White

White is one of the two colors used to play the game of Go; the other is black.

Move, stone, marked moves

Role in Game

• plays second
• gives handicap if necessary
• usually played by the stronger player
• addressed as "W" or "White" or "she" or "he" in reviews ^[1]
• can receive komi to compensate for playing second
• moves on even numbers in even games (due to playing second and because even passing is counted as a move), on odd numbers in handicap games ^[2] (due to playing first and because even passing is counted as a move)

Characteristics of White stones

• made of shell (better quality, expensive), glass (common), plastic (poor quality, cheap), or pixels (computer Go, online Go)
• White numbers 180 stones in some rulesets, an indefinite number in others
• Between 6mm and 10mm thick
• Slightly smaller diameter than black stones, yet appear to be the same size

See also

• What is Go
• Basic rules of Go
• Proverbs do not apply to white
• Goishi

Footnotes

[1] see also Player Gender (please discuss there)

[2] hotcoffee: Is this strictly true? I'm sure I've seen notation conventions that list white's first move in a handicap game as move 2.

Bob McGuigan: In most books I've seen the black handicap stones are not considered moves and white's first move is move number 1. I think some computer go clients may play the handicap stones as consecutive moves, but I don't know what they do with move numbers.