Go – Classic Board Game Online
Play Go (Weiqi/Baduk) on a 9x9 or 13x13 board. Capture stones, resolve ko fights and count with Chinese area rules against a casual AI or a friend.
Frequently Asked Questions
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How do you play Go?
Two players take turns placing black and white stones on the intersections of a grid. Stones form groups that share liberties (adjacent empty points). A group with no liberties is captured and removed. When both players pass, the game ends and each side scores its live stones plus surrounded empty points; the higher score, after adding White's komi compensation, wins.
What are the basic rules of Go?
Black plays first and players alternate placing one stone or passing. You may not play a stone that leaves your own group with no liberties (suicide), unless the move captures enemy stones first. A captured group is removed immediately. This page follows Chinese area rules: your score is your live stones plus your surrounded territory, and White receives komi.
What is ko in Go?
Ko is a special shape where a single stone can be captured and immediately recaptured back and forth forever. The ko rule forbids this: you may not retake the ko at once if it would recreate the position from just before your opponent's move. Instead you must play elsewhere first — ideally a threat your opponent must answer — and then you may recapture.
How does scoring work in Go?
This page uses Chinese area counting. After both players pass, dead stones are marked and removed. Each player's score is the number of their live stones plus the number of empty points only they surround. White then adds komi (7.5 by default here) for moving second. The higher total wins, and half-point margins make draws impossible unless komi is zero.
What is a handicap in Go?
In a handicap game, the weaker player takes Black and places 2 to 9 stones on the star points before play begins, and White then plays first. Handicap games are traditionally played without komi. On this page 9×9 boards offer up to 5 handicap stones (they only have five star points) and 13×13 boards offer all 9.
Should I play 9x9 or the full 19x19 board?
Start with 9x9. Games finish in ten or twenty minutes, contact fights happen immediately, and every mistake is visible — it is the best size for learning captures, eyes and ko. The 13x13 board adds the opening ideas of frameworks and invasions and is the usual stepping stone toward the full 19x19 game. The core rules are identical on every board size.
What is komi and why is it 7.5?
Komi is a fixed score bonus given to White because Black moves first and that advantage is worth roughly a handful of points. Modern Chinese rules use 7.5 points, which also guarantees there are no drawn games. Here you can set komi to 0, 5.5, 6.5 or 7.5, and handicap games default to zero komi.
What is atari?
Atari means a group is down to its last liberty — one more move captures it. Beginners should check for atari every turn: your own groups in atari may need to run, connect or counter-capture, while enemy groups in atari may be worth capturing. A group with two separate one-point eyes can never be put into a capturable atari, which is why making two eyes is the key to life.
Explore Game Details
Rules of Go
Goal
Go is played on the intersections of a square grid. Two players, Black and White, take turns placing one stone on any empty intersection (or passing). The goal is to control more area of the board than your opponent: your area is the number of points occupied by your live stones plus the number of empty points surrounded only by your stones. This page uses Chinese rules (area counting) with a default komi of 7.5.
Liberties and captures
The empty intersections directly next to a stone — horizontally and vertically — are its liberties. Stones of the same color that touch in a line form a group and share their liberties. When a group loses its last liberty, the whole group is captured and removed from the board. Running along the edge and into the corners reduces liberties, which is why corner fights are so sharp.
Suicide is forbidden
You may not play a stone that would leave your own group with no liberties, unless that same move captures enemy stones first. If the move captures, the captures happen first and the move is legal.
Ko — no immediate recapture
A ko is a capturing shape where both players could recapture the same single stone forever. This page uses the simple ko rule: you may not recapture in a way that instantly recreates the board position from just before your opponent's last move. To retake the ko you must first play elsewhere — a ko threat that your opponent must answer — and then recapture.
Ending the game and scoring
The game ends when both players pass consecutively. Then dead stones are marked: this page offers a conservative auto-marker (it only flags small, surrounded, eyeless groups) plus click-to-toggle marking of any group. After marking, each side's score is its live stones plus surrounded empty points; dead stones are removed and their points count for the opponent. White adds the komi. The higher total wins.
Handicap games
For players of different strength, Black may receive 2–9 handicap stones placed on the star points before play starts, and White plays first. Handicap games are traditionally played without komi; selecting a handicap here automatically sets komi to zero (you can change it back).
Board sizes
You can play 9×9 (fast, tactical, ideal for learning) or 13×13 (closer to the full 19×19 game). The rules are identical on every size; only the star-point layout and the pace change.
Strategy Tips
Start in the corners. Corners are easiest to surround and take with the fewest stones — the proverb says the corner, then the side, then the center. On the 9×9 board, taking a 3-3 star point early is a solid habit.
Keep your stones connected. Separated, weak stones must each make life on their own. Stones that work together share liberties and are much harder to attack. Avoid the first line (the edge) early: it gains almost nothing.
Count liberties before you fight. Before starting a capture race, compare liberties on both sides. A group with one liberty is in atari — it can be captured next move. When one of your groups is in atari, either run, connect, or capture something bigger nearby (sacrificing a small group for a larger capture is often correct).
Respect ko fights. Before retaking a ko, look for a ko threat your opponent cannot ignore. If you have no threats, losing the ko cleanly may be cheaper than losing points elsewhere.
Learn to see two eyes. A group with two separate single-point eyes cannot be captured. When attacking, try to take away the opponent's eye space; when defending, make eye space early rather than after you are surrounded.
On small boards, contact fights come fast. On 9×9 the whole game is close combat: a single captured group usually decides everything, so count every capture race carefully.
About Go
Go (Chinese Weiqi, Japanese Igo, Korean Baduk) originated in ancient China — legend even credits the mythical Emperor Yao with inventing it — and matured into its modern form in East Asia, where it has been practiced for well over a thousand years. It spread to Japan and Korea, became a professional sport with title matches, and is today played worldwide by tens of millions of people.
Despite having simpler rules than chess, Go produces vastly more possible positions, and it resisted computer domination far longer than any other classic board game. The milestone came in 2016 when AlphaGo defeated top professional Lee Sedol, and open-source engines such as KataGo have since surpassed human professionals.
This page is a compact, browser-friendly take on the game: 9×9 and 13×13 boards, Chinese area scoring with adjustable komi, handicap stones on the star points, and a deliberately casual built-in AI so newcomers can learn captures, atari and ko without feeling crushed.
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Go is an ancient traditional game in the public domain. This page is an unofficial, fan-made implementation and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any professional Go organization or rules body.
