Play Survival Go Online
Survival Go is Go Magic’s interactive training mode for life-and-death play in the board game Go, also known as Baduk or Weiqi. Instead of playing a whole game for territory, you begin from a prepared position and choose one of two goals: Survive by making two eyes, or Kill by preventing the opposing group from living. You can use 9×9, 13×13 or 19×19 boards, choose among six starting setups, adjust the computer through seven strength levels and turn on One-Color Go as a memory drill. Playing against the bot requires a free account; free accounts include daily Energy for games. Free Play is available without a computer opponent.
- A Go Magic training mode for interactive life-and-death fights, not a separate universal Go ruleset.
- Choose Survive to make two eyes or Kill to attack the group.
- Use 9×9, 13×13 or 19×19 and one of six prepared starting positions.
- Select one of seven bot levels: Breeze, Wind, Squall, Storm, Tempest, Typhoon or MAX.
- Use One-Color Go only when you want to add a memory challenge.
Survival Go turns one local life-and-death fight into an interactive game. The defender tries to create a living shape; the attacker tries to stop it. This makes the mode different from a full game, where the result also depends on territory, the safety of several groups and the value of moves elsewhere. If captures are not yet automatic for you, practise Atari Go first.
Choose Survive to play the defending side. Your goal is to build two separate internal spaces—eyes—that the attacker cannot fill without losing the capturing race. Choose Kill to play the attacking side and prevent the defender from completing a living shape.
Two genuine eyes are sufficient for a group to live. Normal Go also contains exceptions such as seki, where groups can remain on the board without two eyes because neither player can capture safely. Survival Go deliberately uses a clear two-eye objective for focused practice. Review the idea in the Go Magic rules guide.
- Bot strength. Choose Breeze, Wind, Squall, Storm, Tempest, Typhoon or MAX. The setup also shows an estimated position difficulty and response time.
- Goal. Play as the defender with Survive or as the attacker with Kill.
- Board size. Choose 9×9, 13×13 or 19×19.
- Starting position. Select Intro (3 stones), Low corners, Four sides, Four corners + center, Four stars or Center eye.
- One-Color Go. Hide the visual difference between Black and White stones for a memory drill.
- Free Play. Open the selected position without a computer opponent and without logging in.
- Begin on 9×9 with Intro (3 stones), the Breeze bot and the Survive goal.
- Replay the same setup and notice which moves create eye space, connect stones or waste liberties.
- Switch to Kill and attack the shape you were just defending. Learning both sides prevents one-sided pattern memorisation.
- Increase one variable at a time: first the bot level, then the starting position or board size.
- Use One-Color Go only after you can read the ordinary position reliably.
Use Survival Go for repeated sparring, then solve life-and-death problems in the Skill Tree to practise precise move sequences. For a structured explanation of standard shapes, liberties, seki and ko, continue with Life and Death vol. 1. Finally, test the same ideas in a full game against the Go bot.