Order of placement of handicap stones
aokun I was once told by a Japanese gentleman giving me a lesson at the NY Go Center that it was polite to place the handicap stones in a certain order. It seemed to be connected with or derived from the rule of placing the first stone in the far right corner. Although where white physically gets to play first depends on orientation of the handicap stones for 2-, 3-, 6-, 7- and 8-stone handicaps, the order of placement is irrelevent even for that, so it seemed to me the procedure was a customary formal courtesy. I would like to get it right, but I don't recall having seen mention of this custom anywhere else.
Anybody heard of it?
Alex: Yes. It is the following diagram, in alphabetical order. The three rules to remember, in order of precedence are:
- Symmetry first
- Right before left
- Away before close
The order of the last two rules is important to remember - c should not be at d and g - 'h should not come before e - f''.
Alex: As a meta-question, why are my numbered list and italics getting messed up?
Gerhard: This order for placing the handicap stones is also described in the book of Iwamoto: Go for Beginners.