Go · Complete guide
Go: how to play, where it came from, and how to win
The oldest board game still played with its original rules, and arguably the deepest. Five rules, no exceptions, and more possible positions than atoms in the universe.
Go is the simplest great game ever invented. Players take turns placing stones on the intersections of a grid; stones never move; whoever surrounds more of the board wins. There are no exceptions to learn and no special cases.
From that, everything follows. A group with no empty points beside it is captured. A group with two separate internal empty points can never be captured, because filling either would be an illegal suicide — which is why "two eyes live" is the first real skill every player learns. The ko rule stops infinite repetition, and passing twice ends the game.
What makes Go extraordinary is the gap between those rules and the play they produce. A 19×19 board has around 10170 legal positions, and — unlike chess — there is no simple way to judge who is ahead. That is why computers needed an extra twenty years and a new technique to beat humans, and why AlphaGo's victory in 2016 was a landmark rather than a footnote.
Start on 9×9. A game takes ten minutes, every mistake is visible, and it teaches capture, life and death and reading — everything except large-scale strategy.
How to play
Go has five rules and infinite depth. Liberties and capture, why two eyes make a group immortal, the ko rule, passing and scoring, and how handicap stones make any game fair.
Where it comes from
Go is the oldest board game still played with its original rules. From a mention in a Chinese chronicle of 548 BCE, through Japan's state-funded Go houses, to the night in Seoul when a machine played move 37.
- The earliest reliable reference to Go is in the Zuo Zhuan, describing events of 548 BCE.
- Go was one of the four arts of the Chinese scholar, alongside music, calligraphy and painting.
- Japan professionalised the game under the Tokugawa shogunate with four Go houses and the Castle Games.
- Honinbo Shusaku (1829–1862) is the most celebrated player in the game's history.
How to win
Three levels of Go strategy: corner-first openings, ladders and nets for beginners; shape, sente and direction for intermediates; thickness, aji, ko fights and positional judgement for advanced players.
- Territory costs about six stones in the corner, nine on the side and twelve in the centre — so open in corners.
- Beginners: learn ladders and nets, count liberties before fighting, and do life-and-death problems daily.
- Intermediate: keep sente, avoid empty triangles, and choose joseki by which way the wall will face.
- Advanced: use thickness to attack rather than to enclose, manage aji, and count ko threats before starting a ko.
Common questions
Is Go harder than chess?
The rules are far simpler and the play is deeper. Go has more possible positions and no easy way to evaluate a position, which is why it resisted computers so much longer.
What board size should a beginner use?
9×9. It teaches everything except whole-board strategy, a game takes ten minutes, and you will play dozens while a single 19×19 game is still going.
What is komi?
Compensation for White, who moves second — 7.5 points under Chinese rules, 6.5 under Japanese. The half point means games cannot be drawn.
How does Go handicapping work?
The weaker player takes Black and places extra stones on the star points before play — roughly one per rank of difference. A correctly handicapped game between a beginner and a professional is genuinely close, which is why Go clubs mix strengths so easily.
Did AlphaGo change how people play?
Yes. The immediate 3-3 invasion, early attachments and shoulder hits — all once considered bad — are now standard, and amateur strength worldwide has risen because everyone studies with an engine.
Guides
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