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Scoring
    Keywords: Rules

At the end of a game of Go, a numeric score is determined for each player. The higher scoring player wins, or the game may be tied. In addition, the difference between the scores may be used to help determine relative ranking of the players.

While Go is played basically the same world wide, there are several different Rules Of Go in use. One of the ways that these rules differ is in scoring.

There are two main scoring methods in use: Area scoring and Territory scoring. While these methods will result in different scores, who is determined the winner, and the difference between the scores will be the same with either method in the vast majority of games under any given rule set.

Most people find these differences confusing. This is mainly because when you learn Go, you learn a method of Counting, not Scoring. It is also confusing because the definitions of area and territory are almost the same.

Area Scoring

In Area scoring, your score is:

  • the number of your stones on the board
  • the number of empty points your stones surround

Area scoring is used in most rules, notably Chinese Rules and Ing Rules.

To determine the score with Area scoring by hand, Chinese Counting is generally used.

Territory Scoring

In Territory scoring, your score is:

  • the number of empty points your stones surround
  • the number of your opponent's stones you've captured
    (both during

the game, and dead stones on the board at the end)

Territory scoring is used in Japanese Rules, in several on-line servers.

To determine the score with Territory scoring by hand, Japanese Counting is used.



There is a deeper discussion of the aspects of and differences between Territory And Area Scoring. It also covers a few subtle points that vary in different rules.

There are a number of other scoring methods of historical and theoretical interest. In particular, Stone Counting Scoring, used centuries ago in China, has a different scoring system.



This is a copy of the living page "Scoring" at Sensei's Library.
(C) the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.