What is Go?

A game of skill created in China about 4000 years ago. It was introduced to Japan around 800 A.D and survives as the oldest board game in the world. Go is played between two players who take turns placing black and white stones on a grid. Each participant seeks to control and capture more territory than the other. All play is visible on the board so it involves no elements of chance. The outcome of the game is invariably determined by the quality of the decisions each player makes.

From the first move, each player builds a unique formation. There are over 10^200 possible games of go, so some believe no two identical games of go have ever been played. A game of go can achieve a wonderful artistic intricacy, born of an individual's creativity and realized in the significance of the shapes created on the board. Go is an aesthetic adventure more important than winning or losing. Though there is ultimately a winner from each game, each player wins and loses to some degree during a game, and this theme of balance surfaces in many other aspects of go.

Action on a go board reflects a personal effort towards balance and harmony within. Go challenges and expands a player's ability to concentrate. The compelling dynamics of the game tend to be completely absorbing. Greed and headlong aggression ultimately to lead to one's downfall in go: a player's strategy needs to be more peaceful and subtle to succeed. Easy solutions may work immediately but prove to be liabilities later. However, miscalculations are rarely final; rather, winning often hinges on a willingness to recover from adversity. The combination of judgment and global thinking necessary in high-level games is largely what makes the most powerful computers helpless against experienced amateurs.

Go is a cooperative undertaking. Players need each other to enjoy the excitement of a challenging game. Unless an opponent offers a good tussle, there is no game- no disappointment, no opportunity- no risk, and no reward. Traditionally, go players value their opponents; a spirit of respect and courtesy ordinarily accompanies a game. Perhaps most importantly, go is a means of communication between two people, a friendly debate. The play of each piece is a statement, the best statement each player can make, and each is a response to the whole of the composition. Each play may expand from other statements, be subtle replies to forgotten ones, or be simple defenses of one's previous plays. The potential intricacy of the interaction seems unlimited.

Players of any skill can enjoy go. Two beginners experience as much excitement as two professional players (which exist!). A game of go can generate in the players an amazing range of emotions. Indeed, it is this promise of excitement and fun that should motivate students to learn about go.