囲碁

The game is played on a grid (19x19 standard, but 9x9 or 13x13 for beginners). The board starts empty. Black places first. Players have an unlimited supply of stones in their color.

After both players pass, count territory. Add your surrounded empty points plus your prisoners. Subtract dead stones in your territory. White typically receives 6.5 points of komi (compensation for black's first-move advantage). Highest score wins.

Players take turns placing one stone on any empty intersection. Once placed, stones never move, but they can be captured and removed. A stone or group of connected stones is captured when all adjacent empty points (liberties) are occupied by enemy stones.

Start in the corners, then the sides, then the center - corners are easiest to secure. Keep your groups connected when possible; connected stones are harder to capture. Don't try to save every stone - sacrifice weak groups to build strong positions elsewhere.

Go originated in China over 4,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest board games still played today. It spread to Korea and Japan, where it became an art form studied by scholars and nobility.