Quick Tips for New Go Players

New players should learn the capturing game and should play on a 9x9 board.

These things are true of all versions (or stages) of Go:

1. Go is a board game for two players.
2. One player uses the black stones and the other uses the white stones. Black always goes first. The players take turns placing one stone on the board (one black, one white, one black, one white, etc.).
3. The stones are all alike, except for the two different colors.
4. The Go board begins empty. (Exception: A student or weaker player is given handicap stones, which are placed on the board before the game begins. The handicap stones are black. Then the teacher or stronger player, using white, makes the first move.)
5. Once a stone is placed on the board, it is never moved. (Exception: When a stone is captured, it is removed from the board. It is then the prisoner of the player who captured it.)

The games Othello (Reversi) and Pente (Five in a Row) look similar to Go, but they are not Go.

The Rules of Go

There are two rules in Go. The first one is about a place where you cannot play a stone. The second rule is about a situation called Ko, and it's best to have a Go player show you how that works. Ko does not occur in the capturing game. It will occur in "capture three."

The Full Game of Go

• The full game of Go is played on a 19x19 board.
• The object of the game is to surround more territory than your opponent.
• The game ends when both players agree that there are no more moves to be played.
• There are several ways to count the score at the end of the full game of Go. What is counted, in all cases, is the territory that the stones have surrounded.
• The player with more territory wins.

My Go teacher told me two things about the game of Go:

1. Go is a long game.
2. Go is a hard game.

He was right. What I like about the capturing game is that it isn't long, and it isn't hard. It's a good way to learn.

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