Lesser-Known Shapes in Go: Shape #1, Ursa Minor

If you have never played Go, then it is likely that you have never heard of things like ikken-tobi, kogeima, oogeima, ponnuki, etc. As any experienced Go player knows (it does not necessarily follow that they are any good at the game), those are Japanese terms for certain arrangements of stones on the Go board that keep showing up in games often enough to be given official recognition and, therefore, names. However, not every conceivable arrangement of stones has been named — partly because there is a very large number of them, and partly because most of them are simply not worth any special attention.

In this short series of articles I will concentrate on some rarely-seen shapes that deserve to be mentioned for whatever reason I deem appropriate.

We’ll start with a shape that has recently been observed in a game between two high-dan players on KGS, aromo[6d] vs. Empiror[6d]. The basic shape looks like this:

This shape is completed by the five unmarked stones, which form its trunk. The two marked stones, called tail, are not essential to the shape.

Ursa Minor is a very old shape; it was well-known in ancient China, although under a different name. It is speculated that the apt Chinese sailors brought the game of Go to the shores of Greece as early as in 6th century BC, where it was quickly dismissed as a „silly game for sailors, women and slaves“ and never got a chance to displace such popular games as counting grains of sand, yanking hair to determine when exactly you go bald or shooting arrows over turtles. Historical records, however, tell us that not all was forgotten: one Miletus of Kragus did grasp the inherent complexity and beauty of this strange oriental game and decided to name a star constellation after one of the shapes from the game. Why he chose Latin, a language that wasn’t even to appear until several centuries later, remains an open question.

Ursa Minor is particularly effective when played near the top of the board (or „North“, as some Go theoretists say).