Ko: (...continued from page 3) What is Go?

When there’s a ko, both players could Go is a fascinating and ancient

stubbornly persist in capturing one another’s strategy board game that’s been
stones and the game would go on forever. popular for at least 2,500 years (and
Because of that, there’s a rule that says that you probably more).
must play a move elsewhere, before you can
recapture the ko (on your next turn). Go is a two player game, where players
take turns to place stones on a board.
Ending a ko: If Black has to play
elsewhere after Dia. 2 (prev page) Go is a mental martial art.
then White has an opportunity to
fill the ko, resulting in Dia. 3. Its simple rules and deep strategies
Diagram 3
have intrigued everyone from emper-
Ko threats: If the ko is important, Black might
not want White to fill it. So Black needs to find a
ors to peasants for generations. And
they still do today. How to Play Go
way to distract White for one move and then
recapture. This kind of move is called a ko threat. Go is fun and exciting for people of (a basic introduction to the game)
any age, and playing Go helps you to
For example, Black might threaten to capture improve your memory, concentration
some other white stones and if White fills the ko, and self control.
Black will capture them. If White answers Black’s
ko threat, then Black can recapture the ko, taking Go can be played almost anywhere.
us back to Dia. 1. At that point White will need to In fact, it’s even been played by
come up with her own ko threat. astronauts in space!
You needn’t worry about losing a ko if you can
get enough compensation from your ko threat. All you need is a Go set and a partner.
If ko sounds confusing, don’t worry. You’ll under-
stand it better after playing some games. For “Go uses the most elemental materials
now, you just need to know what it is. and concepts – line and circle, wood and
stone, black and white – combining
them with simple rules to generate
Other rules: Congratulations! You now know
subtle strategies and complex tactics
everything you need to start playing Go!
that stagger the imagination.”
As you gain experience, you – Iwamoto Kaoru 9 dan
might discover special rules Go Master
for tournament play, and
other ways of counting the
score. But these nuances
don’t fundamentally change
the game. Your Go journey
gogameguru.com/learn
starts here. Have fun!
4
How to Play Go Living: This black group has two separate Ending the game:
eyes. White can’t capture with D or E, because After both players
• Two players (Black and White) take turns to neither will remove Black’s final liberty and pass, the game is
place stones on the board (Black moves first). White’s stone will be captured instead. over and now they
• Stones are placed on the intersections of the can fill in the eyes.
Because of that, groups that B
lines (not in the squares). White puts stones
have two eyes can never be
• Once you place a stone, it doesn’t move for at A and B and
captured and are alive. D E A C
the rest of the game, unless it’s captured and Black puts stones
removed from the board. at C and D.
Your goal: You want to control more of the board Now let’s count. D
The intersections adjacent to a 1 than your opponent does. Imagine that the Go
stone are called liberties. 4 2
board is an island and that the game is a race to Scoring: If you count the stones on the board,
This stone has four liberties claim its valuable land. you’ll see that White has 38 and Black has 43.
3
(the diagonals don’t count). The winner is the player with more stones on the So black wins by 5 points.
board at the end of the game. That means you can Tip: Taking the stones off the board and making
A group of adjacent stones (of the same color) win by capturing the other player’s stones and groups of 10 makes it faster and easier to count.
share their liberties. When stones run out of defending your own.
liberties, they’re captured and removed. Advanced Concepts:
Capturing: If Black plays at A (below) he can Example game: Here’s a game in progress. Seki: Here’s an interesting
capture (and remove) White’s stones. situation. Three black stones
The players have and four white stones seem to
divided the board x
If it’s White’s turn, be trapped, but they’re actually
she can escape A between them. perfectly safe. x
by playing at A. A The stones marked
with x’s don’t have Nobody wants to play at x, because if they do
x
enough space to their stones will be captured on the next turn.
Suicide: A stone placed on a point where x That means that these stones are alive without
make two eyes and
it has no liberties is already surrounded, so it will eventually be x eyes. This sort of situation is called a seki.
will be captured immediately. captured. x
White shouldn't play at B now, Ko: Sometimes a position like
because her stone would be
B this appears in a game. White
Both players keep taking turns until the board is can capture one black stone,
surrounded. If she plays there,
almost full. But remember that each group needs at which would lead to Dia. 2. But
Black will take her stone.
least two eyes, otherwise it might be captured. then Black can capture one white Diagram 1
If there aren’t any moves for you to play, you can stone, which would take us back
Eyes: White can’t play at C until she’s to Dia. 1!
pass and let the other player move. The game ends
removed all of Black’s outside
when both players pass. This situation is called ko, which
liberties. After that, playing at C
C means eternity in Japanese.
will capture the black stones. On page 3, we see the same game from earlier.
The point 3at C is called an eye. White has eyes at A and B and Black at C and D. (continued on the next page...) Diagram 2

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