Go (game)
Two players, "Black" and "White", take turns placing a "stone" (game piece) of their own color on a vacant "point" (intersection) of the grid on a Go board. Black plays first. If there is a large difference in skill between the players, the weaker player typically uses Black and is allowed to place two or more stones on the board to compensate for the difference (see Go handicaps). The official grid comprises 19×19 lines, though the rules can be applied to any grid size. 13×13 and 9×9 boards are popular choices to teach beginners, or for playing quick games. Once placed, a stone may not be moved to a different point.
Rules of Go
Handicaps are given by allowing the weaker player to take Black and declaring White's first few moves as mandatory "pass" moves. In practice, this means that Black's first move is to place a certain number of stones (usually the number is equal to the difference in the players' ranks) on the board before allowing White to play. Traditionally, the hoshi ("star points") – strategically important intersections marked with small dots—are used to place these handicap stones. On the board, there are nine star points: at the four 4–4 points in the corners, at the four 4–10 points along the sides, and one at the 10–10 point (the centre of the board, or "tengen" in Japanese). Smaller boards such as the and also have star points. The has 9 at the 4–4 points, 4–7 points, and the center. The board has only 5 points: the 3–3 points and the center.