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Different Sized Boards
    Keywords: Equipment

The game of Go is usually played on a goban with two orthogonal sets of 19 lines. Such a board is said to have a size of 19x19. It is certainly possible to play Go on a board of any desired size, so long as one can find a way to represent the board and has enough stones to fill it. Most computer Go programs allow one to choose the board size. Some programs allow boards which are asymmetrical, such as a 13x19 board, while others require the board to be square. One can also take a typical 19x19 goban from the real world and shrink it to a smaller size using various techniques to mask out the nonessential lines.

This section is dedicated to exploring the implications on play of different sized boards that have existed historically, traditionally and experimentally, as well as any related culture.


By Size

  • 7x7? - smallest undecided (Proofs?! --RobertJasiek)
  • 9x9 - popular for fast/instructive games
  • 13x13 - also popular
  • 15x15? - popular in China 1000 years ago
  • 17x17? - Tibetan go, and China 500 years ago
  • 18x18? - Historical chinese (not certain)

By Property

Miscellaneous

  • Unusual Gobans - boards with holes, strange shapes and other weirdness
  • How to shrink a goban - techniques to turn a real goban into a smaller one
  • Where to find real 9x9 and 13x13 boards
  • On KGS you can play any size from 2x2 to 38x38

lezogzog I was told that the only reason for not playing on even-sized gobans is the lack of tengen. This seems to cause problems with mirror go. Is this explanation sound ? Does anybody see another one ?

Skelley: Why would/should we play on an even-sized board? I don't realy see a good reason for not playing on an odd-sized board...

unkx80: Possibly also to prevent draws when using Chinese rules.



This is a copy of the living page "Different Sized Boards" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2003 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.