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Goban
  Difficulty: Beginner   Keywords: Go term, Equipment

"Goban" is the Japanese word for "go board" (碁盤). Chinese: qipan (棋盘).

The word "goban" has no special, unusual meaning and probably need not be used if there exists an equivalent word in your native language. (To give advice, unless you're certain your audience will understand the word, you should probably use a native word? that, for instance, doesn't need a wiki page[1] to define it.)

[Diagram]
Standard 19x19 virtual goban

Note that there are traditionally small markings at nine of the 'points' (the star points or hoshi). 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 [2], 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] If someone follows a wiki link to this page from elsewhere, it's almost certainly an example of burdensome use of jargon.

[2] 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.