Talk:Go (game)/Rewrite
{{redirect|Goe||GOE (disambiguation)}}
{{about|weiqi|other things named "Go"|Go (disambiguation)}}
{{redirect|Wei-chi|the Chinese word|Chinese word for "crisis"}}
{{Infobox game
|title = Go
|italic title = no
|image_link = File:FloorGoban.JPG
|image_caption = Go is played on a grid of black lines (usually 19×19). Game pieces, called stones, are played on the line intersections.
|years = Zhou Dynasty (1046–256 BC) to present
|genre = Board game
Abstract strategy game
|players = 2
|setup_time = Minimal
|playing_time = Casual: 20–90 minutes
Tournament: 1–6 hours{{ref label|note1|a}}
|random_chance = None
|skills = Strategy, tactics, observation
|AKA = {{tlit|ja|Igo}}
{{tlit|ko|Baduk}} / {{tlit|ko|Paduk}}
{{tlit|zh|Weiqi}} ("way-chee")
{{tlit|vi|Cờ vây}}
|footnotes = {{note label|note1|a}}Some professional games exceed 16 hours and are played in sessions spread over two days.{{cn}}
}}
Rules
=Placing stones=
The two players, Black and White, take turns placing stones of their colour on the intersections of the board, one stone at a time. The usual board size is a 19x19 grid, but for beginners 13x13
{{Citation | last = Moskowitz| first = Marc L.| editor-last = Lent| editor-first = John| editor2-last = Fitzsimmons| editor2-first = Lorna| year = 2013| title = Asian Popular Culture | chapter = Weiqi Legends, then and now: Cultural Paradigms in the Game of Go| publisher = Lexington Books| place = United Kingdom| page = 14| isbn = 978-0-7391-7961-1| url = http://books.google.com.au/books?id=OixuQqUWHbIC| accessdate = 2014 May 9 }}
The board is empty to begin with.{{harvnb|Lasker|1960|p=2}} Black plays first, unless black is given a handicap of two stones or more (in which case, white plays first). The players may choose any unoccupied intersection to play on, except for those forbidden by the ko and suicide rules (see below). Once played, a stone can never be moved and can be taken off the board only if it is captured.{{harvnb|Nihon Kiin|1973|p=23}} A player may also pass, declining to place a stone, though this is usually only done at the end of the game when both players believe nothing more can be accomplished with further play. When both players pass consecutively, the game ends{{harvnb|Fairbairn|2004|p=12}} and is then scored.
=Liberties and capture=
Vertically and horizontally adjacent stones of the same color form a chain (also called a string or group).{{harvnb|Fairbairn|2004|p=7}} Only stones connected to one another by the lines on the board create a chain; stones that are diagonally adjacent are not connected. Chains may be expanded by placing additional stones on adjacent intersections, and can be connected together by placing a stone on an intersection that is adjacent to two or more chains of the same color.{{cite web|title=Go The Board Game|url=http://kopoint.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/go-the-game.pdf|accessdate=20 August 2014}}
A vacant point adjacent to a stone, along one of the grid lines of the board, is called a liberty for that stone.{{harvnb|Fairbairn|2004|p=6}} Stones in a chain share their liberties. A chain of stones must have at least one liberty to remain on the board. When a chain is surrounded by opposing stones so that it has no liberties, it is captured and removed from the board.{{harvnb|Dahl|2001|p=206}}
==Suicide==
A player may not place a stone such that it or its group immediately has no liberties, unless doing so immediately deprives an enemy group of its final liberty. Then, the enemy group is captured.{{cite web|title=How to Play Go - British Go Association|url=http://www.britgo.org/intro/intro2.html|publisher=British Go Association|accessdate=11 August 2014}} The Ing and New Zealand rules do not have this rule,{{cite web|title=Comparison of Some Go Rules|url=http://www.britgo.org/rules/compare.html|publisher=British Go association|accessdate=15 May 2014}} and there a player might destroy one of its own groups—"commit suicide".
=The ko rule=
The ko rule states that a player may not play a move that recreates the board from a previous position. The rule prevents an infinite game. An often occuerence is when a player plays a stone in such a way that captures a stone and also only have one liberty. Players have to play somewhere else before capturing the stone. This is called a "ko fight".{{cite book|last1=Bozulich|first1=Cho Chikun ; edited by Richard|title=Go : a complete introduction to the game|date=1997|publisher=Kiseido|location=Tokyo|isbn=4906574505|edition=3rd ed.}}
=Scoring=
The aim of the game is to surround more territory than the opponent. Two general types of scoring system are used, and players determine which to use before play. Both systems almost always give the same result. Territory scoring counts the number of empty points a player's stones surround, together with the number of stones captured by that player.{{harvnb|Smith|1908|pp=30,31}} Area scoring counts the points of territory surrounded by a player, plus the number of that player's stones on the board.{{cite web|title=How to play Go?|url=http://www.flyordie.com/go/help.html|publisher=flyordie.com|accessdate=20 August 2014}}
==Territory scoring==
Territory is areas of vacant intersections surrounded by stones belonging to one player, such that the opponent cannot place stones within it without these being captured. At the end of the game, the player with more territory is the winner.{{harvnb|Nihon Kiin|1973|p=24}} Stones captured during the game by one side are used to fill in the opponent's territory during the game, thus reducing their score by one point for each captured stone.{{harvnb|Nihon Kiin|1973|p=27}}
Stones inside opposing territory that cannot survive are considered prisoners at the end of the game and need not be captured by explicitly filling all of their liberties.
==Area scoring==
==Komi==
In most games, White receives a bonus of 5.5 to 8.5 points as compensation for the advantage Black gains from having the first move. In a tournament, the tournamend directors decides the Komi points.{{cite web|title=A change in Komi|url=http://www.usgo.org/org/komi.asp|accessdate=15 May 2014|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20120204051256/http://www.usgo.org/org/komi.html|archivedate=6 July 2012}} The half point in the Komi prevents draws.{{cite web|title=GoBase.org - The Rules of Go - Komi|url=http://gobase.org/studying/rules/?id=6&ln=uk|publisher=GoBase.org|accessdate=15 May 2014}}
=Handicap=
Handicaps are extra stones a player may play at the beginning of a game. It is given to the weaker player if a difference in ranks occur and the handicap is equal to the difference in kyu or dan ranks. Handicaps are usually played on the 9 star points but can be played anywhere.{{cite web|title=Curriculum Guide for Go In Schools|url=http://www.usgo.org/files/pdf/CastanzaCurriculum.pdf|accessdate=20 August 2014|ref=usgo.org}}
=Time control=
Strategy and tactics
Phases
=Opening=
In the opening of the game, players usually play and gain territory in the corners of the board first, as the presence of two edges make it easier for them to surround territory and establish their stones.{{harvnb|Ishigure|2006|pp=7,8}} From a secure position in a corner, it is possible to lay claim to more territory by extending along the side of the board.{{harvnb|Otake|2002|p=2}} The opening is the most theoretically difficult part of the game, and takes a large proportion of professional players' thinking time.{{harvnb|Ishigure|2006|p=6}}{{harvnb|Kageyama|2007|p=153}} The first stone played at a corner of the board is generally placed on the third or fourth lines from the edge. Playing nearer to the edge does not produce enough territory to be efficient, and playing further from the edge does not safely secure the territory.{{cite book|last1=translated|first1=Sakata Eio ;|last2=Bozulich|first2=edited by Richard|title=The middle game of go|date=2007|publisher=Ishi Press|location=Bronx, NY|isbn=978-0923891770|edition=4th ed.}}
=Endgame=
Near the end of a game, play becomes divided into localized fights that do not affect each other.{{harvnb|Muller & Gasser|1996|p=273}} One can choose to pass and when there are 2 consecutive passes, the game is ended and it is scored.{{cite web|title=KGS Go Tutorial: Game End|url=https://www.gokgs.com/tutorial/gameEnd.jsp|accessdate=21 September 2014}}
History
- In ancient times the rules of go were passed on verbally, rather than being written down.{{harvnb|Chen|2011|p=1}}
Equipment
A typical go board is made of wood, usually {{convert|4-5|in|cm}} thick. The lines forming the playing surface are drawn parallel to the edges. The board is not perfectly square, but is slightly rectangular and is placed so that the narrow sides face the two players.{{harvnb|Lasker|1960|p=1}} A traditional board would be made out of the wood Katsura and would also have attached legs made from the wood of Kaya.{{cite web|title=GO EQUIPMENT|url=http://www.kiseido.com/go_equipment.htm|accessdate=26 October 2014}}
Go stones are available from a variety of materials including: clam shell, slate, glass, plastic, pottery and bamboo. The standard black stones are 2.18cm in diameter while the white stones are 2.12cm in diameter.{{cite web|title=Wood, Shell and Stone - Stuart Dowsey|url=http://www.wussu.com/go/stones.htm|accessdate=26 October 2014}}
Place in culture
Go problems
{{Main|Tsumego}}