Go — Strategy

The game record

At the table and in the archive, a move in go is the point where a stone was placed, or a pass. Captures are not written down: what was removed follows from the position.

Points on the board

Columns are lettered from left to right, skipping I (so it is not confused with J); rows are numbered from the bottom up:

The lower left corner is A1. On the big board the star points (hoshi) areD4, Q4, D16, Q16 and the centre K10; on 9×9 they are C3, G3,C7, G7 and E5.

The move list

Moves come in pairs — Black and White on one line:

1. ● Q16   ○ D4
2. ● Q3    ○ D16
3. ● R5 ×1 ○ pass

×1 means the move captured one stone. Next to it, in grey, is how long the player thought about the move. In a handicap game White moves first, so Black's cell in the first line is empty. On the board itself the last two stones carry their numbers, so the latest exchange is easy to see.

The archive

Finished games are kept in the archive. You can step through a game move by move (the ←/→ keys or a click on a move in the list);if the game went to counting, the end shows the score and the dead stones.

The “Download SGF” button saves the game as an SGF file, which any go program can open, including ones that analyse with a strong engine. This is the best way to review your own game: find the move after which the evaluation swung, and think about what you saw at that moment.

The club's latest games are shown by the “Telescope” on the home page:watching strong players is also a way to learn.