Go – Presentation Outline

• Go. What is it– Equipment

• Go Skills• Go History• Players – Random Names and Faces• Computers and Go, Internet • The Rules of Go• A Game (a Glimpse)

Go – What is it?

From Wikipedia

– Go, also known as Weiqi in Mandarin Chinese (Traditional Chinese: 圍棋 ; Simplified Chinese: 围棋 ), and Baduk in Korean (Hangul: 바둑 ), is a strategic, deterministic two-player board game originating in ancient China, before 200 BC. The game is now popular throughout East Asia and on the Internet.

– The object of the game is to place stones so they control a larger board territory than one's opponent, while preventing them from being surrounded and captured by the opponent.

Go – Unique features

• Handicap system– Unmatched players can still play

• Ranking system – Start as a 30Kyu– Advance to 1Kyu and then 1Dan– Strongest player in SA is 7dan– Professionals have own ranking scale.

The Equipment

Photo from Kiseido.com

Photo shows an 8-inch thick tenmasa kaya board. The scroll in the background features calligraphy by the Nobel Prize-winning writer Kawabata Yasunari. The characters read Shin'o Yugen, which mean `subtle and profound mysteries'. It is a term often used to refer to the fascination of go.

Go – Skills Developed and Needed

• Businessman– Negotiation, Risk/reward

• Soldier– Defend and attack, Territory and influence

• Artist– Good shape from bad shape, spatial perception

• Accountant– Debits and Credits, Account balance

• It helps to be human.– Computers not very good yet!

GoMore than just a game

• Way of life for 30 Million people in the east

• Growing rapidly in the west– . . . And in Africa !

• Not a gambling game.

• No chance involved

• Many hundreds of professionals in the east.

In other LanguagesJapanese – Igo

Mandarin Chinese – Weiqi

Korean – Baduk (or Paduk)

History of Go(Cho Chikun)

• Many legends – Emperor Yao (c. 2357 BC)

• For his son

– Emporer Shun (c. 2255 BC) • For his son

– Wu, during Chieh (c. 1818 BC) • as a court game.

– Astrologers – Chou (c. 1045 BC)

Go History

• Japan– May have come from Korea c. 600 by

refugees, artists and students.– Grand Minister Kibi in 735. – First book in 913 – Golden era mid to late 1800’s– Over 400 professionals

Go History

• Korea– Only been played professionally since 1956– Many players moved to Japan to play– Now retaining many of skills– Major power in Go

Go History

• Go in China– Was not always popular

• Discouraged during the “Cultural Revolution”

– Rebirth in 1970’s • Still on the increase.

Go History

• Go in the west– Described in 1600’s in Italy

Explosive growth– Go schools appearing all over the world

• San Francisco • Argentina • Russia• Soweto in South Africa

Some Random Pics (From Gobase.org)

Takao Shinji - Honinbo Chinen Kaori - Honinbo Gu Li Fernando Aguilar

Lee SeDol

Chen Yaoye

Cho Chikun Rui NaiWei Cho U Victor Chow Lee ChangHo

Computers and go

• Matsushita prize– $5 000 000 in ’80s

• Beat the best Japanese 7 year old• Still many years away from being claimed• GNUGo project

– Annual computer tournament

• “SGF” recording system

Go and the Internet

• Go Servers– KGS, – IGS, – Dash Baduk ?

Go and the

Internet

Go Rules

• Played on a board with 19x19 Lines– Smaller boards (13x13) (9x9) may be used by

beginners

• Players use black and white stones– Board starts empty – Black moves first

• Handicap may be given

– Stones are alternately placed on the intersections• Stones are not moved

• May pass or play • Two consecutive passes end the game

Rules of Go• Stones are captured by filling in all

surrounding liberties

• It is illegal to play on a point with no liberty

Captured stones are kept and counted at the end of the game.

D, E & F are illegal moves

Go Rules

• It is allowed to play on a point with no liberty if capturing results in liberty.

A & B are legal capturing moves

E and F are not legal as they do not remove the last black liberty – The black group is safe.

Go Rules

• The rule of Ko– If recapturing a stone would recreate the same board

position from a previous move, the position is called “Ko”, and the recapturing move is illegal.

Black is allowed to capture a stone by moving at “A”

White may not immediately recapture at “A”He/She must make a move elsewhere first.

The move made elsewhere is usually a “Ko threat”

Go Rules

• When both players pass the game is over and the score is counted.

White 5 captures – Black 1 capture

Go Rules

• Sum the territory + captures + komi.

• Highest number wins.

Komi: 5.5, Captures: White 5 , Black 1

Example Game

• Cho Chikun vs Kato Masao –

• 1988

• Game 5 of 22nd Judan Title

• From “Go, a Complete Introduction” by Cho Chikun.