"GO" is normally played for territory - far-reaching tactical moves to capture as much of the 19x19 board as possible.



Such tactics do not work on a smaller board, and the game is instead played to "first capture", making it ideal for the beginning or impatient player.





Starting with black, players take turns to place single stones on the board, one at a time, wherever they like.When a single stone is placed on the board, all the spaces immediately adjacent to the piece are called "liberties". Stones in the main board have four liberties. Stones on the edge have only three liberties, pieces in the corners have only two.If all the liberties of a stone (or of a continuous block of stones) are filled by stones of the opponent's colour, then that stone (or block of stones) is captured. In this short version of GO, this ends the game.Players can play as many games as they like, scoring either by the number of captures, or by the total number of stones captured.For more on playing Go, check the British Go Association website. They have a brilliant comic that teaches play to capture.