured.



The following is the result of capturing the two black stones. White has two prisoners and two points of territory.



For the most part, you can play anywhere you like. There is one exception.

[ZeroFox]

The Point without Liberties

This is the shape that results when Black captures a stone. Can White play at A?



If White tries to play here, as on the right, White 1 doesn't have any liberties, so it is captured. Since captured stones are taken off the board, it looks like White didn't play but just gave Black a stone. You can't put a stone on a point without liberties.

Black 1 is not the same as White 1. Black 1 is connected to the other Black stones and shares liberties with them



Can White play 1?



White can play 1 because White's stone has a liberty at A. (Black can capture White 1 easily by playing at A, so White 1 isn't a great move, but it still remains on the board.


How about White 1 here?



This point has no liberties, so White cannot put a stone here.

[ZeroFox]

Gaining Liberties by Capturing

In this position White cannot play at A, because this point has no liberties.



Here, the two black stones at the bottom are in atari. Atari means that the stones can be taken out on the next move.








In this case, the two black stones are captured by White 1. White can play here because Black was in atari and White gained liberties by capturing.

www.samarkand.net/Academy/learn_go/diagrams/HPG17.gif






This is the result.




These eight white stones are connected and have one point of territory. Black cannot play in the center of this shape right now, because a stone there would just be taken out.





But if Black blocks all the outside liberties of the white stones, white will be in atari.





Now Black can play at 1 and take out all the white stones. Black can't play at 1 if White has even one liberty on the outside, because White would not be in atari.





This is the result.

[ZeroFox]

Life And Death

If you understand the principles behind capturing, you can "unpack" them to discover their consequences-- stones that have no liberties are removed from the board, therefore you can't play on a point without liberties, unless you gain liberties by capturing. At the bottom of the suitcase are the logical conclusions of these principles: life and death.

The black group of stones in the upper left corner (below) has two separate points of territory. Even if their outside liberties are blocked completely, White cannot capture these stones. For White to capture, the black stones first must be in atari. But these stones can never be placed in atari.



Even after Black is surrounded completely, White cannot play at 1, because a stone there is just taken off. Since you can't play on a point without liberties, or gain any liberties by capturing, these black stones cannot be put in atari. Any group with at least two separate points of territory cannot be put in atari, and so cannot be captured. Stones which cannot be captured are said to be alive.



Even if a group has two points of territory, if the two points are not separated, the group is not alive.

The black stones in the upper left corner have two points of territory, but the points are not separated. These stones can be captured.

To take out these stones, White can play 1. This is possible because White 1 has a liberty



The black stones are now in atari, so they can be captured. Black can capture with 2, but Black is still in atari. White can capture all the stones with 3. Stones that can be captured are dead.

Stones must have at least two separate points of territory for life. These two separate points are called eyes.

[ZeroFox]

A special form of Life

Stones must have two eyes to live, but in some unusual cases, Black and White can live together without two eyes



The four black stones and three white stones are cut off and have no eyes. But these stones cannot capture or be captured by each other.

If Black plays I, Black will be in atari, so White can capture.



But if White plays 1, White will be in atari, so Black can capture. This is a mysterious shape in which the first person to play here is captured. Therefore, no one wants to play here, and since one doesn't have to play, a local stalemate is the result.

This is called dual life

[ZeroFox]

The Rule of KO

Ko is a special shape in which Black and White can capture each other repeatedly. The rule of ko is important because it allows the game to continue.



In the upper left, the white stone is in atari, so Black can capture it with 1. The resulting shape is shown in the lower right corner. Now the black stone is in atari. If White captures it, we return to the original position. This could go on forever.

When a stone captures in ko, it may not be captured immediately.



Black captures the white stone in ko. White may not capture Black 1 immediately. Once White has played a stone anywhere else on the board, White may return to capture Black 1



White 2 has played away from the ko in response to Black's capture. If Black plays somewhere else, for example Black 3, White may return to capture the black stone in ko with 4. Now Black may not capture White 4 immediately, but must play somewhere else first.

[ZeroFox]

Ending the Game

The game ends when both players pass. You should pass when there are no more points to be surrounded. In practice knowing the correct time to pass is difficult. You may cost yourself points by continuing to play, or lose the opportunity to make points by passing too early.



Above is a picture of a completed game. There are no more places left where territory can be made or destroyed, so both players have passed. Notice there are some other points, marked with an X, that aren't surrounded by stones of the same color. These are neutral, that is, they aren't anyone's points.

Neutral points can be filled in to make counting easier. It doesn't matter who fills in the neutral points, but in practice, players take turns filling them, as liberties may be filled and possible captures exposed, and it's only fair that you give your opponent the chance to defend if you've just filled in a neutral point that exposes a weakness.



Above is a picture of a completed game. There are no more places left where territory can be made or destroyed, so both players have passed. Notice there are some other points, marked with an X, that aren't surrounded by stones of the same color. These are neutral, that is, they aren't anyone's points.

Neutral points can be filled in to make counting easier. It doesn't matter who fills in the neutral points, but in practice, players take turns filling them, as liberties may be filled and possible captures exposed, and it's only fair that you give your opponent the chance to defend if you've just filled in a neutral point that exposes a weakness.



You can rearrange the inside of the territory to make it easier to count, as long as you don't change the borders.

Here, White has twenty-four points, and Black has twenty-five points, so Black has won by one point.

[ZeroFox]

You can post now.

[Phoenix]

Sweet.....Thanks ZeroFox!

[Sugand]

I've played a couple of times, but I like Chinese Chess and Shogi better. Go...I find kind of...boring. But, I rate Hikaru no Go as my #1 favorite show.

[ZeroFox]

I don't really understand Shogi

[Cao Ren, played by xdonthave1x]

Its like chess, but the pieces you capture can be used by you later. (That correct? I only skimmed through a Wiki article.)