The ancient game of go

Go is probably the oldest game in the world - first played some 3000 years ago, the rules have remained essentially unchanged ever since. The game probably originated in China or the Himalayas. Mythology has it that the future of Tibet was once decided over a go board when the Buddhist ruler refused to go into battle; instead he challenged the aggressor to a game of go to avoid bloodshed. In the Far East, where it originated, go enjoys great popularity to this day and interest in the game is growing steadily in Europe and America.

Like Chess, go is a game of skill and strategy but it differs from chess in many ways. The rules are much simpler yet the gameplay is far more complex - it has been described as being like playing four Chess games at once on the same board. So go is a greater challenge to players' analytical skills; furthermore it provides far more scope in go for intuition.

Go is a territorial game. The board, marked with a grid of 19 lines by 19 lines, may be thought of as a piece of land to be shared between the two players. One player has a supply of black pieces, called stones, the other a supply of white. The game starts with an empty board and the players take turns, placing one stone at each turn on a vacant point. Black plays first, and the stones are placed on the intersections of the lines rather than in the squares. Once played, stones are not moved. However they may be surrounded and so captured, in which case they are removed from the board as prisoners.

The players normally start by staking out their claims to parts of the board which they intend eventually to surround and thereby make into territory. However, fights between enemy groups of stones provide much of the excitement in a game, and can result in dramatic exchanges of territory. At the end of the game the players count one point for each vacant intersection inside their own territory, and one point for every stone they have captured. The one with the larger total is the winner.

Capturing stones is certainly one way of gaining territory, but one of the subtleties of go is that aggression doesn't always pay. The strategic and tactical possibilities of the game are endless, providing a challenge and enjoyment for players at every level. The personalities of the players emerge very clearly on the go board. The game reflects the skills of the players in balancing attack and defence, making stones work efficiently with others, remaining flexible in response to changing situations, timing, analysing accurately and recognising the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent. In short, go is a game it is impossible to outgrow.

What makes go so special

As an intellectual challenge go is extraordinary. The rules are very simple, yet attempts to program computers to play go have met with little success. Even the best programs make simple mistakes. Apart from beating the computer, go offers major attractions to anyone who enjoys games of skill:

A great advantage in learning go lies in the very effective handicapping system. This enables players of widely differing strengths to play each other on equal terms without distorting the character of the game.

The object in go is to make more territory than the other player by surrounding it more efficiently, or by attacking the opponent's stones to greater effect. On such a large board, it is possible to lose out badly in one area but still to win the game by doing better on the board as a whole.

Every game of go quickly takes on a character of its own - no two games are alike. Since a player needs only to have more territory than the opponent in order to win, there are very few drawn games, though the outcome may hang in the balance until the very end.

The above information is from the British Go Association website