What is Handicap Go?
Handicap Go is how two players of different strength play a fair game of Go. The weaker player takes Black and starts with extra stones already on the board, from 2 to 9 of them. Every other rule is the rule of standard Go.
The stones go on fixed points, the star points, in a set order: two stones on opposite corners, three or four in the corners, five adds the centre, six and seven add the left and right sides, and eight and nine fill the top and bottom sides as well. On 9×9 and larger boards up to nine stones fit; the 7×7 board takes at most four.
Because Black already has stones on the board, White plays first. As a rule of thumb, each step of difference in rank is worth one stone, so the right number of stones makes the game a close fight that either player can win.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Go | Handicap Go |
|---|---|---|
| Starting position | Standard GoAn empty board. | Handicap GoBlack's 2 to 9 handicap stones stand on the star points, placed in the traditional order (at most 4 on 7×7). |
| First move | Standard GoBlack moves first. | Handicap GoWhite moves first, since Black's handicap stones count as Black's opening moves. |
| Komi | Standard GoWhite receives komi for moving second: 6.5 points with Japanese scoring or 7.5 with Chinese scoring on 19×19, and 5.5 on smaller boards. | Handicap GoWhite receives only 0.5 points by default, just enough to rule out a tie. You can choose a different komi in the table setup. |
| Scoring | Standard GoJapanese scoring counts territory and captures; Chinese scoring counts territory and stones on the board. | Handicap GoJapanese scoring is unchanged. With Chinese scoring White also receives one point for each handicap stone, because Black's extra stones would otherwise count twice. |
| How to win | Standard GoHave more points than the opponent when both players pass. | Handicap GoThe same: the higher score after two passes wins. |
History
Handicap stones are as old as recorded Go. In ancient China the game began with four stones already in the corners, two for each player, and a weaker player received extra stones on top of them. Japan dropped the corner stones, and Japanese players settled on the star points as the fixed places for handicap stones. The traditional system, in which each step in rank is worth one stone, grew up alongside it.
Today Japanese and Korean rules and the American Go Association all place handicap stones on the star points, as this table does. Chinese rules and some other rule sets let Black place them anywhere instead, which is called free placement. Handicap games remain the everyday way for teachers and students, and for clubs with players of mixed strength, to play each other.