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Goban
  Difficulty: Beginner   Keywords: Go term, Equipment

Japanese for go board (碁盤). Chinese: qipan (棋盘).

There is no real reason to use the word goban when the perfectly good expression go board exists in English. However, you could use this Japanese word to show how cool you are and how good your Japanese is.

[Diagram]
Standard 19x19 virtual goban

Note that there are traditionally small markings at nine of the 'points' (the star points). The central point is called tengen (Japanese) or tianyuan (Chinese) - the Korean word is chunweon.

A real-life go board is a 19x19 grid of lines [1], and the grid isn't square but rectangular (about 8% longer than wide). This compensates for foreshortening when you look at the board.

The go stones are played on the intersections. They may be played on the edge of the board - the outer line, or in the very corners where two edges meet.



[1] Other sized go boards exist. Commonly used alternative sizes include 9x9 and 13x13 boards.


See also:



This is a copy of the living page "Goban" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.