The oldest game! Go / Weiqi / Baduk

Games have been the part of day to day life. It can been viewed in many angles, some people its a time pass activity and some its a profession or to some its a tool to improve concentration, judgment etc. I was longing to learn any new mind game.. For a common Indian if you say a mind game, its only Chess. But i expected something new. My focus turned to Chinese games. Go impressed me more on its rules and the skill needed to play.
Let me introduce you to this wonderful game.

Go is also called Weiqi in Chinese, Igo in Japanese (Kanji), and Baduk in Korean (Hangul). Go originated in ancient China before 2000 BC. Some historians expect, this game has been originated at the time of Chinese emperor Yao (2337 - 2258 BC), who invented this game for his son Danzhu to teach him discipline, concentration, and balance.

Go is played by alternately placing black and white stones on the vacant intersections of a 19×19 rectilinear grid. A stone is captured and removed if stones of the opposing color tightly surround it. The objective is to control a larger territory than the opponent by placing one’s stones so they cannot be captured. The game ends and the score is counted when both players consecutively pass on a turn, indicating that neither side can increase its territory or reduce its opponent’s; the game can also end by resignation.

Go had reached Japan from China by the 7th century, and gained popularity at the imperial court in the 8th century. By the beginning of the 13th century, Go was played among the general public in Japan.

Go game rules are very simple; the practical strategy is extremely complex.

The game emphasizes the importance of balance on multiple levels, and has internal tensions. To secure an area of the board, it is good to play moves close together; but to cover the largest area one needs to spread out, perhaps leaving weaknesses that can be exploited. Playing too low (close to the edge) secures insufficient territory and influence; yet playing too high (far from the edge) allows the opponent to invade. Many people find Go attractive for its reflection of the conflicting demands of real life.

It has been claimed that Go is the most complex game in the world, on various measures, such as the spread of identifiable levels of skill Its large board and lack of restrictions allows great scope in strategy and expression of players’ individuality. Decisions in one part of the board may be influenced by an apparently unrelated situation in a distant part of the board. Plays made early in the game can shape the nature of conflict a hundred moves later. It is commonly said that no Go game has ever been played twice. Calculations suggest this may be true: on a 19×19 board, there are about 3³⁶¹×0.012 = 2.1×10¹⁷⁰ possible positions, most of which are the end result of about (120!)² = 4.5×10³⁹⁷ different (no-capture) games, for a total of about 9.3×10⁵⁶⁷ games. Allowing captures gives as many as

possible games, all of which last for over 4.1×10⁴⁸ moves.
In comparison, the number of legal positions in chess is estimated to be between 10⁴³ and 10⁵⁰.

• Two players, Black and White, take turns placing a stone (game piece) on a vacant point (intersection) of a 19 by 19 board (grid). Black moves first. Other board sizes such as 13×13 and 9×9 may be used for teaching or quick games, but 19×19 is the standard size. Once played, a stone may not be moved to a different point.
• A vacant point adjacent to a stone is a liberty for that stone.
• Adjacent stones of the same color form a unit that shares its liberties in common, cannot subsequently be subdivided, and in effect becomes a single larger stone.
• Units may be expanded by playing additional stones of the same color on their liberties, or amalgamated by playing a stone on a mutual liberty of two or more units of the same color.
• A unit must have at least one liberty to remain on the board. When a unit is surrounded by opposing stones so that it has no liberties, it is captured and removed from the board.
• If a stone is played where it has no liberties, but it occupies the last liberty of one or more opposing units, then such units are captured first, leaving the newly played stone at least one liberty.
• “Ko rule”: A stone cannot be played on a particular point if doing so would recreate the board position that existed after the same player’s previous turn.
• A player may passinstead of placing a stone, indicating that he sees no way to increase his territory or reduce his opponent’s territory. When both players pass consecutively, the game ends and is then scored.

A player’s score is the number of empty points enclosed only by his stones plus the number of points occupied by his stones. The player with the higher score wins. (Note that there are other rulesets that count the score differently, yet almost always produce the same result.) For a more detailed treatment.
This is the essence of the game of Go. The risk of capture means that stones must work together to control territory, which makes the game play very complex and interesting.

Go allows one to play not only even games (games between players of roughly equal strength) but also handicap games (games between players of unequal strength); see optional rules. Without a handicap, even a slight difference in strength will generally be decisive.Game 5 of the 2002 LG Cup final between Choe Myeong-hun (white) and Lee Sedol (black) at the end of the opening stage; white has developed a great deal of potential territory, while black has emphasized central influence.

In Go, ranks are employed to indicate playing strength. Strictly speaking, we should only say rank, but not rating or level or grade. The rank system is tabulated from the lowest to highest ranks:

Raj use to play on KGS server. He is a beginner but he plays quiet good. Following is his Rating Graph from KGS.

For better view Click Here

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