Go kits. Classic Go board sizes Do-it-yourself Go board

5 years ago

Since there is a topic about different materials for stones, I will make one more modest contribution. I bought Korean faience stones. thickness 9 mm. I won’t talk too much about them, since you can play them in go clubs. In particular, in the go club "Territory". The only thing I would like to point out is that they are quite durable, although I have heard opposite opinions. When I was about to buy them, one user from the forum said that these stones are easy to beat, that he has a very high percentage of breakage. However, I dropped my stones a lot and on the most different coatings. The most harmless - on the carpet, the most dangerous - on the tiles. And not a single even minimal chip. I don’t know how and what a friend threw them at, but I didn’t encounter the problem of combat.

I have a set of kaya (a board made by hand by a craftsman, solid), made to order, black bowls, apparently walnut, covered with a specific varnish and basalt stones and original Japanese hamaguri in excellent condition (they were stored in the warehouse for 15 years, and not used).

Pretty much everything is canon. The only thing is that the wood is darker than is usually used for bowls, but I really like dark wood, so I gave black bowls as a gift. This is convenient, as it does not distract the eye from the board when playing.

The thickness of the stones according to Japanese metrics is 36. Perfect for me, because I don't like stones that are too thick. I do not like Chinese stones, they are inconvenient and poorly removed from the board with the help of "Japanese fingering". These are convenient in that they do not ride on the board, but they also stand easily.

Of the minuses - dents on the board stay longer than usually happens on the board. Perhaps they violated the technology during manufacture. But it's almost imperceptible.

The lids crackle merrily, the stones ring soothingly, the sound is good when set. I thought about making myself a goban on legs, but now I feel that this is not necessary. This kit is absolutely nothing.

Speaking of bowls and that they do not distract from the game, I found this beauty in the Chinese segment:


Made from wenge. And the price of all this joy, if you buy in China, is only 3,000 wooden rubles. If you give somewhere 3300-3500, they will also pour a full set of lentil-shaped yunzi 9 mm thick there. This is such a blessing. I don’t know how anyone, but I like such bowls for their inlay. These can even be bookshelf put as an element of the interior. I wanted to play - took off, played. Then put in place and beauty.

Above, I posted photos of bowls that I already purchased for a friend with exactly the same (in terms of execution technology) inlay on the lids. It's definitely not a print. Checked. :) For such money and on such a tree, they simply would not allow themselves to be limited to a print.

Good day to all. I decided to make another small contribution to this topic by preparing a review of my small go-collection. Let's start with photos of Chinese go bowls. Then a detailed comparison of two types of yunzi and Chinese agate stones with well-known faience stones. This is in case someone is interested in yunzi, but does not have the opportunity, like me, to go to China. I apologize in advance for the mediocre quality of the photos. Hope it's informative enough.
So, to begin with, bowls, for there is not much about them. At the moment I have two pairs of bowls of local production.
1) Wenge bowls:


Rosewood bowls:


All bowls are carved from a single piece of wood, without seams. All are varnished. And, they are quite well made. As expected, all bowls have full inlay, no prints. If you look closely at the drawings, you can find differences between them, which indicates manual work.
This is how the Chinese know how when they want. But even on TaoBao, I found such bowls only in one place, and their number is limited.

Now let's move on to the stones. I mentioned that in this review two types of yunzi will be considered. I’ll immediately allow myself a small digression about what yunzi are in general. In the Chinese online store TaoBao, I met 5 types, which can be divided into 2 categories:

1. Types A and B both have a continental shape (flat on one side) and, accordingly, a small thickness. The difference between them is most likely in the shade of white stones. In their case, I can’t say anything exact, since I didn’t deal with them.
2. Types C, D and E are lentil-shaped. Type C stones are also called "new yunzi". The manufacturer claims they are made modern technology. White stones are a bit rough. Thickness within 9mm. Type D stones are also called "old yunzi". As stated, they are made according to the old technology. The difference is that white stones resemble bone in color. They are smoother to the touch than C. The thickness of stones of this type is within a centimeter. I also did not hold the last type E in my hands. Judging by the photographs, these stones differ from type D mainly in size (up to 1.2 cm).

Prices for the first three types of yunzi are in the range of 200 yuan. The price of Yunzi D and E jumps up to 700 and 1400 yuan per set, respectively.
The main feature of all yunzi is the property of black stones to shine through in an emerald color.

The material for the yunzi is presumably tempered glass. This can be judged by the way black stones shine through. And more on the rocks. One white type C stone broke for me. I post a photo of his insides so that everyone can draw their own conclusions.

Let's start the comparison. From top to bottom: type D yunzi, Korean faience, type C yunzi, agate.

Same order from left to right:

height and shape. The order is the same:

A pair of agate stones separately:

As mentioned above, sorry for the quality of the photos. There is nothing better to photograph. I compensate for everything else, summing up the results by verbally describing the pros and cons of yunzi:
Pros:
1)Matte surface, so no fingerprints left.
2) Emerald shade of black stones in the light. From a practical point of view, of course, this is not a factor. But aesthetically pleasing.
3) Strength is about the same as that of faience stones from Korea, if not more.
Minuses:
1) Black stones get dirty all the time. They have white spots on them. Example in the photo:

Presumably they appear from the fact that the stones beat against each other. Easily erased with a finger, occur after the stones are again in the bowls. I have no idea how to deal with this.
2) The color of the "white" stones is dirty, which is also not pleasing under certain lighting conditions.
Another feature that I do not attribute to either pluses or minuses: yunzi is heavier than Korean faience stones.

Personally, for my taste, faience stones are better and more practical. They do not need to be constantly washed or wiped with fingers. White Korean stones look very beautiful. Their set is very contrasting. Taking into account the yuan flying somewhere high, they are also cheaper than large yunzi. However, for a collection, type D yunzi are very good. It's also fun to play with them. The number of poorly balanced stones per set is about the same as faience stones. Well, or a little more.
All conclusions are purely subjective. If anyone has any questions, please ask. I'll try to answer.

P.S.: The rosewood bowls will probably be up for sale in two and a half years. However, if anyone wants to purchase them earlier, it is possible in July. On the purchase, please agree in advance.

You're welcome. :) I really hope that someone helped.

When I played in one of the local educational buildings, I had to quickly collect stones. As a result, 8 pieces in turn and in groups fell from a height of one and a half meters onto a tile. One of the eight stones broke. All others are safe and sound. Several faience stones fell from the same height onto the same floor at the airport. And only one crashed.

There was a need to supplement the previous review. I'll start with the bad. After photographing the rosewood bowls, I put them away in the closet for a couple of days. When I took it out again, I found that one of the lids had dried out and cracked. The lid did not fall anywhere, did not hit anything, so mechanical damage is excluded. It's just that the wood was badly dried and varnished. Two conclusions:
1) The sale is canceled, because the bowls are most likely going back to the sellers.
2) Here is the main reason why boards and bowls from China in Russia are sold twice as expensive as they are bought in China: since a large proportion of boards and bowls come with scratches and other jambs + new problems come out already in place, there are losses compensate by overpricing everything else. Actually, I was told about this in one go-club. Now the assertion of the Russian sellers has been verified empirically.

Now again at the expense of faience stones. I was able to order some Japanese hamaguri stones here. The stones arrived quickly, outwardly very beautiful, made to the highest standard. I compared them with Korean stones of almost the same size. And I came to the conclusion that the sound when staging them is the same and rather depends on the material of the goban, appearance differs only in the presence and absence of bands. The surface is equally glossy, the color is also almost the same. Conclusion: for the presence of stripes and "canonicity" there is an overpayment every 6 - 10 times. Of course, the correspondence of size and centering of Japanese stones should be better than that of Korean ones. But the difference in price is much higher than the difference in quality. So, personally, I think that the best value for money of all the options considered in the end is with Korean stones.
But this is my personal conclusion. :)

P.S. Especially for the heading "unbelievable, but true" I throw a link to one of the ads on the TaoBao website. A set of Japanese hamaguri and basalt stones for sale. Japanese metric size 50. Thickness 14.6 mm (that is, almost spherical). The price for a set is 45,000 yuan. To understand how much it is in rubles at the current exchange rate, multiply the given figure by 6. :)
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.325.TbhplL&id=37639753105

Comrades, help me understand. I have already mentioned that on the black yunzi stones, some kind of incomprehensible white coating. That is, he literally just removed it with his hands, put the stones in a bowl, poured the stones back, the plaque has already reappeared.
Today I received a set of Korean go stones 1 cm thick. As an experiment, I put 4 black yunzi in a bowl with black faience stones. I played with these stones for a while. And I noticed that those 4 yunzi were no longer raided. I have done a similar experiment before. In a batch of spare yunzi type D, one stone of reduced thickness was caught. It fits perfectly into my 9mm thick set of Korean stones. For about a week I played almost exclusively with this set. And he noticed that on the yunzi stone, again, there is no plaque. But if you put it together with other similar stones, plaque inevitably appears.
So we know that yunzi are made of glass. On the basis of the above observations, we can conclude that during their mutual contact, the same plaque appears and that in other cases it is not present. Removes plaque with a flick of the finger. Question: what can it be and how to deal with it?

I will tell you even more, they came to me processed. Treated them with some kind of machine oil. I saw yunzi in their original form. Talc does not rub off with a finger. Here we are talking about another raid.
When the stones came to me, they smelled pretty much of engine oil. If I understood correctly, they were supposed to stay that way. But somehow I was not pleased with the prospect of washing my hands every half an hour. Therefore, I preferred to wash the stones with the product. The oil performed the function of removing talc, so that the stones, after a series of manipulations, acquired their proper form. But instead, the same raid began to appear.

Wash with detergent? As far as I understand, it was better to wipe thoroughly ... Perhaps it is worth repeating the process. As an option - it is unlikely to be worse. Rinse thoroughly first warm water(in case there are leftovers), and then follow the instructions to treat with oil for sewing machines and wipe dry.

Passed a sheet of paper. Didn't press. The raid has disappeared. So the hypothesis is dropped. However, she initially did not take into account the experiment with faience stones.
In addition, if these were areas where the remaining oil was washed away, then these spots, after "erasing" them with a finger, would reappear after a few minutes of lying on the table.

I'll add one more thing for clarity. White spots on untreated yunzi are talc. If I understand correctly (my experience confirms this), something greasy (be it sunflower or machine oil, it doesn’t matter) removes it. In particular, my first set of yunzi (back in the last semester) came in this form. After washing sunflower oil, and then washing off the oil with the product, the appearance of the stones became completely different. That is, there is no more talc left. And periodically appearing whitish traces - this is something completely different.

Opinion of a person with a similar problem on Amazon:

Today I tried to rinse the stones according to the accompanying instructions. Several things I noticed convinced me that the item I received was a returned item.

First, the plastic bag for the black stones is noticeably more worn than the bag for the white stones; then while rinsing the black stones, there was oil from the stones floating on the water, which made believe the stones were oiled once. I also discovered two broken black stones. I didn't mind all these much until the stones have become dry again. After the stones are dry, I see a lot of residue dirts on the black stones! I believe the previous buyer tried to oil them without rinsing them, so the stones got stained with the original powder!

These stains do not seem easy to go, I doubt there is a way to wash them away without side effects. I wonder if these black stones are eligible for replacement, without requiring me to send back the ruined black stones, I don't like the trouble to repackage and mail them. Maybe I will try to use hot wash them (the broken stones could be useful for experimentation) to see if it works, probably they will never be as good as new stones.

From the white stones which were not ruined by improper oiling, I can see that these stones were actually very nice stones (a four or five star review should have been very reasonable for this item)! What a pity!

TL:DR - Perhaps the problem is in the initially incorrect processing - immediately with oil, without pre-washing (or vice versa?). Talc "stuck" on the stones and appears as it dries.
The author believes that the fact that the stones came to him already processed, moreover, is incorrect, it is second-hand evidence.

This is a repost from my journal. There is a lot of information here for those who do not know about go, so do not scold)

Yesterday at IKEA I accidentally saw and realized - this is it. I have long been hatching a place to make the goban itself. Goban is a thick board, even a go platform. Strictly speaking, I only want to make a go board, because the goban looks like this, in the Japanese tradition, all sizes are completely standardized, they play it while sitting on the floor. The most expensive cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, are made from a single piece of a certain type of cayah pine that has been growing for dormouse for years and all that sort of thing - a real "Stradivarius drum". Moreover, almost literally - one of the most important properties of a high-quality goban is the sound made by a stone hitting a board. Clubs use simpler boards.

I already have a board made of pressed cardboard or chipboard at home - on one side standard size 19x19, on the other smaller 13x13. Less than 13x13 is only a tiny 9x9 board, which is used by elementary education for very beginners. But it is necessary that it be cool, that there be a pleasant heaviness of the board, the sound of placing a stone on a tree and other aesthetic subtleties.

In short, note to home masters. Ikea sells a LAMPLIG cutting board on the 1st floor. Instead of the letter A, the letter A is written there with two dots at the top. Judging by the severity, the board is made of glued oak, treated with oil. One side has a 90 degree bend. It costs 600 or 700 rubles.

End view - gluing lines are clearly visible. At home, such a shield cannot be made; they make it in factories, under pressure, with high temperature, etc.

When laying a cardboard board on a cutting board, it is clear that on the sides of the LAMPLIG it is only 2-3 mm wider, in length - 5-6 centimeters is given out:

And here is its working surface as cutting board, with a bent handle and a groove for draining liquid:

I'll take care of her soon. I probably won’t cut it, the sizes are almost right. What to do with the bend - has not yet decided. You can carefully cut it off with a circular saw, or you can put a plank or block under the opposite side, glue or screw it - and there will be a board on the stand!

Our friend made it himself from MDF, and - Western, but ours inserted his photos into his blog for demonstration.

Another development of the theme in Russian conditions. Based on the same source, but made from a furniture board. I didn't find it in stores furniture board to be without features such as large knots, bright drops, etc.

Here I found a video of how a man made a goban for himself, long and painful, but interesting and entertaining:

I foresee something similar in the summer at the dacha.

Crafts from stones can be made from a variety of pebbles: construction, ordinary street, sea.

They go well with shells, pasta and other materials, but even in a pure stone version, the craft will look original and interesting. And you can take stones to create it different sizes and shapes, and most importantly, colors.

By the way, if you have multi-colored stones, you can combine them so that you don’t even have to paint the craft.

bottle of stones

An ordinary wine bottle can be turned into an original piece of decor if you decorate it with thin pebbles.

However, if there are certain skills and sharp tools, existing stones can be cut into thin plates, and even shaped.

In addition, multi-colored natural material does not even need to be painted, but even if you need colors that are not there, you can apply paint to the stones and get a beautiful one.

For example, gouache...

It will not be waterproof, but if the craft will decorate the interior, you can opt for it.

What will be required:

• wine bottle;
• plasticine gray color;
• thin plates of stones or bulk stones;
• beads;
• rhinestones.

So, first we take a bottle, we clean it well from dirt and dust. Of course, we remove the label in advance and the layer of glue that could remain on the surface.

You can use stone crafts both in the interior and in landscape design. After all, such beauty does not require much effort and spending money!

Go is played by two (there is an option for four players - rengo, where the allies play in one color, a pair for a couple, as well as one-color or "white" Go, where both opponents play only white stones, relying entirely on their own memory). The game is played on a one-color board lined with vertical and horizontal lines. The game set also includes stone chips (180 white and 181 black) and bowls for their storage. In addition to the large tournament board 19x19, the standards are the "old" board 17x17, the "etude" 13x13 and the student's 9x9. In an informal setting, players can take a board of any size - 5x5, 7x7, 11x11, etc. up to 37x37 - neither the rules nor tactics will need to be changed, although the strategy may change dramatically.

Chips in Go are traditionally referred to as "stones" (Jap. "ishi"). IN ancient China they were indeed carved from precious and ornamental stones, bones, horns, and also made from glass and ceramics. Ancient stones found in burials are almost always green and red or brown, not white and black, and their shape is cone-shaped. Stone bowls were made from ceramics, porcelain, stone, bamboo and expensive woods. The fields were often made of cloth, leather, although wooden and stone boards were also in use everywhere.

Japan is poor in minerals, and local craftsmen have found replacements for ornamental stones in the form of black basalt schist from Wakayama Prefecture and shells of the hamaguri bivalve mollusk (Meretrix lusoria) from Hyuga Shoal (although in the picture above, it seems to me, tridacna - D.S.).

A massive, very thick board-table is also becoming the standard - usually made of kai wood (nut-bearing torreia). It is in Japan that the game acquires its characteristic recognizable golden-black-and-white asceticism.

New materials led to a change in the shape of the chips, and then the entire game set. The stones, which in China were traditionally made with a flat base, in Japan became biconvex, lenticular.



Playing with such convex stones is a special skill, which also serves as an indicator of skill. There is a correct set of movements, including taking a stone from a bowl and a special interception of it with the index (bottom) and middle fingers (top), which allows you to put the stone at any point on the board with one blow without sweeping the others - such a grip and movement, according to the Japanese, resembles sword strike.


Properly performed, all this looks like one movement (Japanese tradition generally pays a lot of attention to the correct sequence of actions, whether it be a tea ceremony, martial arts or Go). A confident, practiced blow with a stone forms a small hole on the goban, in which it remains to stand (the trick is that the kai wood is elastic, and after a while the hole straightens itself out).

The main cost of an elite set for Go is white stones, bowls and goban (basalt costs almost nothing, except for the work of a stone cutter).
Stones are classified by thickness into 7 types - the thicker, the more expensive. The diameter of the black stones is half a millimeter larger than the white ones, since the black color visually reduces the size of the object, and the white stones look slightly larger with equal sizes. In addition, white stones are sorted according to the pattern of mother-of-pearl layers: straight “yuki” are most valued, then evenly curved “tsuki”, and finally, asymmetric “jitsuyo”. On one side of the stone from the shell, the pattern is usually denser, on the other - sparse. Curiously, this Japanese tradition, in turn, influenced China - among the local stones, opal stones are especially valued, whose striped structure resembles a shell. Elite Chinese sets can be extremely beautiful, although these slippery stones are difficult to play with.



However, in China, stones are still made in which one side is convex and the other is flat. The classic material for black stones is viscous glass like smalt, and for white stones - translucent artificial yunzi marble; such stones are greenish-black and milky-white in the light.The material for this composite comes from Yunnan province, and the recipe is kept secret. The process of making stones, which the locals called "fused dry stone", dates back to the Tang Dynasty, in the 20s of the pastcentury was lost and rediscovered only in the 60s.

You have to play them more carefully - with a strong blow, the load on a flat base is distributed unevenly (the finger presses on the center, and the blow falls on the edge), and the stone can crack. The stones are coated with a special mineral oil that adds shine and depth to the matte surface (our people recommend TNK or Johnson's Baby). The stones in the sets can vary slightly in size, which, however, also gives them a certain charm: Go's aesthetic implies a harmonious balance between the complete similarity of the stones in the set andbarely noticeable differences between each of them individually.
Since the 40s of the 20th century, Korea has invaded the Japanese market with faience and viscous glass stones, so successful that Japan completely curtailed its own production of cheap stones, preferring to buy Korean ones for club needs.

Finally, at the beginning of the 21st century, the Taiwanese standard, the so-called. "Inga stones" made of hard rubber - super-vulcanized rubber with a metal weighting core, slightly flattened from the "poles" for better stability, and although they do not look so chic, convenience, strength and low price more than compensate for the shortcomings. Chinese stones are slightly larger in diameter than Japanese and Korean ones, and those, in turn, are larger than Ing ones.
Bowls are traditionally made from rare woods. Antique Chinese cylindrical bowls with flat lids.

In a later tradition, the bowls become barrel-shaped, in the form of an oblate ball. It is customary to put cut stones into a convex inverted lid.


Japanese bowls are not so steep and slightly conical: their base is slightly wider than the top.Along with classic wooden and souvenir stone and lacquer bowls, there are wicker bowls - made of straw or bamboo, and recently plastic ones.

When playing according to the rules of Inga, where the total number of stones is important, special bowls are used with a movable measuring mechanism in the lid, which allows you to instantly determine whether all the stones are in place or several are missing: they are easy to distinguish by their characteristic hexagonal shape.

The traditional Japanese goban is still lined with a samurai katana - the master makes a series of parallel cuts into which he rubs very thick paint, after which the surface is polished, so the markings of Japanese gobans are always embossed, "mortise" (photo on the left), and Korean and Chinese - flat, smooth (right).

Stones and gobans of old work are very much appreciated, since recently kaya and hamaguri have become endangered species, and gobans are increasingly being made from other types of wood (spruce, beech, maple), which in Japan are called the collective name "shin kaya" - "new kaya ". However, any goban still remains a piece goods, which not everyone can afford, so most players are content with thin boards or bamboo consumer goods.


Stones today are made from the shells of the same mollusk, only from the coast of Mexico (moreover, even here the craftsmen complain that the quality of Mexican shells is much lower than Japanese ones).


All three countries produce portable Go kits made of plastic with built-in magnets and a sheet rubber field of any size and price category - from pocket ones to large wall-mounted, demonstration ones.
Recently, special relief boards have also been produced, which can be played by blind players and people with impaired vision. At the same time, black stones are smooth, while white ones have embossed marks.


Previously, ordinary chess clocks were used to control time in Go. The player is given a certain period of time for the game, after which the so-called"beyomi": 30 seconds are given for each next move . The player has 5 such gaps, so he can let the flag fall 4 times (that is, overstay the time), on the fifth time the time expires and the game is considered lost. As long as the player spends less than 30 seconds on each move and presses the button in time, he can play virtually endlessly. It is customary to press the button with the same hand with which the player places the stone (the clock is on one side of the board, and one player will have an advantage in time if he gets into the habit of placing stones with one hand and hitting the clock with the other).
Today, tournaments usually use"speaking" electronic clock of the Inga system (in the picture, these are similar to a car), with a voice warning function: when the player has the last 10 seconds left, a voice countdown begins: this tradition comes from the control generally accepted in professional Go, when moves are recorded for the player and his assistant switches the clock (he also warns in a voice that the time is running out).

Rules of the game

If the game is not on handicap, the first move in Go is made by black. This is an old Eastern tradition, according to which the black color of the attackers symbolizes aggressive, bad intentions. The traditional drawing of color is called "nigiri" (from the Japanese "kolobok", "lump") and is based on the game of even-odd.

The player who got the bowl with white takes at random a handful of stones and places them on the board at once, at the same time the player with black places one or two stones next to each other. If black guesses the parity of the stones laid out by the opponent, he is given the right to choose a color, if not, this right passes to the partner.

The first move is usually made to the upper right corner of the board (opponent's left corner) - this "move to the heart" symbolizes the good intentions of the beginner. This is a completely optional old rule, but most players traditionally adhere to it. Next, the players take turns placing a stone on any crossroads of the board, trying to build "walls" and enclose as many empty crossroads as possible on the board. Two stones cannot be placed in one move, but a player can pass at any time - such a pass is also considered a move. A stone put on the board does not move any more and can only be cut down and removed from the board if the enemy surrounds it from all four sides with his stones or presses it against the wall.

The gameplay of Go is based on three simple principles:

Since the stones in Go are not placed in cells, but at the crossroads of lines, each stone, when placed, borders on a maximum of four free adjacent intersections (on the edge of the board - with three, in the corner - with two). There are no diagonal joints in Go. As long as a stone or a group of stones has contact with at least one free intersection, the stone or group "live", as soon as all contacts are blocked by the opponent's stones or the edge of the board, they "die" and are immediately removed from the board. In Japanese, each such free crosshair next to the stone is called "dame" ("breath"). Putting a stone at a point that does not have "breaths" is prohibited. The environment is the basis of Go, but in fact it is a tactical technique, a threat, a pressure mechanism, and not the goal of the game at all, although it happens that a large group dies surrounded by the enemy (as a rule, when playing equal players, this promises a loss).

2) Building a Fortress.

The stone put on the board does not move anymore (it can only be cut down and removed) and can avoid the environment in the only way - to develop into a large unkillable group. Combined stones can only be destroyed by surrounding them all at once. Each added allied stone increases such a group, it grows, grows loops, tentacles, takes up defensive positions, counterattacks and, if possible, forms closed voids inside itself (the so-called “eyes”), consisting of unoccupied points. An "eye" can have many empty intersections, but if there are no solid separating walls inside it, it still counts as one "eye". A group that has two or more "eyes" cannot die: if the enemy tries to occupy one, such a group has the second, and since "suicidal" moves are prohibited, the enemy as a result cannot attack it at all, even if it surrounds from all sides and lean against the wall. Such an "immortal" group of stones is called a Fortress. The figure shows typical formations in the corners of the board: two double-eyed Black Fortresses (on the left) and one white Fortress (on the right).

3) The division of the territory.

When so many Strongholds form on the board that their walls are touching, and there is no place to build new ones, the opponents actually divide the remaining empty space. This space can be small "eyes" in 2-3 intersections inside the fortresses, winding "corridors" and large "bags" at different ends of the board, as well as huge possessions (Jap. any invasion (the fact is that it is not enough to fence the territory, you need to protect it, otherwise the enemy will land troops, build a fortress inside, and the points will go to him).
At the end, the game breaks up into areas that no longer affect each other. There are no large weak groups that are in danger. This is followed by the filling of neutral points, the exchange of captive stones and the scoring, which determines the winner. Each unoccupied point surrounded by the player brings him 1 point, each captured and killed enemy stone also gives 1 point.
There are situations when two or more groups of stones remain "live" in a state where none of the opponents can make a move on this "section of the front" without fear of being destroyed. Such a situation in Japanese is called “seki” (“barrier”, in the figure on the left), when counting, all the stones in this part of the board are considered live, and the points are drawn.

An amusing controversial moment may arise in the game in the form of a mutual capture of a stone or a group of stones (in Japanese, "ko" - "eternity"; in the figure below). The rules forbid such repeated captures, otherwise they will continue until the stones run out. The player in such a situation can cut down the opponent's stone only after one move, which he must make to any other point on the board, or pass. The enemy must do the same. Co-fighting is a complex tactic when both players choose for "distracting" moves dangerous for the opponent (co-threats), to which he willy-nilly is obliged to respond. In some cases, the life of large groups depends on the outcome of the ko-fight, but more often this happens at the end of the game, when there is no big advantage and there is a struggle for every point.

Japanese and Chinese rules Go differs slightly from each other, but the differences relate mainly to scoring and some controversial points. After 1960, several new sets of rules appeared: the AGA (American Go Association) rules, the Ing rules and the simplified Ing rules, New Zealand, as well as the Tromp-Taylor rules. All of them are based on the Chinese scoring system and are characterized by some game subtleties (say, Ing's rules allow "suicidal" moves, which can change the situation when playing some groups).

Previously, only numerical notation was used to indicate moves (13-8, 2-6, etc.), today “chess”, alphanumeric notation is more often used: numbers from 1 to 19 - vertically on the board and letters Latin alphabet from "a" to "t" horizontally (however, "i" is missing from this row to avoid confusion due to its similarity to "j"). The graphic record of the game (jap. "kifu") looks like a lined diagram of the board, on which moves are depicted in black and white circles, indicating the number of each.

You can not draw circles, in this case, the players simply write down their moves and the moves of the enemy in ink different color. Both Renju and Go have continuous numbering of moves, that is, the first move (black) is marked as No. 1, the second move (White) - No. 2, etc. No erasures are allowed; if a stone is placed in the place of a cut stone, a mark is made at the bottom of the sheet, say: “123=30” (i.e. move No. 123 is made where stone No. 30 appears on the diagram). Masters and connoisseurs read kifu very quickly, but for a novice player this is a very difficult task, and it is not difficult to understand the very order of moves - the system is intuitively simple, it is more difficult to imagine emptiness in place of stones set later.

Since black moves first, he is considered to have an initial advantage of a few points. This problem became especially acute at the end of the 20th century with the development of Go theory and the emergence of new openings. It got to the point that only blacks began to win in tournaments of strong masters. To even out the balance, the "komidashi rule" (colloquially, "komi") was introduced in the 19th century, according to which, before the start of the game, White is compensated by 2.5 points. Because of the fractional nature of the Komi, there are no draws in Go: in any case, one player will have an extra half point; A draw is possible either in a student game or by mutual agreement of the players. Over time, the rules have been revised several times, and today the komi is 5.5 points in Japan, Korea and China, 6.5 in Korea (recently), 7 in New Zealand and 7.5 in Taiwan, where according to the rules of Inga. “Free komi” is also practiced, when players arrange a kind of “trade” before the game, increasing the size of the komi in turn, until the opponent agrees. The catch is that the player who offered the highest compensation accepted then plays black.

At the board in Go, a master and a novice player can easily converge. To equalize their chances and make the game harmonious, the handicap that a strong player gives to a weak one is called upon. The simplest is the refusal of a handicap, when a strong player plays white with half-point comei or even with a reverse, minus comei. Increasing the handicap comes down to placing handicap stones (two or more). There is a classic handicap, when the stones are placed in strictly defined “star” points, and a free handicap (colloquially “Chinese”), when a strong player gives a weak player several moves forward, while he himself passes each time. An experienced player usually knows his strength and can calculate how many handicap stones to ask a strong player or give to a weak one in order to play on equal terms.
With such rules, it's hard to believe that Go is considered the most difficult game in the world. General principles and tactics of Go are simple and uncomplicated, but require constant rethinking in the course of the game. There are no figures in Go, one stone is no different from another, only the place it occupies and the shape that the stones form matters. However, their collision and interaction reveals the most complex architecture. Assessing the individual and combined potential of one’s own and others’ formations, revealing and realizing it and preventing the enemy from doing it, setting priorities for attacking, defending and capturing new territories are the most difficult tasks in themselves, and, in addition, they also have to be solved simultaneously.

In such conditions, everyone chooses a strategy “by growth” for themselves: beginners start chasing individual stones, more experienced players build outposts, make sorties and start local battles, but real masters think in larger categories than a banal fight in a corner or capturing a single chip, and already on initial stage start global strategic planning. Basically, Go is a game of kingdom building, where everyone builds castles, draws boundaries, and eventually grabs as much "land" as they can.

Unlike chess or checkers, there are no established “winning scenarios” in Go that allow you to play according to the scheme. The level of high creativity, tactical improvisation, which in chess is available only to true masters, a Go player learns already at the stage of catching his very first pebble. Calculation, of course, is also important, but the true understanding of Go lies on the border between conscious and subconscious perception. In the famous anime "Hikaru and Go" there is a scene when the boy is perplexed: "I won! How did I do it?..”

Even in ancient times, during the To dynasty, a high-ranking Chinese official, Osekinin, formulated the Ten Commandments of Go, which convey the essence of the teaching. These commandments have not lost their relevance to our days; they are:

1. "He who strives too hard for victory will not win."

2. "If you invaded the enemy's sphere of influence, be more lenient."

3. "Before you attack, look at yourself."

5. "Give a little, take a big one."

6. "If danger threatens, don't hesitate to give."

7. "Restrain, do not scatter."

8. "When the enemy attacks, be sure to answer."

9. "If the enemy has strengthened, strengthen yourself."

10. "If you are hopelessly isolated, choose a peaceful path."

First, the players divide the territory in the corners of the board, then on the sides, and only after that - the center (no one divides the sky without first dividing the earth). It is very important to recognize when one phase of the game replaces another, to catch the moment when the draft section is over and the groups have gained strength - such a player intercepts the pace (according to Japanese terminology - “gets a sente”) and, with the first move to a free territory, will stake new possessions behind him. It is incredibly important to understand to what extent you can give in to the onslaught of the opponent, and when it is necessary to resist: an abandoned, unfinished situation in a corner or on the side is fraught with the loss of a group or even a fortress, or even an entire possession.

I will describe a case from my practice. I taught a ten-year-old girl who could not grasp the principles of Go and instead of redistributing spheres of influence, arranged endless tactical fights. Imagine, I told her, that there is a delicious cake from which a piece has been cut off for you. You ate some and suddenly saw how your rival climbs into your saucer with a spoon and steals pieces. How to fix the situation? The first answer was, of course, to protect her piece, the second was to eat off her friend’s piece in revenge ... But she didn’t even think of cutting off another big piece from the cake!
The analogy worked. Indeed, to divide, not to quarrel - this is the principle of Go. Sooner or later, the player realizes that he is losing because of the desire to take the apple core from his opponent. Mastery comes with a deep understanding of the general nature of harmonious constructions, skills of development, optimization of efforts, planning and arrangement, which ultimately extend to any life situation. And when the players begin to share the “basket of apples”, and by the end of the game there are only “apples” on the board, not cores, and the difference is half a gram, this is Go. As a consequence, where chess ultimately produces a kshatriya, an uncompromising fighter and commander, Go brings up a wise ruler and organizer.
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(c) Dmitry Skyryuk

Probably, many people thought about how to make a goban at home with minimal cost effort, money, and time. There are actually a lot of options, an impromptu goban can be made from anything, for example, from a piece of old linoleum, plywood, cardboard. But,
such gobans do not look very aesthetically pleasing, moreover, they are short-lived. Despite the fact that I am the happy owner of a board bought back in the times of the USSR, which, by the way, is perfectly preserved, I still have an obsession with making the goban myself. Unfortunately, I do not know when I will have enough time to implement this idea, but I have already decided on the goban manufacturing technology for myself and offer it to your attention.

So let's start with a list necessary tools and materials. I advise you to prepare everything in advance, so that later you do not run around the apartment in search of the most elementary tools and do not come up with a new use for household items.

Materials and tools needed for work:

1. MDF fibreboard.

Dry-process fibreboard: MDF (MDF - medium density fiberboard) is a material with a uniform internal structure that allows milling without chipping, hairiness, opening of internal pores and grinding with sufficient surface quality of the product. MDF boards are widely used for the manufacture of furniture parts, especially furniture embossed facades..

2. Colorless varnish of good quality. You should not save on varnish, it is better to buy a small jar of expensive varnish containing polyurethane.
3. Foam brushes or a small foam roller.
4. Small skin "zero".
5. Sharp construction knife.
6. Long metal ruler. A second T-ruler will also help a lot.
7. Pencil, eraser.
8. High-quality permanent black marker pen thickness 0.5mm.
9. Hairdryer.

Project for the production of works (PPR)

1. Cut out a board of the required size from our MDF board. Recommend cut circular saw- then the cuts will be even and smooth. If you plan to cut with a jigsaw, then I have to disappoint you - no matter how hard you try, the edges of the board will be uneven. Some craftsmen advise temporarily attaching a guide bar to stop the jigsaw, but this option is not suitable for us for two reasons: firstly, we do not want to spoil the board with the bar fasteners (there will be traces of the screws), and secondly, even if we fix the bar - the saw cut will still turn out to be uneven, since the course of the jigsaw file is several millimeters, and on a thin board such an error will be striking.

2. The cut blank for our goban must be carefully sanded. For sanding, we use the smallest skin "zero". To avoid too strong removal of fibers in places of pressure with your fingers - fix the skin on a small even block, or on a special grinding block. I like it when the edges of the board are sharp, so we will not process them with a file, for the same reason we only sand the end sides of the workpiece with a bar!

3. We prime the workpiece with the first layer of varnish. I repeat, we do not save on varnish, we always make sure that the varnish is with polyurethane. For a primer layer, it is advisable to add a little white spirit to the varnish - this will make the varnish more liquid and it will better saturate the board. Lacquer should be applied with a foam brush or roller. If you use a regular brush, the hairs will inevitably get on the surface of the board. If small bubbles form on the surface of the board when applying varnish, this should not scare you, the bubbles should theoretically disappear on their own, but I recommend that you dry the board a little after painting with a regular hair dryer.

4. Apply the mesh to the goban blank. To do this, with a sharpened pencil, we draw the first line along the entire perimeter of the board (we get a square). Be sure to check the corners - they must be strictly 90 degrees! The formulas proposed by Filin on the forum will help us correctly determine the size of the sides of the square Kido:

Horizontal size: 18 cells wide (d+1mm), plus (0.7d) per side

Final formula:
L horizontal=18(d+1)+0.7(d+1)+0.7(d+1)=19.4(d+1)

Vertical size: the same as horizontal, but add 3 mm already (the goban should be slightly elongated to create a visual effect of an even square)

Final formula:
Lvert.=18(d+3)+0.7(d+3)+0.7(d+3)=19.4(d+3)

d - stone diameter (measured with a caliper)

After drawing the first line, we apply all the rest, carefully monitoring the dimensions. When all the lines are drawn with a pencil, we need to outline them with a black marker (pen thickness 0.5mm). Wipe inaccuracies, errors of lines drawn with a marker with a sharp construction knife. After drawing the lines, do not forget to mark the star points, for this it is best to use a stencil ruler. The diameter of the dot should be within 2-3 mm, otherwise it will look too large.

5. After drawing a grid and star points with a marker, you must repeat the procedure
applying varnish 2-3 more times, each layer of varnish must be thoroughly dried. Dry the workpiece in a dry, dust-free place.

6. These are approximately the gobans obtained if you follow the above instructions: