“Stage” games: Go, part 4 - rules, equipment, gaming traditions. Go game rules

In the 16th century, the Emperor of Japan issued a decree obliging all government officials to play Go. As an echo of those times, in some Japanese and Korean institutions today there is a tradition: when selecting for a position, the ability to play the most difficult game on the planet is taken into account

Go. Dengfeng, China
Japanese stones are biconvex. The stone is pinched between the index and middle fingers and placed on the board with one blow, without disturbing the adjacent ones.

Management Academy

A long time ago, during the Jin Dynasty (265–420), woodcutter Wang Zhi met two elders in the forest sitting at a playing board. Interested, the guy came up and began to observe. He was hungry and was treated to a date. When the game ended, the elders disappeared into thin air. Then Wang Zhi discovered that he had turned gray, his clothes had decayed, the ax handle had rotted, and a tree had grown from the abandoned bone. In his native village they did not recognize him, and only the decrepit old woman remembered how a hundred years ago a certain woodcutter went into the forest and disappeared. The mesmerizing game that changed Wang Zhi's fate was Go.

Go is the only game in its family. Her ancestors have not been found, it’s as if she fell from the sky, and all her descendants appeared in the 20th century. Go has been cultivated exclusively in Asia for centuries; it has no analogues in Europe, Africa and America. In ancient China, the game was called "yi" (art), and later - "weiqi", which means "game of environment". Has the same meaning korean word“baduk” and the Japanese “i-go”, which in a slightly abbreviated form spread throughout the world.

The invention of go is attributed to the courtiers of the Chinese Emperor Yao. According to legend, his son Danzhu had a quarrelsome disposition, and Councilor Shun came up with a game that taught harmony and rational thinking. The first playing boards were discovered in tombs of the Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD). During the Tang Dynasty (618–907), go spread throughout China. The ability to play was included in the “four virtues” of the learned man: go, playing the qin (a string instrument), calligraphy and painting.

In the 7th century, go was brought to Japan. For the next two centuries, the game served as entertainment exclusively for the imperial house, and only in 701 was it allowed for everyone. It was on the islands that she acquired rituals, received state support, and during the shogunate it turned into military discipline. The strategy game was considered good training for controlling an army on the battlefield. For centuries, the Japanese dominated the game of Go. The largest corporations sponsored the competition, and the national federation. However, at the end of the 20th century, South Korea seized the palm, and China began to step on its heels.

Go is considered the most difficult game in the world, although its rules are memorized in five minutes. Most games don't prioritize objectives over tactical ones. They clearly outline the final goal: checkmate, getting a king, withdrawing chips. In Go you can win with a million in various ways, therefore, strategy comes to the fore: confuse the enemy, hide your intentions from him, set up nets and lure him into a trap. Simple tactics require constant rethinking; traditionally winning openings do not exist. Assess the potential of all formations, realize it and prevent the enemy from doing it - the most difficult tasks, which have to be solved simultaneously.

In the East they say: “Go teaches you how to live.” An aggressive style of play can lead to losses, and tight defense can lead to a lack of points. Often, growth is hampered not by a lack of skill, but by character flaws: absent-mindedness, forgetfulness, indecisiveness, greed. To improve in Go, the player has only one thing left to do - improve himself.

Go. Rules of the game

Go is played on a board of 19 x 19 lines. Beginners practice on 9 x 9 and even 5 x 5 boards. Opponents take turns placing stones on the crosshairs of the lines or passing. The goal of the game is to fence off as many free intersections as possible. Each player has enough stones to fill the entire board.

Komi rule

The one playing black goes first - in the East, black symbolizes aggression. To compensate for Black's advantage, White gets 6.5 points. Due to the fractional nature of the handicap, there are no draws in Go.

"Breath" and "life"

A stone on the board borders a maximum of four free intersections (at the edge of the board - three, in the corner - two). As long as a stone or group of stones has at least one “breath” (contact with a free intersection, in Japanese - dame), they “live”. If all the damage is covered by the opponent, the stones “die” and are removed from the board.

Suicidal moves

Placing a stone at a point where there is no exit to a free point is prohibited, unless this move involves capturing the opponent’s stone or group.

Situation

There are formations in the game in which players could endlessly capture each other's stones by making a move to the same crosshair. In such a situation, the rules prohibit repeated captures. The player who gave up the stone must move to another point on the board or pass.

Scoring

If a player does not see moves that could bring him additional points, he passes. If both players pass in a row, the game is over. “Captured” stones are removed from the board - those that would have been captured if the game was played out sequentially. The player receives one point for each free intersection surrounded by his own stones, and for each captured enemy stone. The one who scores more points wins.

Options. Go tactics

Go is a kingdom-founding game. Its members build forts, draw borders, and seize as much “land” as they can hold. If a chess game ends with the destruction of the enemy army, then a game of Go ends with a truce and an exchange of prisoners. Chess educates a fighter, a commander, and go - a ruler, an organizer.

1 Fortress A stone placed on the board does not move and can only escape being surrounded as part of a group. But it is also possible to capture united stones by surrounding them all at once. Fortresses are protected with the help of voids - “eyes”. If a group has more than one "eye", it is immortal regardless of the size of the voids. This is not a rule, but only a consequence of the ban on suicidal moves. An immortal group is called a fortress.

2 Watchstones The fortress cannot be destroyed. But if it is large enough, then the enemy can occupy the space inside it. To protect their lands, guard stones are placed on them.

3 Ladder A chase situation in which Black cannot escape until White stops chasing or the edge of the board is reached.

4 Geta A formation in which the stones still have “breath”, but the enemy’s blocking stone prevents them from escaping: any attempt to escape will be taken. The word “geta” is also the name for a Japanese sandal, or, in common parlance, a shoe.

5 Atari A position in which a stone (or group of stones) has only one damage and can be removed from the board with the next move is called atari, that is, “danger”.

6 Seki If neither opponent can make a move without threatening to lose the group, they call it a seki (“obstacle”) situation. When counting points, all stones in this part of the board are considered live, and points are considered free.

The Go set includes a playing board, stones and bowls. The base of Chinese stones is flat, the material for them in ancient times was glass, and now - artificial yunji stone. Fields in China were made of cloth or leather.

In Japan, a goban (a very thick board-table) is traditionally ruled using a katana. The master makes a series of parallel cuts into which thick paint is rubbed, after which the surface is polished. The best gobans are made from coniferous tree kaya (Torreya nucleifera).

Japanese women play Go. Watercolor photograph, 1905

Men playing a board game. Wood carving on a Shinto gate Nikko Tosho-gu Shrine in the Japanese city of Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture

Children quarreling over a game of Go. Artist ToriiKiyonaga (1752–1815). Wood engraving, size 25.6 x 28.7 cm

Hares and monkeys play Go. Artist Settei Hasegawa (1819–1882). Drawing, ink, image size 10 x 17.3 cm

Men and women play Go. A photographic print painted with watercolors. Japan, 1877

Attempts to teach a computer Go have been made since the 1980s, but only in 2016 the neural network AlphaGo was able to beat professional player Lee Sedol

Photo: iStock, Diomedia, Getty images, Alamy / Legion-media, iStock, Library of Congress (x3)

You will find a complete list of 155 wonders that you need to see with your own eyes in the anniversary, December issue of Around the World magazine.

The rules of Go are not the same for different countries. The rules will be different in China and Japan, but the general meaning will always be the same. The significant differences in the rules are the method of scoring and the way the game is completed.

Differences in the rules of the game may influence the use of strategies in some situations, but ultimately the nature of the game always remains the same, as does the outcome. It is said that differences in game rules cause problems only one in 10,000 times.

In this article we will look at the basic rules of the game, which are widespread on the Internet, touching on the nuances of the Chinese and Japanese versions in a separate article.

Basic rules for playing Go

Go, like most board games, is a competitive game in which there can only be one winner. The game involves two players, one of whom plays with white stones, the other with black. The game is played on a board with 19x19 lines, creating 361 intersections called points. Players take turns placing stones on the board, marking the boundaries of their territories. The main goal of the game is to surround the larger territory boards, capturing opponent's stones and controlling the space of the playing field. The player who controls a large territory is declared the winner.

Stones placed on the board cannot be moved, but can be removed from the board if they become surrounded. Both players place stones until neither player wants to make the next move - this is the only condition for ending the game.

When the game ends, the territory is counted. The captured stones, territories and Komi are counted (compensation for White for going second) and thus the winner is determined. The game can also end with one of the opponents surrendering.

Step-by-step rules for playing Go

The game starts with an empty board unless the players have agreed on a handicap in advance. One player plays with white stones, the second with black ones.

As we have already said, the board can be 9x9, 13x13 and 19x19 lines.

If the game takes place with unequal opponents, the weak player is invited to play black and place several handicap stones on the table. According to most rules, a handicap is considered a zero move and White goes next, but according to Ing's rules, which we will look at later, a handicap is not considered a move and after it is placed, Black goes.

Rules of the game of Go - Dame or freedom points.

Freedom points, also called breathing points or dame, are points that are unoccupied vertically or horizontally (not diagonally) adjacent to the stone and allow the stone to “breathe”. In the diagram below, dame are designated as "X".

As we can see, the top left stone has two breathing points, the top central one has three, and the one in the center of the board has four.

Stones of the same color standing in close proximity, connected in a chain, form groups and divide breathing points among themselves.

A stone or group of stones that is so tightly surrounded by enemy stones that it has no breathing points is removed from the board according to the rules of the game.

As we have already said, by depriving the opponent's stones of the queen, we can remove them from the board. By blocking point after point, sooner or later we find ourselves in the position of atari - when a stone or group of stones has only one breathing point left. Let's take an example of the process of surrounding stones and removing them from the board:

But if in simple examples everything is simple and clear, with in large groups stones, everything can be much more complicated.

From the above examples, it becomes clear that as long as a stone or group of stones has at least one dame, they remain on the board.

Prohibited suicide:

Most rules prohibit players from committing suicide by voluntarily cutting off their last breath point. But if such a move leads not only to suicide, but also to surrounding the opponent and removing his stones from the board, then it becomes legal.

In the picture above we see an example of a legal move for White, which at first glance looks like suicide, but in fact is the last queen for Black's two top stones and entails removing them from the board. This move is allowed.

Rules of the game Go - Ko

The Ko (劫) rule states that players cannot repeat the same position on the board. On simple example Below we see that point D17, vacated after Black's capture, is attractive to White, but it is already subject to Ko's rule. If White goes for it, the black stone will be removed from the board and the situation will repeat.

In such a situation, White either misses a move or moves elsewhere on the board. Black can close point D17 with a stone, thereby forming a strong chain of five stones. If Black does not close this point, White can return to it after Black moves to any other place on the board. The repetition of such exchanges is called the fight for ko.

Rules of the game:

1. Go is played by two partners, one with black stones, the other with white stones. The goal of the game is to capture as many enemy pieces and as much board territory as possible.
2. The game starts with an empty board. There is no preliminary arrangement, as in chess and checkers, with the exception of playing with a handicap. A handicap allows players of various qualifications to fight on the board, the outcome of which cannot be predicted in advance.
3. Moves are made alternately. Black makes the first move. When playing with a handicap, black first places stones on the board in a certain sequence at handicap points (marked with dots), after which white makes the first move.
4. A move is the placement of a stone on any free point on the board. The placed stone does not move further and cannot be removed from the board, except in the case when it is surrounded by an opponent during the game.
5. An individual stone or group of stones is immediately removed from the board by the opponent if they are completely surrounded.
6. An individual stone or group of stones is considered completely surrounded if all points adjacent to it or them vertically and horizontally are occupied by the enemy’s stones.
7. Illegal moves:
- it is prohibited to make a move leading to the complete encirclement of one’s own stone or one’s own group of stones, if this does not encircle a separate stone or group of the enemy. In short, you can't make suicidal moves that result in your stone being surrounded by your opponent's stones.
- it is prohibited to make a move leading to a repetition of a previously existing position on the board (the “ko” rule). According to Japanese rules, ko is interpreted as follows: In response to taking one stone, a player does not have the right to take one opponent’s stone in the same place on the board; this can be done every other move. If a player makes an illegal move, his opponent must return the placed stone to him and offer to make another move.
8. The game ends and scoring begins when both players abandon their move. This moment comes when there are no moves that bring at least one point, i.e. It is impossible to encircle a single enemy stone, nor to acquire a single point of territory.
9. The player is awarded one point for each point of his territory. Territory refers to free points on the board that are cordoned off with stones so as to prevent invasion by the enemy.
10. The player is awarded one point for each opponent’s stone removed from the board.
11. Captured stones are removed from the board after the end of the game without further play, and for each captured stone the player is awarded one point. Captives refer to those stones that are doomed to be completely surrounded, regardless of any attempts by the player to save them.
12. The result of the game is determined by the difference in points scored. The player who scores the most points is declared the winner.

Installation!

1. Install one of the shells to choose from. Installation occurs through a regular installer. For the portable version, simply unpack the archive to any location convenient for you.
2. Installation of AI is not required, it is also easy to unpack one or both AIs to a place convenient for you.
3. Connecting AI to the shell GoGUI:
- Program menu - New Program item;
- in the Command field we indicate where the AI ​​is located, either the gnugo.exe file or the fuego.exe file. And add at the end as indicated in the screenshot;


- Program menu - Attach item - (one of the installed AIs).
4. Connecting AI to the shell Drago:
- Options menu - Options item;
- paragraph Game programs- add button - from the list select the AI ​​that you unpacked - check the Program is already installed;




- Game menu - item A new game with the program.

Game size: 5.07 MB
Game type: install and play without restrictions

Download game Go (Go, Weiqi, Baduk)

Instructions

One of the players plays with white stones, the other with black stones. Moves in Go are made by opponents in turn. Blacks start. At the beginning of the game the board is empty. During a turn, a player places one of his stones at any point where two lines of the board intersect (point).

Stones of the same color placed next to each other at adjacent points form groups. The dame of any of the stones in the group is common to the entire dame group. Thus, it is enough that only one of the stones in the group has a dame.

The rules of the game prohibit a player from making a move as a result of which his group loses all dame (suicide move), except in cases where by such a move he deprives all of the opponent’s dame, thereby capturing it. After the captured group is , the group will have new ladies, which means the move was not suicidal.

During the game, in addition to capturing enemy groups and preventing their own groups from being captured, the participant is required to encircle territories and prevent the enemy from encircling territories. The territory of the board is considered to be surrounded on all sides by stones of the same color (a closed group).

The player has the right to skip his turn by saying “pass”. If both players pass, the game is considered over. This happens when neither player can no longer see moves that could bring him points.

If, after the end of the game, a group of stones remains on the board, which would certainly be captured if the game continued, this group is considered captive and is also removed from the board.

At the end of the game, points are counted. Each player is awarded one point for each square captured and one point for each opponent's stone removed from the board.

In Go, it is forbidden to change the move, move, move twice in a row unless the opponent misses his turn, or place more than one stone on the board in one move. In any of these cases, the offending player is automatically awarded a loss.

Go provides compensation to the player who makes the second move, it is called komi. The size of the komi is agreed upon before the start of the game. Typically the komi is 5.5; 6.5 or 7.5 points in favor of the player who goes second.

Video on the topic

Sources:

• Go game for beginners.
• Play flash games racing cars, motorcycles

To play handball required closed room, goal and ball of certain sizes. The ball can be thrown, pushed, hit with any part of the body except the leg below the knee. The goal of the game is to throw the ball into the opponent's goal.

You will need

• room, goal, handball.

Instructions

Gather two teams of no more than 14 people.

Send 7 people from each team onto the field.

The goalkeeper must defend the goal by hitting the ball by touching it with any part of the body, moving in the goal area or leaving it to take direct part in the game.

The game takes place over two halves, the duration of which is half an hour. The break between halves lasts 10 minutes.

To play handball a room measuring 40x20 m is selected, and as equipment a goal measuring 3x2 m and a ball with a diameter of 54-60 cm, weighing 325-475 g (the lower limit is provided for, the upper limit is for).

IN handball there are no draws. If the result is equal, the referee orders an extra period or a penalty in the form of 5 shots on goal from a distance of 7 m. You can hold the ball for only three seconds. You are allowed only three steps to run with the ball.

Video on the topic

note

The goalkeeper has no right to leave the goal area with the ball in his hands, return with it from the playing area to the goal area, or touch the sword in the goal area while being in the playing area at that moment.

If the player with the ball goes out of bounds, the opposing team has the right to a free throw. Once you have gained control of the ball, you must not touch it more than once before it touches the floor.

It is prohibited to hit the ball or touch it with your feet or leg below the knee. If a player commits a second violation, a free throw is awarded to the opposing team. In serious cases, a warning or disqualification of the violator is issued.

Sources:

• Rules for playing handball in 2019

"Legend: Legacy of the Dragons" is the type of game where players who really want to enjoy the game have a choice: use the support of friends or a clan, or pour in real money. However, there is also the possibility of playing on your own using one of the many ways to earn money.

Instructions

Most in a simple way earning money is by killing mobs and collecting both the money that falls from them and . The higher the level of the mob you killed in relation to you, the more money you will get for it. That is why it is recommended to start with this method of earning money. After you receive the elder's blessing, go exterminate the second and third level mobs - you will get more money for exterminating them when you are at the first level than later. It is recommended to do the same when receiving experimental armor - having received it, go beat mobs one or two levels higher than yours.

The second stage of earning money can be defined as acquiring professions - herbalist, alchemist, burglar, executioner and many others. Using some professions, you will be able to obtain resources for subsequent sale, while with the help of others you will be able to provide services, charging a certain fee for them. This stage also includes the sale of such game resources as Shizki mushrooms, Gurraldia Korra slime, services for inciting troubles, as well as this way of earning money, such as nicknames, the creation of both personal and clan ones, as well as the creation of badges. All this applies to small ways of earning money that take away a large number of time with relatively small profits.

Separately, it is worth mentioning assistance in completing quests, as well as going to instances together. The cost of these services varies greatly and depends both on your level and on the complexity of completing a particular instance or quest.

Having accumulated a certain amount of money, you can choose one of two options: buying blue or green armor and then renting it out, or issuing loans. In both cases, your profit depends on the amount of money in circulation. Remember that each of your transactions must be registered with the Guardians, otherwise you risk becoming a victim of a scam or getting banned for financial pumping.

As a rule, the players in the game are Bamboo, Dots and Signs, each suit has a value from 1 to 9. The set also includes 4 winds and 3 dragons. Four people play mahjong, each for himself.

The player whose wall will be dismantled rolls one die, determining the specific location for dismantling. He counts the vertical pairs of bones on his wall clockwise. Having pulled out the dropped pair, he places it on the wall in the third layer to the right of the parsing point. Now this place is determined by the End of the Wall, and the bones lying in the third row are called Free. The process of dismantling the wall begins. Eastern wind first takes 4 dice to the left of the disassembly point. Following him, all players take 4 dice in turn until each player has 12 dice. Then everyone takes one more, and the East Wind takes a pair. Everyone lays out the dice in front of them, hiding the front side.

The leader begins the game by placing his extra tile face up in the center of the table. Players make moves counterclockwise. The essence of the game is the continuous exchange of dice for more suitable ones until one of the players collects a winning combination. The game is considered over and unplayed if no one was able to collect a combination, and only 14 dice remain in the wall, excluding Free Dice. Several combinations that consist of collected 4 or 3 dice of the same suit are considered winning in mahjong. The three losers pay the full value of the combination to the loser. And if the East Wind wins, the losers pay double the value of his combination. Points for unplayed games are not counted.

There is a variation of the game that uses dice of additional suits: flowers and seasons. The row for building a wall for each player in this case consists of 18 dice, and not 17, as usual. To count points in the game, special sticks are used to indicate one, two and three points. The price of each point is determined before the game by mutual agreement between the players.

Sources:

• Rules for playing mahjong in 2018

The game of Go originated more than 3,000 years ago in China. This indicates that it is one of the oldest strategy games which continues to be played in our time. Can such an ancient game attract people living in our time, characterized by a fast pace of life? The answer to this question is yes. In fact, the game is becoming more popular thanks to the recent boom in interest in Go among young people South Korea and China.

They say that Go requires more effort than chess, but the rules of this game are much simpler and can be mastered in half an hour. The complexity of the game arises from the huge number of possible moves at any given moment. Fortunately, we cannot consider all options when choosing our next move. Remember, the more you practice, the better you will become.

Due to the fact that we are starting new series articles, let me take this opportunity to start learning the rules of Go from their Chinese version.

Board and stones for playing Go

Go is usually played on a board measuring 19x19 points of intersection of lines.

On D.1 an empty board is shown. The nine marked points are called hoshi (star), and are used for convenience, as well as the points at which handicap stones are placed when playing a handicap. Unlike most other board games, the game starts with an empty board. To play Go, stones of white and black colors are used, made in the shape of a biconvex lens. Most often they are made of plastic or glass, but in the most expensive sets, the black stones are made from slate, and the white ones from mollusk shells. The complete set consists of 181 black and 180 white stones, total 361 stones are equal to the number of intersections on a 19x19 board. The stones are stored in bowls, usually made of wood that matches the color of the board they are playing on. Two players take turns, one with black stones and the other with white. The player playing black always goes first. Stones are placed on the board at the intersection of lines and are not moved or removed from the board during the game, except in cases of capture.

Basic rules of Go:

Purpose of the game

In the Chinese rules of Go, the goal of the game is to place more “live” stones on the field than the opponent did. Japanese and Korean rules of Go proclaim the goal of the game to occupy more territory than the opponent. No matter what rules we apply, the result will almost always be the same. Both sets of rules encourage coexistence with your opponent rather than destruction of them. Most textbooks provide Japanese Go rules, but we will start with Chinese ones because they are easier to understand the game. We will demonstrate the rules on a 9x9 board; the game on it is not complicated by strategy, as on a 19x19 board, but the rules and tactics remain the same. I recommend that beginners master the rules on a 9x9 board before playing on a full board.

Typically, at the beginning of the game, players try to establish control over the corners, as shown in D 2. Then they mark their intended territory.

On D.3 it is shown how first black and then white use basic strategies to expand their territory while simultaneously reducing the territory of the enemy.

On D.4 both players strengthen their territories. Move b.28 is the last move in the game. Both players have completed the construction of the boundaries of their territories. Until this point, Japanese and Chinese rules are the same. Now, according to Chinese rules, both players must fill their territories with stones of their own color.

On D.5 the board is shown after both players have filled their territories. Black has 41 stones on the board, and White has 40. Black wins one point.

Problem 1. Look at D.4 again. Calculate the territory of whites and blacks according to Japanese rules and calculate the difference. If you count correctly, you will get the same point difference as when counting according to Chinese rules. Next week we will learn how to grab rocks.