Lesson 2: Living and Dead Groups

2.1 Dead Groups

A group is simply a collection of two or more connected or loosely connected stones.

Diagram 2-1

It is obvious that the black stone in Diagram 2-1 is totally surrounded by the white stones. If it is white’s turn white can play at A to remove the black stone from the board, but black can do nothing to stop white from removing that black stone. White can choose to remove the black stone whenever he likes. Hence, we say that the black stone is dead.

Diagram 2-2

Diagram 2-3

It does not really matter how many liberties the surrounded group has. See the black group in Diagram 2-2 is completely surrounded but it still have four liberties. However, black cannot prevent white from playing the triangle stones progressively in Diagram 2-3 to remove the black group from the board. So this is proof that the black group is dead.

The question is: how do we prevent the capture of stones (to make the stones dead)? We can have living groups, that is, groups that will never be captured. To achieve this, a group needs to have at least two eyes. Read on the next section to find out what is an eye.

2.2 Eyes

An eye must satisfy the following two conditions:

§ The group must completely surround at least one unoccupied point.

§ The stones in the group must be connected (i.e. in a chain).

Diagram 2-4

Diagram 2-4 shows an eye in the center, an eye at the side and an eye at the corner. Notice these eyes fulfill the two conditions by surrounding a point X and all the stones are connected by the triangle stones. Note that for the eye in the center, it is not necessary for black to play at A because the other three triangle stones already ensures that the stones are all connected.

If a group surrounds a point but fails to ensure the connection of the stones, then such groups are known as false eyes. False eyes look like eyes but they are not eyes. The opposite of false eyes is known as real eyes; and real eyes are eyes.

Diagram 2-5

Diagram 2-6

Examples of false eyes are shown in Diagram 2-5, where the stones are not all connected in a chain due to the presence of the white triangle stones. Diagram 2-6 will further illustrate why false eyes are not eyes. The two triangle stones causes disconnection in the black group, and see that if it is white’s turn then white can play at A to remove the three black triangle stones from the board. It is obvious that is black allows white to remove the three black triangle stones from the board then there is no eye to talk about. However, if black connects at A to save the three triangle black stones then the group no longer surrounds an unoccupied point at A and thus this is not an eye either. Hence, Diagram 2-6 shows a false eye which is not an eye.

Diagram 2-7

Diagram 2-8

However, a group with only an eye can still be captured. Diagram 2-7 shows a black group with only an eye but is totally surrounded by white. White can start filling out the exterior liberties of the eye by playing at the triangle stones in Diagram 2-8 and finally at 1 to destroy the last liberty of the black group to remove this group from the board.

2.3 Living Groups

A living group is a group that cannot be captured; in majority of the cases it simply means that the opponent player cannot prevent the group from having at least two eyes.

Diagram 2-9

Diagram 2-9 shows a group with two eyes at A and B. Although it is totally surrounded, white can never capture the black group. For white, playing at either A or B is suicide as the black still have a liberty from the other eye. So the black group is a living group. Warning: the black player should never play at either A or B – if he does so then he is killing this group by reducing his group to only one eye!

If a group has a mix of real eyes and false eyes, we count only the number of real eyes (remember false eyes do not count). If the group has two or more real eyes then this group is a living group. Otherwise, if a group possess less then two real eyes, then it cannot be considered to be living – it has to find means to create its two eyes before the opponent captures the group!

2.4 Seki

A seki is a condition where black surrounds white and in turn got partially or wholly surrounded by white, and surrounded groups of both colours are living.

Diagram 2-10

Diagram 2-11

Diagram 2-10 is an example of seki. Black has surrounded three white stones but white has in turn surrounded 4 black stones. However, black is unable to play at 1 in Diagram 2-11, because in black’s attempt to capture white, white plays at 2 and captures black instead. Similarly, black cannot play at 2 either. The same goes for white: white cannot capture the four black stones as well. Hence both the black and white groups are living groups and the condition in Diagram 2-10 is a seki.

Saying that a pattern is a seki naturally assumes that the exterior groups surrounding the interior groups are living as well. If let’s say that the exterior white group is dead then the interior white group is dead as well. The reason is that black is able to reduce the liberties of the exterior white group to zero and remove the exterior white group from the board. So now black is able start to reduce the liberties of the interior white group. Just like a false eye, such a condition is known as a false seki.

Diagram 2-12

Diagram 2-13

More examples of sekis are shown in Diagram 2-12 and Diagram 2-13.

[More Stuff] – Efficiency Of Moves

When beginners capture his opponent’s groups, it is noticed that they often like to waste many turns to reduce the liberties of these groups to zero and then remove the group from the board. Beginners often say that in doing so, they feel safe that they really got hold of the opponent’s group. Actually, if you are confident that your opponent’s group is dead, then you should not bother wasting moves to remove the group from the board. It is obviously better to play at another place more important and improve efficiency of your moves!

If a group is dead, then it is dead. Some beginners see that a group of theirs is dead, and play more and more stones to make the dead group larger and larger – it just does not make any sense and the opponent must be saying “thank you very much”! So if you recognize that a group is dead, then forget about this group and play elsewhere, hoping to recover the loss of that group from there.

There are also beginners who simply love to make eyes. Each group needs only 2 eyes to live, but they make more than 10 eyes, and continue making them. When a group has 2 eyes, then it is more efficient to play at another place, such as saving another group from being captured or to find more territories, as making 1 eye uses several moves but will produce only 1 point in territory!

Efficiency of moves is very important in Go. The more advanced you get the more important is efficiency in your games. It is always desirable to use fewer turns or stones to accomplish a certain goal, and use the excess turns or stones to do something else.

Lesson 4: Connection and Cutting

4.1 Rationale

The fundamental aspect of each and every Go battle is about connecting and cutting. In general, it is a good idea to connect your groups together, and to cut your opponent’s group into two or more groups.

Getting your groups connected often reduces the burden of managing two or more separate groups to managing only one large group. This is especially true when it comes to making eyes when your groups are surrounded and in trouble. As united means strength, cutting your opponent’s groups often mean that your opponent is weakened and you stand to gain advantage.

Therefore, the awareness of connecting and cutting groups is vital in the game of Go.

4.2 Direct Connecting And Cutting

Diagram 4-1

Diagram 4-2

A simple demonstration can be seen in Diagram 4-1 and Diagram 4-2. We compare the two diagrams. When white connects at 1 in Diagram 4-1, we see that white becomes strong and may even threaten the two black stones; whereas if black cuts instead at Diagram 4-2, the two separate white stones are greatly weakened and white has to manage them separately.

Diagram 4-3

Diagram 4-4

We shall now take a look at Diagram 4-3 and Diagram 4-4. It is an obvious example of how connecting and cutting makes a huge difference in the game. In Diagram 4-3, black connects at 1, leaving the two disconnected lone white stones with their survival threatened. The same thing goes for Diagram 4-4 should white connects at 1 instead.

Diagram 4-5

Diagram 4-6

Suppose it is black’s turn and he connects at 1 in Diagram 4-5. This connection ensures that this combined large group has two eyes, and therefore he lives. If, unfortunately, white gets to cut black into two groups at 1 in Diagram 4-6, then we see two separate groups with one eye each – and both groups are dead.

We observe that in most of the cases, it is usual to cut at where the opponent can connect.

Diagram 4-7

Diagram 4-8

Diagram 4-9

The connection of the three black stones in Diagram 4-7 is not complete. Hence, white is able to cut black into two by playing at 1. Black answers by blocking white’s advance at 2, but white can sever the connection at 3, leaving black with two disconnected groups.

See Diagram 4-8, and it is rather obvious that white can connect his stones at 1 if is his turn to play. But now it is black’s turn, so black will squeeze at 1, causing white to have two points for cutting at A and B. Unfortunately, white cannot connect at A and B during a turn: if white plays at A, then black plays at B; if white plays at B, then black plays at A. In any case, the two white stones at the bottom is disconnected.

In Diagram 4-9, black can cut white at 1. When white saves his two stones at 2 and ataris black 1, black can play at 3 to save black 1 and ensures that white is cut into two. Of course, black can elect to play at 2 to cut white in the first place.

4.3 Connecting By Capturing

Sometimes, the opponent’s stones cutting a player’s stones have some weaknesses. In many cases, these are presented in the form of stones that can be captured. So, if the opponent’s stones that prevent the connection of a player’s groups can be captured, then the player’s groups are connected.

Diagram 4-10

Diagram 4-11

Diagram 4-12

The black triangle stone in Diagram 4-10 seems to cut white into two groups, so white is in trouble. Unfortunately for black, the triangle black stone is under atari. So white 1 removes that stone from the board, and thus gets his two groups connected.

Yet another example is seen in Diagram 4-11. When white captures the two black triangle stones with 1, the interior and exterior white groups are now merged as one and now white is in an advantageous position.

We notice that in Diagram 4-12, the two white triangle stones separate the two black groups. However, white has its own defect: black cutting at 1 will kill the two white triangle stones. With the two stones dead, the two black groups are now connected.

4.4 Cases When Cutting Is Ineffective

We cannot say that cutting the opponent’s group is 100% effective. Some groups just cannot be disconnected despite the apparent weakness in their links. There are other cases where cutting just will not make any difference in the opponent. In other situations cutting may even put the opponent in an even better position.

Diagram 4-13

Diagram 4-14

Diagram 4-15

For white to cut the black groups at A in Diagram 4-13 is totally unnecessary. The reason is that the two black groups have two eyes each, so both groups are alive. Compare this with Diagram 4-5 and Diagram 4-6 and the difference is obvious.

We notice that in Diagram 4-14, it is not possible for black to cut the white group at A. If black does so, he would be putting his two stones (including the stone at A) in atari, and yet it is white’s turn. White can then play at B to capture these two stones. In a game, we should be on alert – always watch out for ataris.

We take a look at Diagram 4-15 and we can see a cutting point at A. But it is useless for black to cut at A, as it simply introduce a dead black stone at A. To make things worse, if black really plays at A, white can just ignore and play elsewhere.

The above three diagrams, Diagram 4-13, Diagram 4-14 and Diagram 4-15, demonstrates cases when cutting is ineffective. Hence, we should avoid playing such kinds of moves. As for the opponent player, connecting the groups in these three diagrams are not needed – wasting moves as well.

4.5 Keeping Stones Connected

As explained in the beginning of this lesson, it is usually a good idea to keep your stones connected. This statement is especially true for beginners. However, it is very often that we see beginners play a lot of nonsensical moves that result in their stones all scattered and separated. This will result in a large advantage for the opponent, who will have pleasure capturing the many scattered groups or manipulate these groups to his own benefit. This section is written specially for such beginners, in the hope that they will commit less such mistakes.

Diagram 4-16

Diagram 4-17

Consider the situation in Diagram 4-16, and it is white’s turn now. As the reader, it may be interesting to note how you would play. Playing at A is a suggested move which keeps the white stones connected.

Diagram 4-17 shows typical moves of some beginners. They think that from white 1 onwards, they are trying to attack the black stone or to capture it. All the black moves are very natural and totally correct, keeping his stones in one piece and evading white’s attack. At the end of the sequence after black 16, we can see very clearly that black is in one chain while white is all scattered and separated, with places for black to cut everywhere. This is not the way white should play.

[More Stuff] – Handicap Games

When the two players with different standards are playing Go, it is usual for the stronger player to give handicap to the weaker player so that the game would be fairer. For players with very small difference in strength, it is usual to allow the weaker player to take black without komi. Otherwise, the weaker player will be given a handicap of two to nine stones. The weaker player takes black and places two to nine stones at the marked points (known as star points or handicap points), after which white will play his first move.

By default, these are the handicap points where to place the handicap stones (from black’s viewpoint):

§ Two stones: upper right and lower left corners.

§ Three stones: upper right, lower left and lower right corners.

§ Four stones: all four corners.

§ Five stones: all four corners and the center point.

§ Six stones: all four corners, left and right sides.

§ Seven stones: all four corners, left and right sides and center point.

§ Eight stones: all handicap points except the center point.

§ Nine stones: all handicap points.

Lesson 3: Capturing and Saving Groups

3.1 Atari

The move that causes the opponent’s group to be reduced to only 1 liberty is known as atari. It means that, if the opponent does not respond to this move, his group can be removed from the board during the next move.

Diagram 3-1

Diagram 3-2

Diagram 3-3

In Diagram 3-1, the white move at 1 is known as atari. Since at the next white turn white can play at 2 to remove the black stone, black can save (to prevent capture) his stone by playing at 2 so that the 2 black stones have now 3 liberties. Note that when under atari, you should always save your stones by playing at where your opponent would play to remove your stones. If not, like Diagram 3-2, black 2 is a wrong move, resulting in white 3 removing the black stone from the board. In Diagram 3-3, black 1 is ataris the five white stones, and black can play at 2 at his next turn to remove the white group. White 2 is the correct move for saving his group.

3.2 Surrounding Groups

To capture a group, you always need to surround the group completely.

Diagram 3-4

Diagram 3-5

In Diagram 3-4, white 1 causes the black group to be totally surrounded, effectively killing the black group. If it is black’s turn, black should save his group by playing at 1 in Diagram 3-5.

Diagram 3-6

Diagram 3-7

Similarly, in Diagram 3-6, black will play at 1 to block white’s only exit route to capture the white group. In Diagram 3-7, white should break out from the surrounding black stones by playing at 1 in order to save the white group.

3.3 Creating And Destroying Eyes

When a group is completely surrounded, you may be able to save it by creating at least two eyes. On the other hand, to capture a group, you need to surround it totally and also to prevent it from creating two eyes.

Diagram 3-8

Diagram 3-9

Diagram 3-8 shows that for white to prevent his group from being killed, he needs to play at 1 to create his second eye. Now his group is safe. If it is black’s turn instead, black will also play at 1 in Diagram 3-9, leaving white with a lone eye, capturing the white group.

Diagram 3-10

Diagram 3-11

Consider the black group in Diagram 3-10. Playing at black 1 gives black three eyes for ensuring that the black group is saved. Likewise, in Diagram 3-11, white will play at 1 so that black has only one real eye (together with three false eyes), capturing the black group.

3.4 Saving Groups By Using Defects In Surrounding Stones

Sometimes, the stones surrounding a group have some inherent weaknesses, or defects. The defects may be used to save the surrounded group.

Diagram 3-12

Diagram 3-13

In Diagram 3-12, it seems that white is dead with totally no chance of living. But white can play at 1, removing the three black stones from the board and hence save his group. (Of course, if it is black’s turn, he should play at A to remove the four white stones from the board.)

In Diagram 3-13, black has totally surrounded the four white stones at the corner and white has no eyes at all. However, white can atari at 1 and making an eye at the same time, forcing black to save his two stones at 2, and white makes the second eye at 3. If black 2 plays at 3 to destroy the second eye, then white will play at 2, capturing the two black stones.

Diagram 3-14

Diagram 3-15

Diagram 3-16

Let us take a look at Diagram 3-14. There is some obvious defect in the white group. Black can atari the triangle white stone at 1, and at the same time threatening to break out from the surrounding white stones. If white 2 chooses to complete the surrounding barrier, then black 3 captures the white triangle stone and forms two eyes. If white chooses to save his triangle stone by playing at 2 in Diagram 3-15, then black breaks out of the surrounding white group by playing at 3. However, atari at 1 in Diagram 3-16 is a wrong move, white responds at 2 and the black group is dead.

[More Stuff] – Some Tournament Conventions

If the Go tournament rules and regulations do not specify otherwise, the following conventions are usually applied by default:

§ The tournament will be played on 19x19 boards, which is the most widely used board.

§ Before the commencement of the game, the player holding the white stones will grab a handful of white stones and asks the opponent to guess whether the number of stones in the hand is odd or even. If the opponent guesses correctly, then the opponent will choose the colour; else the player holding the stones will choose the colour.

§ Clocks are commonly found in Go tournaments just like Chess tournaments to limit the amount of time a player has for a game. In fact, the clocks used in Go tournaments and Chess tournaments are identical. When it is your turn your time will run but your opponent’s time will not. Likewise if it is your opponent’s turn his time will run but not yours. Hence it is possible to limit the time to say, 1½ hours per player. If a player uses up all his time, then he loses the game.

§ To start the game, the white player will press the clock. A player will press the clock after making his move. Note that if you remove your opponent’s stones from the board as a result of your move, you will press the clock only after you have finished removing all his stones from the board.

§ Latecomers will have their time penalized by the amount of time they are late and if they are late by a stipulated amount of time (say ½ hour), then they loses the game automatically (or by default, using tournament terms).

§ During the commencement of a round or a game, the players and the bystanders should not talk, give comments or hints or distract other players. Bystanders should also avoid standing too near the players.

§ Any disputes during a game should be referred to the organizing committee and the judges’ decision is final.

Lesson 1: How to play weiqi?

About GO!

Having developed in China about 2,000 years ago, Go (called Wei Ch'i in China and Baduk in Korea) contends with backgammon for the right to be called the oldest game still played in its original form. Today it is played by millions in Asia and thousands elsewhere.

Weiqi is an intellectual but fun game. It is much more complex than the Chinese Chess, thus usually takes quite long to finish a game. A game of Weiqi can take as quick as 60 minutes and as long as days to finish.

Weiqi helps to improve one's concentration, calculation, memory and creativity. It develops one's systematic thinking skill and develop a good sense of judgement.

If you are interested, you may want to learn how to play weiqi and find out more about the courses at internet or any GO courses.

How To Play Weiqi

This is a simple tutorial to get you started on how to play the game of Weiqi. If you are interested to learn more about the game, you are welcome to enrol in Weiqi lessons conducted by email to Sunny Arky <sunny.arky@gmail.com>. For more information.

1) About The Game Of Weiqi

Weiqi is an ancient game originated from China, with a definite history of over 3000 years, although there are historians who say that the game was invented more than 4000 years ago. The other name for Weiqi is Go, used by Europeans and Americans alike, although this term actually originated from Japan. Other names for Weiqi include Baduk (Korean), Igo (Japanese) and Goe (Taiwanese). This game is getting increasingly popular around the world, especially in Asian, European and American countries, with many worldwide competitions being held.

Figure 1

The game of Weiqi is played on a board as shown in Figure 1. The Weiqi set comprises of the board, together with 180 black and white stones each. Figure 1 shows the standard 19x19 board (i.e. the board has 19 lines by 19 lines), but there are 13x13 and 9x9 boards in play. However, the 9x9 and 13x13 boards are usually for beginners; more advanced players would prefer the traditional 19x19 board.

Compared to International Chess and Chinese Chess, Weiqi has far fewer rules. Yet this allowed for all sorts of moves to be played, so Weiqi can be a more intellectually challenging game than the other two types of Chess. Nonetheless, Weiqi is not a difficult game to learn, so have a fun time playing the game with your friends.

Several rule sets exist and are commonly used throughout the world. Two of the most common ones are Chinese rules and Japanese rules. Here we introduce the Ing's rules. All the rules are basically the same, the only significant difference is in the way counting of territories is done when the game ends. Sections 2 to 4 are common to all the rules.

2) Getting Started

A Weiqi game is started with the board empty. Stones are placed on the intersections of the board. The player holding black stones plays first, and each player place a stone on the board on his turn. Players are free to place their stones at any unoccupied intersections on the board.

However, once the stones are placed on the board, they are not to be moved to another location. Also the stones are not to be removed from the board at will, subject to the rules explained in the following Sections. Besides, players are not allowed to stack a stone on top of another stone on the board. These are the rules that make Weiqi unique compared to most other board games, including International Chess and Chinese Chess. The beauty of Weiqi also lies in the simplicity of its rules.

3) Liberties

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Liberties refer to the unoccupied intersections (or points) that are horizontally or vertically adjacent to the stone. Note: points diagonally next to a stone are not liberties of that stone. Liberties of the three black stones are marked as X in Figure 2. A stone in the middle has four liberties; a stone at the side has three liberties; and a stone at the corner has two liberties.

The rule says that stones without liberties must be removed from the board. For example, in Figure 3, the three black stones have no liberties and therefore they must be removed from the board as shown in Figure 4. However, the reverse is also true: stones with at least one liberty must remain on the board.

Making a move that causes your stones (but not your opponent’s) to have no liberties is known as suicide. Usually suicide is forbidden, but some variations of the rule allow for suicide, whereby the suicide move causes the stones without liberties to be removed from the board and it is the opponent’s turn to play.

Figure 5

A chain consists of two or more stones that are connected to each other horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally. The liberties of a chain are counted together as a unit. An example is Figure 5, where the two black stones have a combined total of six liberties marked X. When white has played at all the positions marked X, such that the two black stones have no liberties at all, then white will remove the two stones together. At no time is white allowed to remove any of the two stones individually. As the saying goes, "One for all, all for one".

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Let’s take a look at Figure 6. What if black decides to play at 1 as shown in Figure 7? Notice that the black stone marked 1 has no liberties, but the three white stones (marked with triangle) have no liberties either. This rule determines the result: the player that causes stones of both players to have no liberties will have his opponent’s stones removed. Hence, black will remove the three white stones, with the end result shown in Figure 8.

4) Ko

Figure 9

Figure 10

Figure 11

We start off with Figure 9, and black 1 takes away the white triangle stone in Figure 10, resulting in Figure 11. Now we can see that white may want to play at point A in Figure 11, and the pattern goes back to Figure 9. Then black decides to play at 1 at Figure 10 and so on, and the game will never end. Such a pattern is known as ko.

So when black 1 takes the ko in Figure 10, the rule for ko says that white has to wait one turn before he can take back the ko. This simply means that white cannot play at A in Figure 11 on his turn immediately after black takes the ko (white can play elsewhere), but he can play at A on his next turn. If white managed to take back the ko, the same rule applies to black: black has to wait one turn before he can take back the ko.

Figure 12

Figure 12 shows other valid examples of ko, involving the point A and the black triangle stone.

5) Ending A Game

A game is ended when both players agree that a game has ended – both players will pass on their consecutive turns. If one player passes but his opponent choose not to pass and make a move on the board, then the game will not end. When a game has ended, the winner is found by comparing territories (see next section – Section 6 on Territories).

Alternatively, if one player surrenders, his opponent automatically wins the game. In Weiqi, a player may not place more than one stone on the board on his turn, so it is usual to place two stones on the board to indicate that he surrenders. This is especially useful in overcoming language barriers between players with different cultural backgrounds.

6) Territories

The objective of Weiqi is to obtain more territory than your opponent. It does not really matter what is the difference – so long your territory is more than your opponent’s, you win the game.

Figure 13

When we count territory, we count the number of points surrounded by the stones. In Figure 13, black owns a territory of 9 points; white too claims 9 points as his territory.

When calculating who wins the game, due to the fact that stones can be captured or removed from the board, we take into account the number of stones as well. Therefore we find the sum of territories and number of stones for a player, and see if it is more than the opponent’s sum.

Figure 14

Consider Figure 14, a game played on the 13x13 board. Black and white has 39 stones each. Black has surrounded 45 empty points while white has 46. Adding them together, black has 84 points and white has 85 points. Hence white wins this game.

Note: the way of counting presented above is not the official Ing's rules way of counting, but the effect is exactly the same.

7) Komi

As the black player plays the first move on the board, black has an advantage over white. So in competitions or even friendly games, black has to compensate his advantage by automatically reducing his territory by a fixed amount known as the komi. In 19x19 board games, the komi is 8 points, so if black has a total of 183 points originally, he would have 8 points deducted and left with only 175 points. This ensures fairness in a game.

Currently, for 9x9 and 13x13 board games, there is no standardized komi. Note: we are applying the Ing's rules, other rules specify a different number for the komi (5½ points is common).

These should be enough for you to play your first game of Weiqi. Good luck!

To improve your weiqi, the most important thing to do is to PLAY MORE!

Below maybe some tips to guide you when you play:
1) When you play a game, concentrate and focus on your game
2) Recall and record a game after you play (whether you have won or lost) and find out where are you mistakes
3) Try to go through the game you have played with your opponent and spot each other mistakes

To play weiqi, you can go to any Taiwan Go Club to look for players. There are more players on Saturday and Sunday afternoons where you have no worries of not finding anyone. If you are free, you can always play online too! Please view the Go club info at Appendix A or play online page for more information.

You can also read up on weiqi books and go through game records of professional players.

GO, or otherwise known as Weiqi (directly translated from Chinese), originated from ancient China. There are a tangle of conflicting popular and scholarly anecdotes attributing its invention to two Chinese emperors, an imperial vassal and court astrologer.

One story has it that go was invented by the Emperor Yao (ruled 2357-2256 B.C.) as an amusement for his idiot son. A second claims the Emperor Shun (ruled 2255-2205) B.C. created the game in hopes of improving his weak-minded son's mental prowess. A third say that one Wu, a vassal of the Emperor Chieh (ruled 1818-1766 B.C.), invented go as well as games of cards. Finally, a fourth theory suggests that go was developed by court astrolgeres during the Chou Dynasty (1045-255 B.C.).

In any event, it is generally agreed that go is at least 3000 to 4000 years old which makes it the world's oldest strategic board game.

Go has not always enjoyed its current status as the world's most challenging and intellectually stimulating board game. In its infancy, go was said to have been used by astrologers to divine the future. Later, according to Chinese classics such as The Analects of Confucius, Tso-chuan, all of which was written no earlier than the sixth century B.C., it became the pastime of gamblers and other idlers.

While there might have been even the earlier references to the existence of go in ancient China, the books that contained were probably burned during the reign of Ch'in Shih Huang Ti, who in 221 B.C., ordered that all books be burned.

Beginning around 2000 B.C., go and poetry enjoyed golden age in China, until about 600 A.D.. Whatever its sources and early reputation, by this time go obviously occupied a prestigious position. For example, in the second century A.D, the poet Ma Yung is said to have made himself famous by celebrating go in his verses. Of the many anecdotes about go that have survived from ancient China, the two most popular are these.

Sometime during the late third or early fourth century A.D., a go player named Osan gained historical immortality for his amazing ability to replay entire games (consisting of anywhre from 150 to more than 300 moves) from memory, move for move.

Today, of course, all professional go players and many strong amateurs can do the same. In fact, the customary teaching technique used in Japan is for the teacher to reconstruct-play by play-games played with his students in order to criticize their moves. Nonetheless, this anecdote demonstrates that strength in go and a powerful memory go together.

The second anecdote illustrates the esteem in which go was held during its golden age in China. During the Chin Dynasty (265-420 A.D.), Hsieh An was at war with his nephew Hsieh Hsuan. After many bloody but inconclusive battles, these two warlords decided to spare their remaining soldiers and instead to allow the outcome of their war to be decided on the go board in a game played between themselves. Unfortunately, the result of this contest was not recorded.

No matter how many different story about Weiqi there are, it still remains the fact that Weiqi is a very enjoyable and challenging game. Not only it is intellectual, it is also very fun. In fact, Weiqi has become a language whereby different people from different countries who speak different languages, Weiqi seems to form a bridge between the people.