Go: from the first stone

1. A game of connections

Go begins with an empty board. Black and White take turns placing stones, building connections and surrounding space. Start with your first stone, learn to count liberties and capture a group, then follow a short opening move by move.

2. Where does a stone go?

Stones stay where placed unless captured. Black normally moves first.

Intersections, not squares, are playable points.

3. Count neighboring empty points

An isolated stone in the center of an empty board has how many liberties? Diagonal points do not count.

Up, down, left, right: four. An edge stone has three and a corner stone two before other stones are added.

4. Your first opening stone

On this empty 9×9 board, place Black at C3. Start in a corner and observe the nearby empty points. Stones are placed on intersections, then stay there.

C3 leaves room to develop toward both sides. One stone does not make secure territory: next look at nearby liberties and connections.

5. Fill the last liberty

White C3 has Black at B3, C2, C4. Find its only empty neighboring point, then place Black there.

D3 was the last liberty. A group without liberties is removed.

6. Count the whole group

C3 and D3 are connected. Count all their neighboring empty points once. Capture the two-stone group.

E3 fills the shared group’s last liberty. Both white stones are captured.

7. A nine-line opening, move by move

Use Next move to follow the short line. Notice spreading out, then connection. Reach the last move to complete this review.

1. Empty 9×9 board. Black starts. Coordinates here run A–I left to right and 1–9 top to bottom.
2. Black at C3: a corner approach uses the edges, but it does not claim finished territory.
3. White at G7 takes room in another corner.
4. Black at G3 spreads out instead of chasing a distant stone.
5. White at C7 answers on the other side.
6. Black at C5 extends along the side; the gap is not a connection yet.
7. White at E7 develops from its lower stones.
8. Black at C4 connects C3 and C5 into one group sharing liberties.
9. White at E6 connects vertically to E7. Look back over the line to see how the stones spread out and connect.

8. A corner has fewer liberties

White at A1, Black at A2. Capture White by occupying its remaining liberty.

Only B1 remained. The board edge does not count as a liberty.

9. Capture before checking suicide

A move appears surrounded. When can it still be legal?

Captures are removed first. If your resulting group still has no liberty, the placement is illegal here.

10. Why not recapture immediately?

A ko can recreate the previous position. Our practice board checks positional superko for placements.

Do not repeat an earlier board shape with a placement. Official rulesets differ; passing is exempt in this practice implementation.

11. Capture and a reply

Watch a capture followed by alternating turns. Replay backward to see why a later move is not yet a capture.

1. The white stone C3 has one liberty, at D3.
2. Black fills D3. The captured white stone is removed immediately.
3. White now plays A1. The corner has fewer adjacent points than the center.
4. Black B1 leaves White one liberty at A2; it is not a capture yet.
5. White chooses E5 elsewhere. A player may choose where to play, subject to legality.

12. End a game without double counting

In this site’s area estimate, what is counted after both players agree on dead groups?

Area counting includes stones and territory. Two passes enter review; the program does not decide life and death. Resume if disputed.

13. Ready for a small game

Play a same-device 9×9 game. Before each move: check liberties, nearby groups, and whether a connection matters. Review one turning point afterward. Two true eyes usually make a simple group independently alive, but complex positions need further study. Continue with the tactics library to practice reading groups.