Game

Go

Also Known As Weiqi (Chinese name) · Baduk (Korean name)

Space and Territory Games

Go, also called weiqi in China and baduk in Korea, is a two player territorial strategy board game played on a grid, most commonly nineteen by nineteen lines, in which players place stones to surround territory and capture opposing stones. It is widely regarded as the oldest board game still played today in essentially its original form. The game originated in ancient China; a traditional legend credits the mythical Emperor Yao with inventing it to teach his son, but this is a legend rather than a historical account. The earliest known textual reference appears in the Zuo Zhuan, a Chinese historical chronicle traditionally dated to around the fourth century BC, which already mentions the game as an established practice, meaning its real origin lies at some earlier and unrecoverable point. Go reached Japan by around the seventh century AD, carried along with other elements of Chinese culture, and there underwent its most influential later flowering: from the early seventeenth century the Tokugawa shogunate funded four rival professional schools, the Honinbo foremost among them, supporting generations of full time players whose recorded games built the modern theory of the game. This state patronized Japanese tradition, more than any other national school, shaped the vocabulary, rule refinements and competitive culture through which go is played and studied worldwide today.

Facts

Disputed

Origin Year

400 BCE 1

The Zuo Zhuan, a Chinese chronicle traditionally dated to around the fourth century BC, is the earliest surviving text to mention go, already as an established game, which means the game real invention lies at some earlier point that no surviving record documents. Go is commonly described as more than twenty five hundred years old on this basis, but no exact origin date or inventor is known.

Originating Region

Ancient China 1

Game Type

Board game, territorial strategy 1

Governing Body

International Go Federation, founded in 1982, coordinating national go associations and the game major international championships. 1

Classification

Player Count

Two-Player 1

Sport

Game Type (category)

Board Game 1

Game Type (category)

Strategy Game 1

Connections

Ancestor Of

Gonnect

Source Gonnect (Games of Soldiers page)

Associated With

Gomoku

Gomoku is traditionally played with the same black-and-white stone set and grid board used for Go, though it is a distinct alignment game with its own five-in-a-row win condition rather than a variant of Go itself.

Featured In

Honinbo

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica

Governed By

Chinese Weiqi Association

Source Chinese Weiqi Association (Wikipedia)

Long-Form Articles

How four state-funded houses turned go rivalry into skill

Played By

Byun Sangil

Source Byun Sang-il - Wikipedia

Chang Hao

Source Wikipedia: Chang Hao (Go player)

Chen Yaoye

Source Wikipedia, Chen Yaoye

Cho Chikun

Source Wikipedia, Cho Chikun

Cho Hunhyun

Source Wikipedia, Cho Hunhyun

Cho U

Source Cho U - Wikipedia

Choi Cheol-han

Source Wikipedia: Choi Cheol-han

Chou Chun-hsun

Source Chou Chun-hsun - Wikipedia

Fan Hui

Source Wikipedia, Fan Hui

Fan Tingyu

Source Wikipedia: Fan Tingyu

Fujisawa Hideyuki

Source Hideyuki Fujisawa, Wikipedia

Go Seigen

Gu Li

Source Wikipedia: Gu Li (Go player)

Honinbo Shusaku

Source A History of Board-Games Other Than ChessH.J.R. Murray

Ichiriki Ryo

Source Wikipedia: Ichiriki Ryo

Jimmy Cha

Source Jimmy Cha (Wikipedia)

Kang Dongyun

Source Kang Dong-yun - Wikipedia

Kato Masao

Source Wikipedia: Kato Masao

Ke Jie

Source Wikipedia, Ke Jie

Kim Ji-seok

Source Kim Ji-seok - Wikipedia

Koichi Kobayashi

Source Wikipedia, Koichi Kobayashi

Kong Jie

Source Wikipedia: Kong Jie

Lee Chang-ho

Source Wikipedia, Lee Chang-ho

Lee Sedol

Ma Xiaochun

Source Wikipedia: Ma Xiaochun

Mi Yuting

Source Mi Yuting, Wikipedia

Michael Redmond

Source Wikipedia, Michael Redmond

Nie Weiping

Source Wikipedia: Nie Weiping

O Meien

Source Wikipedia, O Meien

Otake Hideo

Source Wikipedia: Otake Hideo

Park Junghwan

Source Wikipedia, Park Junghwan

Rin Kaiho

Source Wikipedia, Rin Kaiho

Rui Naiwei

Source Wikipedia: Rui Naiwei

Sakata Eio

Source Wikipedia, Sakata Eio

Shi Yue

Source Wikipedia: Shi Yue (Go player)

Shibano Toramaru

Source Toramaru Shibano (Wikipedia)

Shin Jinseo

Source Wikipedia, Shin Jinseo

Shin Minjun

Source Shin Min-jun - Wikipedia

Takemiya Masaki

Source Wikipedia, Takemiya Masaki

Tang Weixing

Source Wikipedia: Tang Weixing

Won Seong-jin

Source Won Seong-jin - Wikipedia

Yang Dingxin

Source Wikipedia: Yang Dingxin

Yoda Norimoto

Source Yoda Norimoto - Wikipedia

Yu Zhiying

Source Wikipedia, Yu Zhiying

Yuta Iyama

Source Wikipedia, Yuta Iyama

Zhou Ruiyang

Source Wikipedia: Zhou Ruiyang

In the Other Atlases

Origin Of

Combinatorial Game Theory

Also in Mathematics Atlas: which originated in this subject.

Source Conway, On Numbers and Games (1976)John H. Conwaytier 1

Found In

Asia

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Sources

1. A History of Board-Games Other Than Chess

H.J.R. Murray, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1952

entity record, description lead (player-count)
Go, also called weiqi in China and baduk in Korea, is a two player territorial strategy board game played on a grid, most commonly nineteen by nineteen lines, in which players place stones to surround territory and capture opposing stones. It is widely regarded as the oldest board game still played today in essentially its original form. The game originated in ancient China; a traditiona
Played By: Honinbo Shusaku

Wikipedia, History of Go

Edo Golden Age

Quote, Edo Golden Age

The key arena for demonstrating the skill and prestige of the Go schools was the annual Castle Games (Oshirogo), held before the shogun himself in Edo Castle.