Go: Rules & How to Play | The Big Book of Games

01Discover the game

The Go contrasts black and white stones. Each blow adds a stone that helps to surround space or defend a group. The basic rules are short, but reading the consequences and judging the territories requires great mastery: its overall difficulty is Expert. We follow the surface counting of the French rule, on a small board to begin with.

02Equipment

You need a Go board and two sets of stones. The traditional board has 19 lines by 19, with 181 black and 180 white stones. For this introduction, use a 9-by-9 board, with 81 intersections. The same set of stones keeps you from running short after captures. An intermediate 13 × 13 board has 169 intersections and uses the same rules. Two bowls separate the colors. No dice are used.

A goban is counted in lines and intersections: 9 × 9 = 81, 13 × 13 = 169, 19 × 19 = 361. The stones go on the crosses, including those of the edge.

03The goal

Get the largest surface: your stones still present, plus the empty intersections that you surround. White receives a compensation called komi, fixed here at 7.5 points as in the French rule on an equal basis. Catches can help you create space, but they do not return separate points in this count.

04Preparing the game

Install the empty goban. Attribute the colors randomly for a first game, then alternate them. Black begins. The reinforced points of the tray are only markers: you do not have to play it. Agree with the komi of 7,5 and surface counting before starting. We do not place any handicap stones in this discovery part.

05Lay, connect, capture and protect

One stone per tower

In your turn, lay a stone on an empty intersection or announce that you are passing. The stones go on the crosses of the lines, never in the middle of the squares. A stone laid no longer moves. You cannot lay on a stone already present, even of your color. Black and White play alternatively.

Chains and freedoms

Stones of the same colour that touch each other horizontally or vertically form a chain. The diagonal contact does not connect them. The empty intersections immediately adjacent, along the lines, are the freedoms of this chain. A freedom common to several stones is only counted once.

In the centre, an isolated stone can have four freedoms; on one edge, three; in one corner, two. As soon as a chain no longer has any freedom, it is captured whole and removed from the goban. A chain that has only one freedom is in atari : the opponent could capture her at the next shot.

When you lay a stone, first remove the opposing channels deprived of their last freedom. Then check the freedoms of your own chain. A blow that would leave your own chain without freedom is forbidden, unless the opposing capture gives it precisely freedoms. So it is sometimes legal to enter an area apparently completely surrounded to capture.

Small circles mark freedoms, not stones: four around an isolated stone; seven around this L chain. Freedom shared at the bottom of the L counts only once.

BEFORE: White has more than freedom circled. Black plays there. AFTER: the white stone is removed; its old intersection becomes a freedom. The small circle of the first drawing shows exactly where Black lays its stone.

Some variations, including the New Zealand rule, allow for forms of capture of its own stones. We do not apply this permission: in this chapter, a blow that does not capture the opponent and leaves its own chain without freedom is prohibited.

The ringed point is surrounded by four white stones that still have other freedoms. Black n áy captures no one and would himself have no freedom: this blow is forbidden in the French rule used here.

The eyes and the lives of the groups

An eye is a small empty space inside a group, surrounded so that it is not a capture door. A group with two real eyes separated can survive: the opponent cannot fill both in one pose, and entering one without capturing would be a prohibited suicide. Two holes that communicate can form only one eye.

Watch out for false eyes: a small void may seem protected, while some stones around may be captured separately. Diagonals do not connect chains; therefore check all freedoms instead of counting only visible holes.

Two groups can also live by seki Each one would need to fill a common freedom but would be captured first by doing so. These groups remain on the set. The gaps shared between colors are neutral; a true eye belonging to only one color can count for it in the French count.

The two marked voids are two real eyes separated from the same black chain. Filling one eye would not capture the whole chain; White therefore did not have the right to play it. A diagonal contact alone never connects two chains.

The rehearsal and the ko

By laying a stone, a player must not restore the goban to a state that he had already given him by one of his poses. This rule prevents endless captures. In the frequent case of the ko, a stone captures a stone, and immediately resume the same position : the resumption is prohibited.

Play elsewhere to change the position. If your opponent responds to it and the overall position has changed, taking over the ko can become legal. It can also close the ko by connecting its stones. The prohibition relates to the overall repetition, not only on two points: a more complicated loop is not allowed however. Passing remains possible and serves to finish the game.

A : White occupies the top point. B : Black plays just below and captures this stone. C : An immediate white cover would recreate A ; it is forbidden. First, you have to change the position elsewhere, subject to the rule of repetition.

06One integer on 9 × 9

Here's a simple game to play together on an empty goban. It shows connections, territories, passes and score. Players cooperate to build an easy-to-count position: it's not a competition strategy. No capture takes place; for the shots and the ko, use the previous examples.

The columns range from A to H and then J: the letter I is skipped. The lines rise from 1 at the bottom to 9 at the top. D1 therefore designates the fourth intersection of the bottom line. The odd numbers are the black strokes, the pairs those of White. After each pose, check that the stone has freedom, directly or through its chain.

Building two borders

Hits 1–2 : Black D1, White F1.
Hits 3–4 : Black D2, White F2.
Hits 5–6 : Black D3, White F3.
Hits 7–8 : Black D4, White F4.
Hits 9–10: Black D5, White F5.
Hits 11–12: Black D6, White F6.
Hits 13–14: Black D7, White F7.
Hits 15–16: Black D8, White F8.
Hits 17–18: Black D9, White F9.

Start of our demonstration game: the first twelve poses are numbered. Black plays the odd numbers, White the peers. The bottom line carries the number 1; the columns follow A to H and then J, without I.

The stones of D now form a continuous black chain; those of F a white chain. Each chain has freedoms on both sides. The E column between them remains empty.

Separate indoor spaces

Hits 19–20 : Black A3, White J3.
Hits 21–22 : Black B3, White H3.
Shots 23–24 : Black C3, White G3.
Hits 25–26 : Black A7, White J7.
Hits 27–28: Black B7, White H7.
Hits 29–30: Black C7, White G7.

At first, the A3 and J3 stones are isolated, but they have enough freedom. The following poses progressively connect them to their borders D and F. Small lines 3 and 7 now divide each side into three empty spaces, which serve as large eyes. The edges of the goban close the outer sides.

Filling the Band Between Borders and Crossing

Hit 31 : Black E1 ; Hit 32 : White E2.
Hit 33: Black E3; Hit 34: White E4.
Hit 35: Black E5; Hit 36: White E6.
Hit 37: Black E7; Hit 38: White E8.
Hit 39: Black E9.
Hit 40: White passes; hit 41: Black passes. The game stops.

Each E stone connects horizontally to its D or F chain. There is therefore no suicide, even for the last pose. Both chains keep their spaces inside; no one is captured. All the groups remain alive. Players agree that no further blow is necessary.

Final position of the guided part, after 39 legal poses then two passes. The + mark 21 intersections of the black territory; the × mark 21 of the white territory. Black: 20 + 21 = 41. White: 19 + 21 + 7.5 = 47.5. White gains 6.5 points.

To count the voids of each camp, observe three rectangles: 3 columns × 2 lines below = 6; 3 × 3 in the middle = 9; 3 × 2 at the top = 6. This makes 21 intersections of territory per camp. There are 20 black stones and 19 white stones left. The following paragraph explains why these two quantities add to the territory.

07Finish and count points

When you think that there is no more useful blow, pass. Two consecutive passes stop the game. Examine the groups: the clearly condemned stones, which the opponent could capture despite any defense, are withdrawn by mutual agreement. Do not remove a group only because you do not like it. In case of disagreement, take the game back to settle its survival, then go again both.

For our direct counting, each living stone on the goban is worth one point to its color. Each empty intersection surrounded only by this color is worth one point. Empty areas that touch living groups of both colors are neutral. Do not add the stones captured during the game: they have already helped to free up intersections, and counting them again would be another system.

Add 7.5 to White. In our guided section, Black has 20 stones and 21 intersections of territory: 41 points. White has 19 stones and 21 intersections: 40, plus 7.5, or 47.5. White gains 6.5 points. Half point avoids equality. You can also give up if you recognize a lost position; it is not necessary to fill the entire board.

The French quick count with passstones is another way to get the same result, but here we use direct counting to avoid mixing procedures.

08Frequent errors

Do not place stones in the boxes. Do not connect two chains by a simple diagonal. Do not count twice the same freedom. Do not confuse "enclosed" and "without freedom": a group can live in an adverse area with two eyes. Do not resume a ko immediately and do not mix surface and score per prisoner.

09Start well

Before each blow, check the atari chains, yours and those of the opponent. Protects useful connections rather than running after all the isolated stones. The corners require less stones to surround a space. Finish several parts on 9 × 9 before going to 13 × 13 or 19 × 19: you will see the effects of your choices faster.

10Express summary

Goban empty; Black begins, then each lays a stone or passes.
The stones sit at intersections and do not move.
Connections follow the lines; a chain without freedom is captured.
No suicide after resolution of the catches, or prohibited repetition of position.
Two passes stop the game; remove the dead by common accord, or take again to decide.
Count living stones and territory, add 7.5 to White; the highest total wins.

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