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Go
photograph of Go equipment with game in progress
Go is played on a grid of black lines (usually 19×19). Game pieces, called stones, are played on the line intersections.
Years activeZhou Dynasty (1046–256 BC) to present
GenresBoard game
Abstract strategy game
Players2
Setup timeMinimal
Playing timeCasual: 20–90 minutes
Tournament: 1–6 hours[a]
ChanceNone
Age range3+[1]
SkillsStrategy, tactics, observation
SynonymsIgo
Baduk / Paduk
Weiqi ("way-chee")
Cờ vây
a Some professional games exceed 16 hours and are played in sessions spread over two days.[citation needed]

Rules

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Placing stones

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The two players, Black and White, take turns placing stones of their colour on the intersections of the board, one stone at a time. The usual board size is a 19x19 grid, but for beginners 13x13[2] and 9x9 are also popular.[3] The board is empty to begin with.[4] Black plays first, unless black is given a handicap of two stones or more (in which case, white plays first). The players may choose any unoccupied intersection to play on, except for those forbidden by the ko and suicide rules (see below). Once played, a stone can never be moved and can be taken off the board only if it is captured.[5] A player may also pass, declining to place a stone, though this is usually only done at the end of the game when both players believe nothing more can be accomplished with further play. When both players pass consecutively, the game ends[6] and is then scored.

Liberties and capture

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Vertically and horizontally adjacent stones of the same color form a chain (also called a string or group).[7] Only stones connected to one another by the lines on the board create a chain; stones that are diagonally adjacent are not connected. Chains may be expanded by placing additional stones on adjacent intersections, and can be connected together by placing a stone on an intersection that is adjacent to two or more chains of the same color.[8]

A vacant point adjacent to a stone, along one of the grid lines of the board, is called a liberty for that stone.[9] Stones in a chain share their liberties.[7] A chain of stones must have at least one liberty to remain on the board. When a chain is surrounded by opposing stones so that it has no liberties, it is captured and removed from the board.[10]

Suicide

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A player may not place a stone such that it or its group immediately has no liberties, unless doing so immediately deprives an enemy group of its final liberty. Then, the enemy group is captured.[11] The Ing and New Zealand rules do not have this rule,[12] and there a player might destroy one of its own groups—"commit suicide".

The ko rule

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The ko rule states that a player may not play a move that recreates the board from a previous position. The rule prevents an infinite game. An often occuerence is when a player plays a stone in such a way that captures a stone and also only have one liberty. Players have to play somewhere else before capturing the stone. This is called a "ko fight".[13]

Scoring

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The aim of the game is to surround more territory than the opponent. Two general types of scoring system are used, and players determine which to use before play. Both systems almost always give the same result. Territory scoring counts the number of empty points a player's stones surround, together with the number of stones captured by that player.[14] Area scoring counts the points of territory surrounded by a player, plus the number of that player's stones on the board.[15]

Territory scoring

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Territory is areas of vacant intersections surrounded by stones belonging to one player, such that the opponent cannot place stones within it without these being captured. At the end of the game, the player with more territory is the winner.[16] Stones captured during the game by one side are used to fill in the opponent's territory during the game, thus reducing their score by one point for each captured stone.[17]

Stones inside opposing territory that cannot survive are considered prisoners at the end of the game and need not be captured by explicitly filling all of their liberties.[14]

Area scoring

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Komi

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In most games, White receives a bonus of 5.5 to 8.5 points as compensation for the advantage Black gains from having the first move. In a tournament, the tournamend directors decides the Komi points.[18] The half point in the Komi prevents draws.[19]

Handicap

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Handicaps are extra stones a player may play at the beginning of a game. It is given to the weaker player if a difference in ranks occur and the handicap is equal to the difference in kyu or dan ranks. Handicaps are usually played on the 9 star points but can be played anywhere.[20]

Time control

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Strategy and tactics

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Phases

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Opening

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In the opening of the game, players usually play and gain territory in the corners of the board first, as the presence of two edges make it easier for them to surround territory and establish their stones.[21] From a secure position in a corner, it is possible to lay claim to more territory by extending along the side of the board.[22] The opening is the most theoretically difficult part of the game, and takes a large proportion of professional players' thinking time.[23][24] The first stone played at a corner of the board is generally placed on the third or fourth lines from the edge. Playing nearer to the edge does not produce enough territory to be efficient, and playing further from the edge does not safely secure the territory.[25]

Middle game

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In the middle game, players expand and invade each others territories. The players must think big and fight for the major territories.[26] It is usually more intense and lasts over 100 moves which takes up most of the game. The middle game ends when the major territories are settled and the players must fight for the minor points.[27]

Endgame

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Near the end of a game, play becomes divided into localized fights that do not affect each other.[28] One can choose to pass and when there are 2 consecutive passes, the game is ended and it is scored.[29]

History

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  • In ancient times the rules of go were passed on verbally, rather than being written down.[30]

Equipment

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A typical go board is made of wood, usually 4–5 inches (10–13 cm) thick. The lines forming the playing surface are drawn parallel to the edges. The board is not perfectly square, but is slightly rectangular and is placed so that the narrow sides face the two players.[31] A traditional board would be made out of the wood Katsura and would also have attached legs made from the wood of Kaya.[32]

Go stones are available from a variety of materials including: clam shell, slate, glass, plastic, pottery and bamboo. The standard black stones are 2.18cm in diameter while the white stones are 2.12cm in diameter.[33]

Place in culture

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Go problems

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Competitive play

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Mathematics and computers

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In the endgame, it can often happen that the state of the board consists of several subpositions that do not interact with the others. The whole board position can then be considered as a mathematical sum, or composition, of the individual subpositions.[34] It is this property of go endgames that led John Horton Conway to the discovery of surreal numbers.[35]

Variants and other rule sets

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Notes

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Citations

  1. ^ "Info for School Teachers and other Youth Go Organisers". British Go Association. Who can play go?. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  2. ^ Nihon Kiin 1973, p. 22 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFNihon_Kiin1973 (help)
  3. ^ Moskowitz, Marc L. (2013), "Weiqi Legends, then and now: Cultural Paradigms in the Game of Go", in Lent, John; Fitzsimmons, Lorna (eds.), Asian Popular Culture, United Kingdom: Lexington Books, p. 14, ISBN 978-0-7391-7961-1, retrieved 2014 May 9 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  4. ^ Lasker 1960, p. 2
  5. ^ Nihon Kiin 1973, p. 23 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFNihon_Kiin1973 (help)
  6. ^ Fairbairn 2004, p. 12
  7. ^ a b Fairbairn 2004, p. 7
  8. ^ "Go The Board Game" (PDF). Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  9. ^ Fairbairn 2004, p. 6
  10. ^ Dahl 2001, p. 206
  11. ^ "How to Play Go - British Go Association". British Go Association. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  12. ^ "Comparison of Some Go Rules". British Go association. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  13. ^ Bozulich, Cho Chikun ; edited by Richard (1997). Go : a complete introduction to the game (3rd ed. ed.). Tokyo: Kiseido. ISBN 4906574505. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); |first1= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ a b Smith 1908, pp. 30, 31
  15. ^ "How to play Go?". flyordie.com. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  16. ^ Nihon Kiin 1973, p. 24 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFNihon_Kiin1973 (help)
  17. ^ Nihon Kiin 1973, p. 27 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFNihon_Kiin1973 (help)
  18. ^ "A change in Komi". Archived from the original on 6 July 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2014. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 4 February 2012 suggested (help)
  19. ^ "GoBase.org - The Rules of Go - Komi". GoBase.org. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  20. ^ "Curriculum Guide for Go In Schools" (PDF). Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  21. ^ Ishigure 2006, pp. 7, 8
  22. ^ Otake 2002, p. 2
  23. ^ Ishigure 2006, p. 6
  24. ^ Kageyama 2007, p. 153
  25. ^ NihonKiin 1973, p. 7
  26. ^ "Thinking big in Go". gogameguru.com. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  27. ^ translated, Sakata Eio ;; Bozulich, edited by Richard (2007). The middle game of go (4th ed. ed.). Bronx, NY: Ishi Press. ISBN 978-0923891770. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  28. ^ Muller & Gasser 1996, p. 273
  29. ^ "KGS Go Tutorial: Game End". Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  30. ^ Chen 2011, p. 1
  31. ^ Lasker 1960, p. 1
  32. ^ "GO EQUIPMENT". Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  33. ^ "Wood, Shell and Stone - Stuart Dowsey". Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  34. ^ Moews 1996, p. 259
  35. ^ O'Connor, J.J.; Robertson, E.F., Conway Biography, retrieved 2008-01-24

References

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Articles

  • Dahl, Fredrik A. (2001), "Honte, a Go-Playing Program Using Neural Nets", in Fürnkranz, Johannes; Kubat, Miroslav (eds.), Machines that Learn to Play Games, Advances in Computation: Theory and Practice, vol. 8, United States of America: Nova Science Publishers, pp. 205–223, ISBN 1-59033-021-8, retrieved May 10, 2014
  • Berlekamp, Elwyn; Kim, Yonghoan (1996), "Where is the "Thousand dollar ko"?", Games of No Chance, MRSI Publications, vol. 29, pp. 203–226 {{citation}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  • Landman, Howard (1996), "Eyespace Values in Go", Games of No Chance, MRSI Publications, vol. 29, pp. 227–257 {{citation}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  • Moews, David (1996), "Loopy Games and Go", Games of No Chance, MRSI Publications, vol. 29, pp. 259–272 {{citation}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  • Müller, Martin; Gasser, Ralph (1996), "Experiments in Computer Go Endgames", Games of No Chance, MRSI Publications, vol. 29, pp. 273–284 {{citation}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)

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Books

  • Davies, James (2003). Tesuji. Elementary Go Series. Vol. 3 (3 ed.). Japan: Kiseido Publishing Company. ISBN 4-906574-12-2.
  • Davies, James (1976). The Endgame. Elementary Go Series. Vol. 6 (1 ed.). Japan: Ishi Press. ISBN 4-906574-15-7.
  • Ishigure, Ikuro (2006). In the Beginning: the Opening in the game of Go. Elementary Go Series. Vol. 1 (8 ed.). Japan: Kiseido Publishing Company. ISBN 4-906574-10-6.
  • Nihon Kiin (1973). Go: the World's most Fascinating Game. Vol. 1 (1 ed.). Japan: Nihon Kiin.
  • Nihon Kiin (1973). Go: the World's most Fascinating Game. Vol. 2 (1 ed.). Japan: Nihon Kiin.
  • Otake, Hideo (2007). Opening Theory Made Easy: Twenty Strategic Principles to Improve Your Opening Game (6 ed.). Tokyo: Kiseido Publishing Company. ISBN 4-906574-36-X.
  • Smith, Arthur (1966) [1908]. The Game of Go: The National Game of Japan (14 ed.). Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company.