How to play Go
Surround territory, keep your groups alive, and know when the board is truly settled.
- Board sizes
- 9×9, 13×13, 19×19
- First move
- Black
- Scoring
- Area + 6.5 White komi
- End
- Two consecutive passes
Objective and turns
Finish with more area than your opponent. On a turn, place one stone on an empty intersection or pass. Orthogonally connected stones form a group and share liberties—the adjacent empty intersections that keep them alive.
Captures, suicide, and ko
A group with no liberties is captured and removed. You may not place a stone that leaves its own group without liberties unless that move captures an opponent and creates liberties. Simple ko prevents an immediate move that would recreate the preceding board position.
Scoring and the end
Two consecutive passes end the game. Each side scores its stones on the board plus empty points surrounded only by that color; White also receives 6.5 komi. Captures are displayed but are not added again to area scoring. Resignation also ends play.
When every opposing stone is gone
Capturing all of the opponent's stones does not automatically win. The opponent may still place legal stones, and play continues until two passes or a resignation. There is no dead-stone marking phase, so capture dead stones before passing; any stone left on the board is scored as living.
Beginner strategy
- Start in corners, then sides; they take fewer stones to surround.
- Keep groups connected and count liberties before fighting.
- Save a group in atari unless sacrificing it gains something larger.
- Answer ko with a threat elsewhere before trying to recapture.
- Inspect every unsettled group before you pass.