The game of Go

Go is more than just a board game. Playing Go requires a balance of analytic insight and intuitive perception that no other competitive encounter offers. Playing Go is an aesthetic, artistic, even philosophical experience and yet is so exciting that you may find your blood pressure at maximum levels in anticipation of your opponent's next move. Although learning the rules of Go is easier than learning chess, the tactics and strategy of the game are infinitely deep; proficiency requires study and practice. The better you get, the more rewarding the experience.

You are rated by your level of skill, and compete with a simple handicap system; if your rating is accurate, you should lose about half your games. This demands a different attitude about winning and losing. In Go, if you consistently win more than half your games, you are promoted to a stronger rank; you are not allowed to win all the time. Winning and losing complement one another, and while naturally, most people would rather win, you must learn to lose at Go without feeling frustration or shame. Go is an exchange, a give and take, between two players pitting their skill against one another in a common goal, the acquisition of territory within a confined domain.

Go has an historic tradition: The origin of Go is unknown. It is believed to be at least four thousand years old and as such is the oldest known board game. The game originated somewhere in China or Nepal or Tibet. It is believed that the rules are in the same form now as they were at least three thousand years ago. The game was brought into Japan between 500 and 700 A.D. and has been developed ever since with an intense interest. By the 700's, Go was established as a refined intellectual pastime. In Japan, the early development of Go was mainly due to Buddhist priests. By 1100 A.D. people were fully aware of the tactics in Go, but its global strategy was not well understood until more modern times.

Modern Go history starts at about 1600 A.D.. Four schools of Go were established and supported by the Japanese Government and subsequently the study of Go flourished. In the twentieth century, Go has spread all over the world and its players are growing fast. Modern tournaments carry huge cash prizes. The 1993 winner of the Ing cup, held every four years, took home over 500,000 U.S. dollars!

More about the game: Some say Go is a game of war, but it is not intrinsically violent, indeed, many strong players see the game as a harmonious duet between the players. Go is a game of pure skill, and its infinite strategic depth and tactical profundity make it the most fascinating of all games.

Go is traditionally played on a solid wood board seven inches or more thick with a 19 by 19 grid of straight lines painted on the top. The playing pieces are called "stones". The black stones are made of slate and the white stones are made from clamshell. The stones are ground into a circular shape that is double convex. The stones are kept in finely turned wooden bowls. The traditional Japanese set of Go equipment is composed of wood, stone, and shell. This simple equipment, together with the game's geometry of straight lines on the board with circular stones on top, enhances the aesthetic experience of playing Go.

Go is played by two contestants, one playing the black stones and the other playing the white stones; the person who plays white is always the stronger of the two. At the beginning of the game the board is vacant. If there is no handicap, the black player plays first, placing one of the stones on any intersection on the board, and thereafter the two contestants alternately place one stone at a time on any vacant intersection on the board which they desire to occupy. Once placed, the stones are never moved, and they remain where they were played until they are captured or until the game is over. Unlike western games, Go stones are played on the points created by the intersections of the lines on the board, and not in the squares formed by those lines. The nineteen vertical and nineteen horizontal lines of the board form 361 intersections called "points". The object of the game is to surround these vacant points forming "territory". The player who has the most points at the end of the game is the winner. Under certain conditions, the opponent's stones may also be surrounded and captured, but that is not the primary object of the game.

Amateur players are rated by their "strength" or skill into two categories: kyu and dan. The kyu level (pronounced kyew) is the beginning and intermediate level and the dan level (pronounced dahn) is the advanced level. When you first learn the rules you are about 35 or 40 kyu but after regular play and study within a few months, you become stronger to about the 10 or 12 kyu level; after that, progress slows. The strongest kyu level is one kyu. The next strongest level is one dan moving up to six or seven dan. It would usually take someone at least three or four years of regular play and study to become one dan; others say you must play a thousand games to become one dan. Professionals play on a completely different level than amateurs, but are still rated from one dan to nine dan. An amateur one dan would take seven handicap stones from a one dan professional for an even chance of winning. It takes years of intense study from a young age to become a professional Go player; few westerners have accomplished it.

The simple handicap system allows players of widely different abilities to compete evenly based on their kyu or dan ranking. For example, a 4 kyu and an 11 kyu player will play with a seven stone handicap (11 - 4 = 7); the 11 kyu would place seven black stones on the board and the 4 kyu would move first playing white. A 2 kyu player will place four black stones on the board when playing a 3 dan (3 dan - 2 kyu = 4 stones). When two Go players meet, the first question asked is, "How strong are you?"; after that, they can determine the handicap and begin playing as soon as possible.

For more information, consider checking out the internet go server KGS at this link

http://www.gokgs.com/