Introduction to the game of Go - By British go association.pdf - Go Baduk - urkosan

The most challenging

board game in the world

An introduction to this ancient and fascinating game

T OYO K UNI III (1786 – 1867) – A CTORS PLAYING G O

A TRADITIONAL J APANESE G O B AN WITH STONES MADE FROM CLAM SHELL AND SLATE

Introduction to the game of Go

Go is unique among games

The history of Go stretches back

some 3000 years and the rules have

remained essentially unchanged

throughout this very long period.

The game probably originated in

China or the Himalayas and

mythology has it that the future of

Tibet was once decided over a Go

board when the Buddhist ruler

refused to go into battle; instead he

challenged the aggressor to a game

of Go to avoid bloodshed.

In the Far East, where it originated,

Go enjoys great popularity today

and interest in the game is growing

steadily in Europe and America.

Like Chess, Go is a game of skill –

it’s been described as being like four

Chess games going on together on

the same board – but it differs from

Chess in many ways. The rules of

Go are very simple and though, like

Chess, it is a challenge to players’

analytical skills, there is far more

scope in Go for intuition.

Go is a territorial game. The board,

marked with a grid of 19 lines by 19

lines, may be thought of as a piece of

land to be shared between the two

players. One player has a supply of

black pieces, called stones, the other

a supply of white. The game starts

with an empty board and the players

take turns, placing one stone at each

turn on a vacant point. Black plays

first and the stones are placed on the

intersections of the lines rather than

in the squares. Once played, stones

are not moved although they may be

surrounded and so captured, in

which case they are removed from

the board as prisoners.

The players normally start by staking

out their respective claims to

different parts of the board which

they intend eventually to surround

and thereby make into territory.

However, fights between enemy

groups provide much of the

excitement in a game and can result

in dramatic exchanges of territory.

At the end of the game the players

count one point for each vacant

intersection inside their own

territory and one point for every

stone they have captured. The one

with the larger total is the winner.

Capturing stones is certainly one

way of gaining territory but one of

the subtleties of Go is that aggression

doesn’t always pay. The strategic and

tactical possibilities of the game are

endless, providing a challenge and

enjoyment to players at every level

and the personalities of the players

emerge very clearly on the Go board.

The game reflects the skills of the

players in balancing attack and

defence, making stones work

efficiently, remaining flexible in

response to changing situations,

timing, analysing accurately and

recognising the strengths and

weaknesses of the opponent.

In short, Go is a game it is

impossible to outgrow.

What makes Go so special

A brief history of the game

As an intellectual challenge Go is

extraordinary. The rules are very

simple yet attempts to program

computers to play Go have met with

little success; even the best programs

fail to avoid making simple mistakes.

Apart from beating the computer,

Go offers major attractions to

anyone who enjoys games of skill:

Go is probably the oldest board

game in the world. It is said that the

first Emperor of China – himself a

mythological figure – invented the

game in order to improve the mind

of his slow-witted son.

Although originating in central

Asia, historically it was in Japan

that the game really flourished.

Introduced into Japan around 740

AD, Go was initially confined to

court circles but gradually spread to

the Buddhist and Shinto clergy and

among the Samurai. From this

auspicious beginning, Go took root

in Japanese society. The Japanese

call the game Igo which has been

shortened to Go in the West.

The Japanese government recognised

the value of the game and in 1612

the top Go playing families were

endowed with grants and constituted

as Go schools. Over the next 250

years, the intense rivalry between

these schools brought about a great

improvement in the standard of play.

A ranking system was set up which

divided professional players into 9

grades or dans of which the highest

was Meijin , meaning ‘expert’. This

title could be held by only one

person at a time and was awarded

only if one player outclassed all his

contemporaries.

The most significant advances in Go

theory were made in the 1670's by

the Meijin Dosaku who was the

fourth head of the Honinbo School

and possibly the greatest Go player

in history. The House of Honinbo

was by far the most successful of the

There is great scope for intuition

and experiment in a game of Go,

especially in the opening. Like

Chess, Go has its opening

strategies and tactics but players

can become quite strong knowing

no more than a few basic patterns.

A great advantage of Go is the

very effective handicapping

system. This enables players of

widely differing strengths to play

each other on equal terms without

distorting the character of the game.

The object in Go is to make more

territory than the other player by

surrounding it more efficiently or

by attacking the opponent’s

stones to greater effect. On such a

large board, it’s possible to do

somewhat badly in one area but

still to win the game by doing

better on the board as a whole.

Every game of Go quickly takes

on a character of its own – no two

games are alike. Since a player

needs only to have more territory

than the opponent in order to win,

there are very few drawn games

though the outcome may hang in

the balance until the very end.

four Go Schools, producing more

Meijins than the other three schools

put together.

The whole structure of professional

Go in Japan was undermined in 1868

when the Shogunate collapsed and

the Emperor was restored to power.

The Go colleges lost their funding as

the westernisation of Japanese

society took hold. Today, the main

organisation of professional Go

players in Japan is the Nihon Kiin,

which increasingly fosters interest in

the game throughout the world.

introduced, the most important being

the Meijin and Kisei tournaments.

More recently, young people have

turned away from Go as they have

from other traditional elements of

Japanese culture. In spite of this

there are still about 10 million

Go players in Japan, some 500 of

whom are professional.

China In its original home

Go in the Far East today

The most important Go-playing

countries in the Far East are Japan,

China and Korea all of which

maintain communities of professional

players. Major tournaments in these

countries attract sponsorship from

large companies and a following akin

to big sporting events here. Until

relatively recently, the strongest

players from Korea and China tended

to go to Japan as professionals. Today

they are more likely to remain in their

own countries where they become

national heroes. There are perhaps 50

million Go players in the Far East and

many people who don't play still

follow the game with keen interest.

Japan On his retirement in

Wei Qi – the Chinese

characters for Go

1938, Honinbo Shusai

ceded his title to the

Nihon Kiin for an annual tournament

between all leading players. Since

then other major contests have been

throughout the country. There is also

the annual match between China and

Japan which is followed with great

interest. With the opening up of

China, Chinese professionals are

now frequent visitors at European

Go tournaments. Go is also played

professionally in Taiwan.

Korea Here Go is known as

Igo – the Japanese

Kanji for Go

Go is known as Wei

Qi which means ‘surrounding game’.

Go in China developed more slowly

than in Japan and during the Cultural

Revolution the game suffered through

being regarded as an intellectual

pursuit. As a result, it is only recently

that Chinese players have matched

the strength of the Japanese. Today,

Wei Chi is being re-introduced in

schools and tournaments are held

Baduk and is very

popular. Koreans have a reputation

for playing very fast. Fast or not they

are also producing some of the world’s

strongest players. Both China and

Korea have a growing population of

very strong young players, a

phenomenon which bodes well for

the future development of the game.

Introduction to the game of Go - By British go association.pdf

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: