The Game of Go

What It Is

Go is one of the many unending pursuits a human can undertake. Like playing chess, training in martial arts, undertaking scientific research, developing keen senses to recognize and profoundly enjoy wines or appreciating art in general, Go is something we devote ourselves not because of some final, immediate reward, but because we know that with every step we take we get that much closer to the infinite and, in doing so, we enjoy every arduous move we have to make.

Go is an ancient game that originated in China, with a definite history of over 3000 years, although there are historians who say that the game was invented more than 4000 years ago. Its name comes from the Japanese name Igo, which means „surrounding boardgame“.

In this game, each player tries to exert more influence on territory than her opponent, using threats of death, capture, or isolation. Although at heart an abstract strategy game, Go has variously been said to be a symbolic representation of war, colonization, settling a frontier, capturing market share, having a debate or a lively discussion in a specialized language, and probably many other concrete situations. Go is getting increasingly popular around the world, with many worldwide competitions being held.

Taken from Sensei’s Library page: WhatIsGo

What It Looks Like

Here is a photograph of a game in progress to give you an impression of what a Go board looks like. By the way, Go players like to call it „goban“, which is a Japanese word for the Go board. Japan didn’t invent the game, but their players and Go theoreticians have had the greatest impact on non-Asian Go population, hence most of the technical terms used in the game are Japanese.

More Resources

If you want to find out more about this fascinating game and why its players as well as AI researchers consider it the most daunting formal task to try to solve on a digital computer, you may wish to browse some of the links below.

	Kiseido Go Server (KGS): one of the best free online Go servers around. People who play there are generally very friendly and chatty; they will gladly help you with any issues you might have, from using the client to making your first steps toward becoming a Go master.
	Go Teaching Ladder: here you can submit your games and have them read out, thought over and commented by players stronger than you. The service is community-driven; there are no fees, and if you wish, you can also register yourself as a reviewer and help weaker players reach your level more quickly.
	Sensei’s Library: The definitive reference for all things Go.

Zoran no Go (Zoran’s Go)

I’m still some ways away from the revered title of Go Master. To reach it, one must prove able to defeat another first-level Master (masters are the guys whose rank doesn’t contain the word kyu, but dan) in an even match. If you want to track a player’s progress towards the dan level, here’s a simple rule. If a player has a rank of, say, 7 kyu, it roughly means that they would have to place that many (7) stones on the board before the game against a 1 dan, or shodan, starts, to compensate for the immense difference in strength. Kinda like giving a weaker player one piece advantage in chess; only, you cannot start an official chess match with a rook or a pawn removed from the board, while Go tournaments often include this so-called „handicap“ system when the two players of uneven strength are to battle each other.

Also note that KGS has fairly high criteria for players’ ranks – it is much harder to become 1 dan on this server than in most national Go associations!

My current KGS rank graph reads as follows:

(The sudden jump from mid-September 2006. is an effect of a major revision in KGS ranking system which brought it closer to other ranking systems „out there“; many players’ rankings were thus bumped up on paper, which doesn’t mean that their absolute playing strength has changed — only the names of relative ranks have.)