Go is often played on a 19×19 board. It is a game between two players, black and white, and they each take turns placing stones down on the board on the intersections of the lines. Once stones are placed on the board, they do not move unless they are captured. Other types of boards are the 13×13, for shorter games, and 9×9, for beginners.

  

 

Capturing Stones

When placing down stones, the empty intersections next to the stones are called liberties. When a stone, or group of stones, have no more liberties, it is captured, or taken prisoner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Territory

However, the idea of Go is not to gain more prisoner’s than your opponent, nor to place down more stones than your opponent. A win in Go is determined by the amount of territory, or intersection, that an opponent has.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note that in both of the above examples, it is not advantageous for either White or Black to play anymore. If stones White stones are played in White’s area or vice versa, the territory will be reduced by 1. Comparatively, if White plays in Black territory, the stones would be considered ‘dead’ due to the strength of Black’s shape.


Winning and Komi

‘Komi’ is the rule which gives White extra territory points at the end of the game. This rule was introduced around World War II and slowly gained popularity in different countries over the years. Through its history Komi started from 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 to, finally, 5 1/2 points. It is agreed that Black has more of an advantage because it makes the first move of the game. The debate is how much of a lead Black has for that first move.

Currently, in 2016, the global komi is at 7 1/2 pts though, depending on the level of play, it can drop to 7pts or be considered 8pts.

Due to this komi rule, there is always a clear winning in Go. The half point inclusion is there to ensure that there is always a winner even if the territories add up to the same number.