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GO RULES |
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| History | Basics | Game Play | End Game | Game Concepts | Glossary | ||||||
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Beginning with Black, each player in turn, places a stone on an empty intersection, or "point." Once placed, a stone is never moved, although it is removed if the opponent captures it. If a stone or a solidly connected group of stones becomes completely surrounded by opposing pieces, it is captured and removed from play. A stone or group is completely surrounded when it is not adjacent--in any horizontal or vertical direction--to any empty intersections. An empty intersection adjacent to a stone or group is called a "liberty" of that group. In the diagram, White's stone has only one liberty--the point marked X. If Black plays there, White's stone is captured, resulting in the next diagram. | ||
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In this diagram, a solidly connected group of four White stones has only one liberty (X). A Black play there captures the group. | ||
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Captured stones, or "prisoners," are kept aside and counted at the end of the game. (Yahoo! players don't need to worry about this because prisoners are counted automatically.)
A stone may not be placed on a point where it (or a group to which it has been added) will be completely surrounded, unless it also causes an opponent's stone or group to be surrounded. If a move causes both players' stones or groups to become surrounded simultaneously, the stone or group belonging to the player who made the move survives and the other stone or group is captured. In this position, both White and Black can make a capture by playing at the point marked X. If White makes the capture, the position will be as shown in the second diagram. If Black makes the capture, the position will look like the third diagram. (In this third diagram, by the way, a White play on the corner point will capture all five black stones, showing that Black's capture was a waste of time.) |
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More than one group may be captured as the result of a single play. In this simple example, a White play at X will capture all three Black stones. | ||
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