Go (known as Weiqi in China, Igo in Japan, and Baduk in Korea) is an ancient, deeply complex abstract strategy game. Despite having astonishingly simple rules, the game possesses more legal board combinations than there are atoms in the observable universe.
The ultimate goal of Go is to surround more empty space (territory) on the board than your opponent.
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The Board (Goban): Played on a grid of intersecting lines (traditionally a 19x19 grid, though beginners often use 9x9 or 13x13 boards to learn).
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The Pieces (Stones): One player uses Black stones, and the other uses White. Black always moves first.
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Line Intersections: Unlike chess or checkers, stones are placed on the intersections of the lines, not inside the squares. Once a stone is placed on the board, it never moves unless it is captured and removed.
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Alternating Turns: Players take turns placing one stone at a time on any vacant intersection.
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Liberties (Life Lines): The vacant intersections directly adjacent to a stone (up, down, left, and right—not diagonally) are called its liberties.
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Capturing: If a stone or a tightly connected group of stones is completely surrounded by enemy pieces so that it has zero liberties left, it is captured. The captured pieces are permanently removed from the board and kept as “prisoners.”
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The Ko Rule: To prevent a game from looping infinitely, a player cannot make a move that immediately recreates the exact same board state as the previous turn (a rule designed to prevent endless back-and-forth capturing of single stones).
Originating in China over 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, Go is widely considered the oldest board game still played today in its original form.
- Ancient China: Mythology attributes the game to the legendary Emperor Yao, who supposedly invented it to teach his son balance and discipline. It became one of the Four Essential Arts required of an aristocratic Chinese scholar (alongside calligraphy, painting, and playing the guqin lute).
- Arrival in Japan: The game spread to Japan in the 7th century, where it was embraced by the samurai class and the imperial court. By the 16th century, the Japanese government established four major state-funded Go houses (schools), turning the game into a highly professional, esteemed discipline.
- The AI Revolution: Because of its immense strategic depth, computers struggled to beat human masters for decades. That changed in 2016 when Google’s AI, AlphaGo, defeated world champion Lee Sedol, marking a historic milestone in artificial intelligence.