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17 x 17 Board
    Keywords: Culture & History, Equipment

Today, 17x17 go boards can be seen in Tibet.

Ancient gobans in China were smaller than 19x19:

  • In 1954, a 17x17 board from Han Dynasty (25 A.D. - 220 A.D.) was unearthed in Wang Du, Hebei.
  • A 17x17 board is seen in the ancient painting Tang Lady Playing Go, unearthed in Xin Jiang.
  • YiJing and DuQuGe, two literatures from the NanBei dynasties, both mention 17x17 boards.

John F. I have the Yijing and Duquge texts but I have never seen them discussed outside of Chinese works. Have you a western reference?

Note that the Tang lady from Torfan was not unearthed from a tomb, but came from a cave. As far as I know the Wangdu County board is not dated specifically to the Later Han. Is it not just labelled as prior to 200 AD? In other words, it could be Former Han (i.e. BC).

For others: the Yijing mentions a 17x17 board and 289 intersections; Yi here is not go; the title refers to a "manual of accomplishments". The Duquge mini-poem just refers to a square board of 17 lines. A 16x16 is also mentioned in the old literature but that is assumed to be a mistake.

Charles I take it that it isn't asserted that 19x19 wasn't also used.



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