Hoshi

Hoshi refers to the specific points on the board marked with small dots, commonly known as star points, which serve as visual guides. 

On a standard 19×19 Go board, there are nine hoshi points: one at the center (tengen), four at the 4-4 points in each corner, and four on the sides at the intersections of the fourth lines from the edges. 13×13 and 9×9 boards have only five star points each.

An empty board with all hoshi points marked

Quick Trivia

• The central star point is called Tengen. 
• Typically, “taking a star point” means occupying one of the corner hoshi points (4-4) on the board.
• Hoshi points are often used as initial moves to establish influence over large areas of the board. 
• In games with handicap, hoshi points are the designated locations for placing the handicap stones.

A board with 8 handicap stones

If you want to learn more about the 4-4 opening, be sure to explore the “Openings: Before and Now” section of our The Main Principles of a Glorious Opening course. Interested in mastering the joseki for star point? Explore the Star-Point Superiority section in our Joseki course!