However, eyes are not impossible to take - the group of 8 stones can be captured by an opponent who first occupies the 12 surrounding points. An eye is any empty point that is surrounded orthogonally by pieces of the same colour - always difficult for an opponent to capture. The unoccupied point in the middle of the group is an example of an "eye". Consequently, no player would ever normally make such a play. Eyes - the key to GoĪn important point to realise is that a group of 8 stones set in a square is difficult to capture because if the opponent places a stone in the middle of the group, under most circumstances, that stone is immediately captured by the surrounding group. And a group of 2 stones on the edge of the board is captured by 4 enemy stones. So a single stone is captured if the opponent places four stones on the four orthogonal points surrounding it. A player cannot play a stone to a location such that a previous position is repeated.When a stone is played so that it causes a group of opposing stones to have no liberties, that group is captured.Starting with black, each player takes turns to place a single stone on the board.In essence there are really only 3 rules to the game: Go is not only pleasing to the eye, the game itself is also beautifully aesthetic in its simplicity. So a single stone with opposing stones North, South and East of it has only 1 liberty. And a group of 8 stones set in a square by itself has 13 liberties - 12 around the outside and 1 in the middle.Įach stone laid by the opponent next to a group reduces the number of liberties by 1. A single stone in the corner of the board has just 2 liberties. A group of 3 stones by itself in a line on the edge of the board has 5 liberties - 1 at either end and 3 towards the middle of the board. A single stone by itself in the middle of the board therefore has 4 liberties, 1 in each of the 4 directions. Groups can get quite large and convoluted but the principle remains the same - if a stone lies orthogonally next to another stone then both stones are part of the same group.Īny empty point orthogonally adjacent to a group of stones is said to be a liberty of that group. If a third stone were to be added to the two diagonal stones so that it sat next to both of them, a group of three stones would be formed. However 2 stones next to each other diagonally are not connected in any way and so simply form two groups of one stone each. So three stones in a row along a line forms a group because every stone sits orthogonally next to at least one other stone. The most essential terms to understand are “group" and "liberty".Ī group of stones is any set of stones of the same colour that are connected orthogonally (horizontally or vertically). In doing so, opposing stones may be captured and the winner is the player at the end with the greatest amount of territory and captured stones. Go is a game of territorial capture - the primary objective is to encircle as much territory as possible. For shorter games and for beginners, 13 x 13 and 9 x 9 boards are commonly used. Either way, the board is simply a grid of 19 x 19 lines, the stones being placed upon the intersections of the lines. The Go board can either be a flat table board or the more traditional floor-board with legs (Go-ban). Go pieces are black and white lens-shaped discs called stones.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |