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Small board Go
    Keywords: Equipment

Small board go is go played on a board of size smaller than the standard 19x19 goban. Commonly used sizes are 9x9 or 13x13. These board sizes are suitable for beginners wanting learn the basic rules of go and experienced players wanting to refresh their thinking and exercise specific tactical aspects of play. One good use for small boards is to try to work on your positional judgement with smaller numbers involved.

Capture Go is commonly taught initially on a 5x5 board. Even this tiny board can be amazingly instructive. The book [ext] How to Improve on a 5x5 board actually contains dan-level problems on this size board.


Small board Go has both entertainment and pedagogical value. I (Bill Spight) have often used it for teaching. The 3x3 teaches me ari me nashi, for example. Rules of Go questions are very significant for small boards. Some small boards make no sense under Japanese rules, for instance. And strange superkos can arise.

Small board Go researchers include Ted Drange, [ext] John Tromp, Bill Taylor, Robert Jasiek, and many others (see also Tromp Taylor Rules).

[Diagram]
Mane go strategy

Here is a cute 3x4 problem:
Black to play and stomp.

Solution

-- BillSpight



Go has been solved[1] for boards up to and including 6x7 with area scoring (Ref. [ext] Mini-Go by Ted Drange with assistance from Bill Spight). With ideal play (and no komi), Black wins 3x3 by 9, 4x4 by 2, 5x5 by 25, and 6x6 by 4.

  • 7x7 is the smallest undecided Go board. (This may be best play)(See 7x7 game for an example)
  • 13x13 has handicap (hoshi) points spaced the same as 19x19.
  • 15x15 was popular in China 1000 years ago.
  • 17x17 is used in Tibetan Go and was used in China 500 years ago.

Small boards (and large boards) are easily played on KGS and other servers. KGS will handle all from 2x to 38x.

What are the suggested komi for non standard board sizes (7x, 9x, 11x, 13x, 15x, 17x, and 21x)? (see Komi Go Discussion) --Hu of KGS

Neil: I wonder, does Black win 7x7 by 49 and 8x8 by 6 or 8? How likely do the experts figure that there is a pattern there?


What is the contents of the Mini-Go site, I cannot reach it...

Where are the proofs for most of the boards of smaller sizes?! I have seen 0x0 various rulesets, 1x1 various rulesets, 1x2 a few rulesets, 2x2 some rulesets, 3x3. --Robert Jasiek


Jasonred This is actually really useful for me, as it gives ways to give life other than the old "two eyes" bit, which some amateurs (me), get too used to. We forget there's also shortage of liberties and seki... I always forget seki.

Could some people come up with some question and answer problems on how to give a group life through seki? Thanks.


[1]

Bill: I do not think that Ted, John, or Bill would say that all of the small boards they investigated, up to size 6x7, have been solved.



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