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How To Play Go
Learn Go, the Surrounding Game
What Is Go
Go is an abstract strategy board game for two players in which the aim is to capture more territory than the opponent by fencing off empty space. The game was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago and is believed to be the oldest board game continuously played to the present day.
The Go Board
Go is played on a square grid. There are different sizes you can play on... 5x5 - Beginner 9x9 - Intermediate 13x13 - Advanced 19x19 - Competition 19x19 is the official size used for serious competition and practice.
Go is a 2 player game. Each player picks a color to play and then take turns placing one piece at a time. Go is traditionally played with Black and White pieces, but you can use whatever you may have access to. Black typically plays first. -- You place stones on the intersections, including the corners, and the edges.
Your Turn
On your turn, you can do 3 things: 1: Play a piece 2: Pass (skip your turn) 3: Resign (Give up) The game ends when both players pass consecutively or one player resigns.
Capture Rules
In Go the pieces do not move. However, pieces can be removed, or "Captured." -- Each stone or group (string of connected stones), has life lines. These life lines are called "Liberties" (Libb - Err - Tea) A stone or group must have at least 1 liberty to remain on the board.
When stones do not have any liberties, they are removed from the board.
Illegal Moves
Playing a move that has 0 liberties is not allowed. This piece MUST be placed somewhere else.
However, a move is not illegal if you are capturing something.
No Repeats
The board is not allowed to repeat however. This is known as the "Ko" rule, or loop rule.
Stone Removal Phase
Once the game ends, you enter the stone removal phase. In this phase players remove pieces that will eventually be captured. If players cannot agree then play continues.
Scoring The Game
The area surrounded by a single color is territory. You add your territory to the amount of stones you have on the board. Your score = Territory + Stones -- White, or Player 2, gets a bonus score of 7.5 points for going second. Who ever has the highest score wins.
Other Scoring Methods
Depending on where you are, different counting rules may be used. The different ways of counting came about by organizations trying to make the game easier to count and more mathematically accurate. If you are playing online, Chinese rules are recommended for beginners. Most Go servers will handle counting and stone removal for beginners so you do not have to stress about it.
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