Statement of RULES:

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Go is a two player strategy board game.  Players take turns putting black 
and white pieces (called stones) on a board.  Stones are placed on the 
intersection of the lines on the board, and can be placed on the edge or 
in the corner.  Once played a stone can not be moved, but may be captured 
by the other player.  A player can pass at any time.  Go is generally 
played on a 19 by 19 board, but smaller boards such as 9 by 9 or 13 by 13 
are used by beginners.  

The object of the game is to surround territory and/or your opponent's 
stones.  The game ends when both players pass.  Each intersection 
surrounded and each prisoner counts as a point.  The player with the most 
points wins. 

An empty intersection adjacent to a stone (orthogonally) is called a 
liberty.  For example, a single stone in the middle of the board has 4 
liberties.  Stones that are adjacent form groups.  Every group must have 
at least one liberty.  When a group's last liberty is filled it is 
captured and removed from the board. 

It is illegal to make a move which recreates a preceding board position 
(to prevent loops).  The simplest repeating position is called a ko. 

You must know how to make a living group.  A live group is one that can't 
be captured.  A liberty which is inside a group and completely surrounded 
is called an eye. A group with two eyes cannot be captured.  With one 
eye, your opponent can fill all the outside liberties and then fill the 
eye (your last liberty), capturing you.  With two eyes, he can't fill 
either one since the stone he puts down has no liberties.  (It is also 
possible to live by sharing liberties with an enemy group, called seki).  
At the end of the game, any group which is not alive is assumed to be 
captured and its stones are added to the other side's prisoners. 

It is easiest to surround territory in the corner since you only have to 
make two walls and the edges of the board form the other two walls.  
Because of this, the first plays are usually near the corner, then play 
expands down the edges, and finally into the center.  Playing on the 
third or fourth line from the edge is generally best in the opening 
(fuseki).  Playing lower doesn't give you much territory, and if you play 
higher it is easy for your opponent to come in underneath you and make a 
living group. 

There has been an annual world Computer Go championship since 1986 in 
Taiwan with a $6,000 prize for the best program and up to $1.3 Million in 
prizes for beating strong human players. 

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