The game of Go has few and simple laws, even children can learn quickly. However, the application of these laws is more complex. I'll show you a simplified explanation of how to play
## Equipment
Go is typically played on a wooden board of 19 x 19 lines (a Goban), like this:
Black and white stones are used and they are usually placed in wooden or plastic Go bowls.
## Objective
The Objective here is to control the largest area of the board. I will explain the meaning of "area" shortly.
The players take turns to put the pieces on the table, the black player starts. Stones are placed on the intersections, not inside the boxes. When the stone is placed, it has four "liberties". Stones here are alive, and breath of the four liberties.See the following image:
The stone in the middle has four lines coming out of it. To the left , to the right, up and down. When the stone is placed on the edge, like the stone top right, we find that it has three liberties only. Up, left and down. It has no liberty to the right.
The stone in the bottom right corner has only two liberties, from the top and on the left only.
The stones on the top left are connected and have became one shape. The stones become more powerful when they connect to each other. They now have six liberties instead of 4 for 1 stone. Two at the top, two below, one on the right and one on the left.
Stones need to breathe to stay alive. If a white stone is placed next to the Black Stone in the middle above, three out of four liberties will remain.
In this shape, the white stone is in danger! Black has blocked White's liberties leaving one left. When only one liberty is left, we call that an "Atari" (just like the old video game console, it was named after this move).
Look at the next picture, all the white shapes here are in Atari:
On the shape to the left we find that there are two white stones sharing one liberty.
OK, let's go back to our lonely white stone again:
If Black is to play, he'd place his next stone on the final liberty left for white, capturing it. Like so:
## Area and how to determine the winner
The intersection shown above between the Black stones is considered Black territory. Each player will try to increase the territory he or she controls. The game is over when one resigns or when both players pass their turns consecutively, then we would start counting. The white is compensated for black playing first and adds usually 6.5 points to his score, this is called "Komi".
In short, the final score is:
Number of intersections + Number of captured stones + Komi (for the white player)
## Life & Death
The more connected stones are, the harder it is for the opponent to capture them. That is why players try to form an "eye", which looks like this:
Black cannot play in the middle, it would be concidered "suicide". Black has no liberties to breath from if placed in the middle, that is why he cannot play there.
The white stones are surrounding an intersection, making an eye. It can still be captured, although, much more difficult. Black would need many stones to be any threat, like this:
In this case, the black player only needs to place one stone to capture 7 stones and gain 7 intersections. Although playing in an eye is suicide, it is only allowed in one case: When you capture stones. Example:
## False Eyes
Stones may form false eyes sometimes. they are considered false because they do not provide the protection required. Compare between the eye above and the one in the next picture:
It's true that white stones are surrounding an intersection, but the lower white stone is in Atari, surrounded by three black stones. Black can play the next round in the centre to capture it and destroy the eye.
## Living Shapes
From the above we know that connected stones are strong, and shapes with eyes are stronger. But they are not invincible. To get an invincible shape, you need two eyes, like that:
In this shape, black can not and will not be able to get into either eyes. Playing there is suicide every time so this white shape will stay until the end of the game.
This is all you need to start. Try the online tutorial on http://playgo.to/interactive, or better yet, join us at the next gathering!