Standard Go Terms
PageType: HomePage Difficulty: Introductory Keywords: Go term
A list of commonly used Go Terms. See also Go Terms for a more complete list.
- Aji -- Aji means possibilities which are left in a position.
- Atari -- The state of a stone or group of stones that has only one liberty left.
- Chain -- A chain is a group of stones that are all connected along the lines of the board.
- Connection -- Two or more stones are connected if they belong to the same chain, i.e. when they can only be taken from the board together.
- Cut -- A cut is the action or the move which separates two almost connected groups of stones.
- Dame -- An empty point adjacent to a stone; a Basic liberty: neutral points.
- Damezumari -- A shortage of liberties.
- Death -- A group is dead when its owner cannot, playing first with correct play, make it live with two eyes or in seki or make a ko for life.
- Dragon -- A dragon is a long connected shape spanning large areas of the board.
- Endgame -- The endgame is the final stage of the game when the status of all big groups is already determined and the remaining moves aim at expansion of own territory and reduction of the territory of the opponent.
- Eye -- An empty space surrounded by stones of one colour.
- Fuseki -- Fuseki is a Japanese go term meaning arraying stones for battle.
- Geta -- See Net.
- Goban -- Go board.
- Gote -- A move or position in which the opponent does not need to answer.
- Group -- One or more isolated stones or chains (strings) of stones of one colour, hanging together as if effectively connected.
- Handicap -- Giving stones to a weaker player to level the playing field.
- Honte -- A move which is honte ('the proper move') is one that is played to reduce the amount of aji in one's position.
- Joban -- The Japanese term for the first moves of a game regardless of the presence or absence of a fuseki.
- Joseki -- Joseki are generally agreed-upon sequences of play.
- Kikashi -- Kikashi, a Japanese go term adopted into English (forcing move), is a sente move that produces a certain effect and can then be abandoned without any great loss.
- Killing -- Capturing the opponents stone or group of stones.
- Ko -- A rule to avoid infinitely repeating positions.
- Komi -- Compensation given to white for black playing first.
- Ladder -- A ladder is a technique for capturing stones where at each step the attacker reduces the defender's liberties from two to one.
- Liberty -- An empty point adjacent to a single stone or chain of stones.
- Life -- State where a group has two eyes, lives in sekior is secure enough to survive an invasion.
- Miai -- Miai denotes that a player has two different options at his or her disposal, such that, if the opponent takes away one, the player can take the other.
- Moyo -- A framework is an area where one player has a large influence, and which potentially could become that player's territory.
- Net -- A net is a technique where one or a few stones are captured by blocking the exits.
- Peep -- A peep in go is a threat to cut (nozoki in Japanese).
- Point -- A point is the intersection of two lines on the go board.
- Sansan -- 3-3 point.
- Semedori -- Semedori is a situation in which dead stones must eventually be captured.
- Sente -- Meaning playing first; players have sente if it is their turn and they do not have to answer their opponent's last move (at a particular place).
- Shape -- Form; a quality of a group of stones of the same color.
- Tedomari -- Tedomari means the last play.
- Tengen -- The center point of the go board.
- Tenuki -- Tenuki, a Japanese go term adopted into English, denotes playing somewhere else.
- Tesuji -- A tesuji is a clever play, the best play in a local position, a skillful move, a special tactic.
- Yose -- Yose, a Japanese go term adopted into English, are moves that approach fairly stable territory, typically enlarging one's own territory while reducing the opponent's.
- Zokusuji -- Zokusuji literally means "crude line of play" and is often translated as "vulgar move".