Go: The board game world that looks like chess
There are certain things in life that look simple, yet they boggle our minds. One such thing is Go, the oldest surviving board game in the world that is based on abstract strategies. Want to know when and where it originated and how is it played? Read on to know all about this board game.
Go: The look-alike of chess
Yes, Go is played on a standard chessboard but with a 19×19 squares (adding to a total of 361 points). The squares are white and black in colour. However, in place of chess pieces, Go has ‘stones’ of white (180) and black (181) colours. Only two players can play this game at the time and the goal is to take turns and place the stones on the vacant intersections of the board. Whoever controls more territory than the opponent using their counters, wins. Black makes the first move and thus has one extra stone. White, on the other hand, is often given a bonus point at the end of the game for starting second.
Now, in case you are wondering that it’s fairly simple, it isn’t. A stone once placed on a square upon the board can’t be moved around, but it can sure be removed if it is surrounded by an opponent’s stone or a group of stones on all adjacent points. This process is called capturing of the stone. The game continues as long as a player can place his or her stones around freely. It stops when neither has any more move available. The champion is declared by counting each player’s surrounded territory and captured stones. Whoever has more stones remaining on the board and wins.
Tracing the origin of Go
Not many know, but the game of Go can be traced back to ancient China almost 2500 to 4000 years ago. In fact, it is regarded as the oldest board game played till date. Sport historians posit that Go didn’t really emerge as a game but was more of an art (called qi) in prehistoric China. It may have even been part of the four essential arts studied by cultured aristocratic scholars in those times, the other three being string instrument guqin, Chinese calligraphy and Chinese painting. Back in those times, the strategy game was played on a 17×17 grid. However, when it reached Korea in 5th century B.C. and Japan in 7th century B.C., the modern-day board size was standardised.
Today, there’s an International Go Federation that overlooks the game and has 75 nations as its members. Its 2016 survey revealed that more than 46 million people, majority in East Asia, knows how to play Go, while 20 million are professionals. Sounds bizarre, isn’t it?
This mind game is based on tactics, strategy and a deep understanding of elementary arithmetic and is unsurprisingly compared to chess. However, its board is larger than that of chess, its pieces are different and the game usually lasts longer.
Interestingly, Go is always capitalised to differentiate from the common verb go. The term Go, however, is not Chinese but Japanese in origin. It’s derived from the Japanese word ‘igo’ meaning board game of surrounding.