Go: Difference between revisions

[[File:Go-Equipment.jpg|frame|A game of Go in progress.]]

 

 

The game is played by two players who alternately place circular black and white pieces called "stones" on the vacant intersections of a grid of 19×19 lines. Once placed on the board, stones cannot be moved elsewhere, unless they are surrounded and captured by the opponent's stones. The object of the game is to control a larger area of the board than the opponent.

If you want a cursory animated introduction, try watching ''[[Hikaru no Go]]'', which may have inspired many to play Go. For much more information check either the [[Wikipedia|other wiki]] or visit [http://senseis.xmp.net/ Sensei's Library], a [[The Wiki Rule|wiki devoted to the game]].

 

 

 

Sometimes used as the game of choice for the trope [[Smart People Play Chess]].

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** The best computer programs can beat pros on the 9x9 board, and that size is slowly increasing.

*** However the computer used close to five times more time than the professional and only won one game out of three. The problem is that it gets exponentially harder as the board size increases. To the point where professionals still beat computers on 19x19 boards, even when the computer has a 9 stone handicap.

*** As of 2012, however, a computer has recently beaten a famous professional named Takemiya Masaki with only a 4-stone handicap, which seems to indicate an increase in the playing level of the best computer programs.

* [[Broken Base]]: Despite its antiquity, the rules of Go are mostly the same everywhere, but there ''are'' technical differences between the rules used in China, and those in Japan and Korea, mostly concerning the way the score is calculated, but also how a few very rare situations are handled.

* [[Crazy Prepared]]: Serious players study and memorise many sequences of best play, known as ''joseki''. Strong players can usually reel off entire games from memory.

* [[Flipping the Table]]: A traditional (if humorous) way to [[Rage Quit]] is known as the "nuclear tesuji," where the losing player flings the board at the wall, uppercuts the winner and storms out. (Troper General's Warning: Don't actually try this, it's not considered good sportsmanship anymore.)

* [[Kyu and Dan Ranks]]: Go players are ranked according to their playing strength. Complete beginners are ranked at roughly 30-35 ''kyu'' (30-35k), and as they improve, their rating ''reduces'', so a 10k player is stronger than a 15k player. This is because ''kyu'' ranks are based on the number of handicap stones players would need to win half their games against a First Dan player (See [[PVP-Balanced]] below), and the stronger player needs a smaller handicap. After winning promotion to First Kyu (1k), the highest ''kyu'' rank, the next step is Shodan or First Dan (1d), and ''dan'' ranks ''rise'' with greater strength from First to Ninth Dan, the highest amateur rank. Professional players have their own ranking system, rising from First (1p) to Ninth (9p) Dan. Go may have been the first game or sport to use the kyu/dan system.

* [[Play-By-Post Games]]: Nowadays internet Go servers, and e-mail, have largely replaced this. Playing Go on-line brings many [[Video Game]] tropes with it, including:

** [[Scrub]]: Some players feel entitled to assume that their way is the only legitimate way to play, and anything else is cheating. The particularly applies to the choice of Japanese vs. Chinese rules and scoring.

** [[Rage Quit]]: Some players abandon losing games without resigning to avoid having the loss affect their rank on the server. This is known as "escaping", and the way in which "escapers" are handled by some Go servers is [[Flame War|controversial]].

** Also, a little trick for those bored in class: take a math notebook page, mark the borders of the board on the page’s square, take two pencils and erasers to mark the stones and score, pass the page between players, and voilà, classroom Go!

* [[PVP-Balanced]]: Enormous attention is given to giving both players an even chance:

** Although each player has identical resources, black customarily plays first, which gives him an advantage. In a game between equally-strong players, white receives an scoring allowance called ''komi'' to compensate her for this. The exact size of ''komi'' is periodically adjusted based on exhaustive analysis of professional game statistics.

** Pro games lasting up to sixteen hours over two days (they used to be much ''longer'').

** Unwritten but deeply-rooted conventions of proper behaviour and play, over which there is [[Flame War|much discussion]].

** In Ancient China, a Go game that ended badly ''started a war'': the Crown Prince of Han invited his cousin over to play. When he lost he [[Rage Quit|threw the goban at the cousin]], killing him (perfectly possible; a traditional goban can weigh as much as twenty kilos (forty pounds)). The cousin's grieving father [[Minor Injury Overreaction|declared war]] over the [[Sacred Hospitality|breach of hospitality]].

* [[Tournament Play]]: Professional tournaments are regarded as the highest form of the game by many players, and success in them is essential to the careers of pro players. Amateur national rankings are also based on performance in tournaments.

[[Category:Useful Notes/China]]

[[Category:Go]]