Go is a game that two people play with a Go board and Go pieces, called "stones". The players take turns putting black and white stones on the board to surround area, or territory. Whoever has more territory at the end of the game is the winner.

The Go board is a grid. The lines of the grid intersect to form points, where you place your stones.

The darker points on the board are called starpoints, and are used to locate your position. The diagram above is a picture of the standard board, a 19x19 grid with 361 points (9 of them star points). An average game on the 19x19 grid (above) takes about an hour.

You can also play on smaller grids, usually 13x13 (average game time: 30 minutes) or 9x9 (average game time: 15 minutes). I recommend starting on a 9x9 board. With still more variations than chess, 9x9 retains all the interest of Go, while not taking as long and being a little easier to manage.

Overview
1. What is Go?
2. How the Game is Played
3. Capturing
4. The Point Without Liberties
5. Gaining Liberties by Capturing
6. Life and Death
7. A Special Form of Life
8. The Rule of Ko
9. Ending the Game