Go: The Game That Has Captivated Minds for Millennia
Welcome to the world of Go, an ancient game that’s as simple as it is profound. 🌟 Played by emperors, philosophers and war commanders before, Go continues to engage and captivate modern intellectuals today. More than just a game — Go is a masterclass in efficient thinking, sharpening your mind with every play. 🧐
“Go” comes from the Japanese 囲碁 (Igo), and is also known as 圍棋 (wéiqí) in China and 바둑 (baduk) in Korea.
Cool Facts about Go
Originating in China, Go has a history of over 3000 years
Simple rules, but over 10171 possible variations, making it the most complex board game ever
Top professional Go players earn up to $1.3M annually
Great Minds Fascinated by Go
CHINESE PHILOSOPHER
CHESS WORLD CHAMPION
THEORETICAL PHYSICIST
GOOGLE CO-FOUNDER
Left And Right Brain Unite to Play Go
Left Hemisphere
Strategic Planning
Logical Reasoning
Analytical Thinking
Mathematical Skills
Right Hemisphere
Creativity and Innovation
Pattern Recognition
Spatial Intelligence
Intuition and Insight
Playing Go does wonders for your brain! 🧠 It not only boosts your memory and helps you focus better, but it also makes you a great problem solver. Plus, it’s great for keeping your emotions in check and keeping your mind sharp and flexible. All these benefits might even help in slowing down the aging process of the brain, reducing the risk of dementia. 🧙♂️
Charming Simplicity of the Rules
Think you can’t play Go without knowing the rules? Let’s put that to the test!
Pretty straightforward, right? You’ve just learned a key part of the Go rules. 🤯
In Go, players take turns placing black and white stones at the line intersections.
The Objective 🏹
Outscore your opponent by controlling more territory and capturing their stones.
Capturing Stones ⚫⚪
You capture stones by completely surrounding them. Each captured stone adds a point to your score. This is a fundamental aspect of tactical gameplay.
Controlling Territories 🤝
Capturing stones is just one part of Go. Equally, if not more, important is controlling as much of the board as you can. The more territory you secure, the more points you gain. This brings a deep strategic layer to the game.
Go Game Video Tutorial
You can learn to play Go by taking a short interactive course that covers Go rules and fundamentals. It consists of bite-sized video lessons and quizzes to test your new skills. 🐾 Check out the first lesson from the course:
Chess vs Go: A Quick Comparison
While the Baroque rules of Chess could only have been created by humans, the rules of Go are so elegant, organic, and rigorously logical that if intelligent life forms exist elsewhere in the universe they almost certainly play Go
— Edward Lasker, International Chess Master
| Chess | Go | |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | ~1,500 years ago in India | ~3,000 years ago in China |
| Board Size | 8×8 grid | 19×19 grid |
| Game Pieces | 6 types of pieces per color | Black and white stones |
| Ease of Entry | Simple objective; detailed piece-specific rules | Simple rules; complex strategic objective |
| Average Game Length | ~80 moves | ~200 moves |
| Game Complexity | ~1044 possible positions | ~10171 possible positions |
| AI Surpasses Human Level | 1997, IBM’s DeepBlue | 2016, Google’s AlphaGo |
| Player Population | ~500 million worldwide | ~25 million worldwide |
| Professional Players | ~1700 worldwide | ~2000 worldwide |
If every possible chess position was a single grain of sand, Go complexity would be comparable to the entire Sahara Desert.
Why Isn’t Go as Popular as Chess? 🤔
It’s a historical curiosity why Go isn’t as widely played as chess, especially considering its rich strategic depth. Chess got a head start in the West, becoming a staple in culture and education. Go, hailing from East Asia, only garnered Western attention over the last 100 years. But times are changing! With movies, anime, and epic AI battles, Go is rapidly gaining global popularity.
The AI Milestone: AlphaGo
The 2016 match where Google’s AlphaGo defeated world champion Lee Sedol was a watershed moment, showcasing the incredible potential of artificial intelligence. 🤖 That was the beginning of the widespread use of neural networks.
Congrats to DeepMind! Many experts in the field thought AI was 10 years away from achieving this. https://t.co/5gGZZkud3K
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 9, 2016
Interested in the full story? Check out the documentary “AlphaGo”. It’s a fascinating look at this historic AI-human showdown. Here it is, watch it now or save it for later. 👇
Go in Movies and Anime
Seen Go in “A Beautiful Mind” or “Pi”? It’s also sneaked into scenes in “Tetris” and “Knives Out.” 👀 But where Go really scores big is in the anime world. Enter “Hikaru no Go” — it’s this awesome series about a kid, Hikaru, who stumbles upon a Go board with a twist: it’s haunted by a Go master’s spirit from the past. Even though the anime is more than 20 years old, it’s still a hit, boasting an 8.2 on IMDB. 🍿
Want more movies centered about Go? Check out the whole list of them! 📺
Ready to Make Your First Move?
Jumpstart your Go adventure with Go Magic! Our platform makes learning Go a breeze with Interactive Courses and a structured Skill Tree. 🌴 Start your journey with the first course of our Go fundamentals trilogy, covering the rules and basics on 9×9, and then keep progressing to greater challenges in the art of Go.
Learning Go has never been more fun and accessible! ✨
