Go is a board game, where two players attempt to
surround more territory on the board than the opponent.This is done by placing “stones” on the board turn after turn. These stones slowly begin to surround territory and the opponent stones.
The rules of the game are quite simple and can be learnt
just in a few minutes; you can play almost immediately.
On the other hand, getting strong and becoming a skillful
player is a process, that may take even the whole lifetime.
However, you don't have to be strong to have fun. The fun begins
as soon as you play.
Although the range of skills of go players is very deep,
players of different skill can compete and play interesting
games thanks to the handicap system.
The best go-players todays are found in Korea, China and Japan, where
these best players are called “pros” (they make their living by playing),
and they battle for master titles worth big amounts of money. These
battles are shown in tv, written and published in newspapers, and
inspected afterwards by hundreds of other go-players.
Recently Go has became more well-known around the world because of a Japanese animation serie, anime, called Hikaru no Go (image on the right), in English Hikaru's Go.
Try yourself! Here's a link to an introduction that teaches you the game rules and lets you play immediately with your browser (if it supports java)!
Other links:
- http://www.smart-games.com/igowin.html - IGOWIN - Go-game for computer. This Windows-program is a good tool for a beginner who knows the rules, to train local situations. Of course, much more nice it is to play with real people, thus...
- http://www.gokgs.com/ - KGS Go Server is a place where people around the world can play with each others and watch how others play.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go - An article about Go in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.