Learn How to play Go in Five Minutes

How to play go ?

The game of Go, also known as Baduk or Weiqi, is an ancient board game originating from ancient China. Like chess, Go is very useful in developing critical thinking, memorization and logical reasoning skills. Now, let’s dive into the game, and learn how to play go in just five minutes
In the game, two players take turns placing black and white stones on a 19×19 grid. Here’s a breakdown of the fundamental rules:

1. The objective : control more territory than your opponent by surrounding empty areas of the board.
2. Board and Stones: The game is traditionally played on a 19×19 board, though beginners may start with smaller grids (like 9×9) to learn more easily. One player uses black stones, and the other uses white. Black plays first, and players alternate placing stones at the intersections of the grid lines.
3. Capturing Stones: Stones are placed on the board. If a stone or group of stones becomes completely surrounded by the opponent’s stones with no empty intersections (or “liberties”), from the four directions (North, Was, South, West), it is captured and removed from the board.
4. Ending the Game: When both players agree that they can no longer make legal moves, they can choose to “pass” their turns. If both pass consecutively, the game ends, and the score is calculated based on the territory controlled by each player, plus any captured stones.
5. Special Rules – Ko and Komi: The “ko” rule prevents a player from immediately recapturing a position that would result in an endless loop, ensuring the game progresses. Additionally, to balance the advantage of going first, a small point adjustment known as “komi” is added to White’s score in official matches. However, you can learn this later in the game.

Go is very easy to learn! With a few games of practices, you now have a new hobby and you can introduce this game to your friends! To start with, I encourage you to check out OGS and GoMagic for more content!