You do not need a thick rulebook to get through a beginner Go game without feeling lost. A small handful of ideas carries most real positions: place stones on intersections, count liberties honestly, remove a group when its last liberty is gone, do not allow ordinary suicide, and respect ko so the board does not bounce forever between two shapes. The board above opens on a ko pattern for a reason: some rules make more sense once you can actually see them happen.
When to use this board
This page is for the moment during a game when someone says, “wait, is that legal?” It is also the right quick refresher before a fast 9×9 game when you know the basics but want the edges of the rules clear again.
When not to
You are brand new and still dizzy -> start with how-to first. You want difficulty controls instead -> vs computer. You are shopping for a physical board -> not our store.
How
- 01Placement: one stone per turn on an empty intersection. There is no setup phase with pieces already waiting on the board.
- 02Liberties: empty orthogonal neighbors. Connected stones share them, which is why shape matters so quickly.
- 03Capture: fill the final liberty of an opposing group and those stones are removed together.
- 04Ko: if a one-stone capture recreates the immediately previous shape, you must play elsewhere before taking back.
- 05Pass: when both sides pass, the game can end for counting. On this site, captures settle the lead.
Gotchas
- Diagonal touching does not connect groups and does not create liberties. The lines matter.
- Suicide is usually illegal unless the move captures first. If the engine refuses a move, it is usually protecting that rule.
- Ko only stops the immediate retake. One move elsewhere and the point opens up again.
- This board settles games by captures rather than full territory counting, which keeps casual 9×9 games cleaner.
FAQ
- When a stone runs out of liberties, do you remove just that stone or the whole connected group?
- The whole connected group, if it is all out of liberties. In Go, connected stones live and die together more often than beginners expect.
- Why does ko stop the immediate recapture? What problem is that rule solving?
- It stops the shortest possible endless loop. Without ko, the same point could bounce back and forth forever and the game would stop moving forward.
- Is passing a real move, or only something people do at the end?
- Passing is real. On this site, two passes in a row can end the game for scoring.
- If I came here because a move felt illegal, where should I go next once I have the answer?
- Go back home if you want the simplest live board, or open vs computer if you want a labeled strength and another position to test what you just learned.