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Above is a picture of a completed game. There are no more places left where territory can be made or destroyed, so both players have passed. Notice there are some other points, marked with an X, that aren't surrounded by stones of the same color. These are neutral, that is, they aren't anyone's points. Neutral points can be filled in to make counting easier. It doesn't matter who fills in the neutral points, but in practice, players take turns filling them, as liberties may be filled and possible captures exposed, and it's only fair that you give your opponent the chance to defend if you've just filled in a neutral point that exposes a weakness.
Here, all the neutral points have been filled. Now each side takes out the dead stones, that is, the isolated stones that don't have two eyes. They are marked with an X above. Next, fill in the prisoners in their color's territory. This would include all the dead stones just taken out, as well as the captures taken out in the course of the game. In this game, White captured four stones and held them prisoner in White's bowl lid. Black captured three stones and likewise held them prisoner. Once the dead white stones and prisoners have been used to fill in the white territory, and the dead black stones and prisoners used to fill in black territory, you are ready to count.
You can rearrange the inside of the territory to make it easier to count, as long as you don't change the borders. Here, White has twenty-four points, and Black has twenty-five points, so Black has won by one point.
Ready for more? We hope you've enjoyed this introduction to Go. Now, why not play 9x9 against your computer or read all about the ultimate game in the award-winning "Learn to Play Go" books by our own Janice Kim? Our catalog offers the finest products for the Go enthusiast.
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