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Small Board Go
    Keywords: Rules

Small board go is go played on a board of size smaller than the standard 19x19 goban. Commonly used sizes are 9x9 or 13x13. These board sizes are suitable for beginners wanting learn the basic rules of Go and experienced players wanting to refresh their thinking and exercise specific aspects of play.


Small board Go has both entertainment and pedagogical value. I (Bill Spight) have often used it for teaching. The 3x3 teaches me ari me nashi, for example. Rules of Go questions are very significant for small boards. Some small boards make no sense under Japanese rules, for instance. And strange superkos can arise.

Small board Go researchers include [ext] Ted Drange, [ext] John Tromp, Bill Taylor, Robert Jasiek, and many others (see also Tromp Taylor Rules).

[Diagram]
Diag.: Mane go strategy

Here is a cute 3x4 problem:
Black to play and stomp.

Solution

-- BillSpight



Go has been solved for boards up to and including 6x7 with area scoring (Ref. [ext] Mini-Go by Ted Drange with assistance from Bill Spight). With ideal play (and no komi), Black wins 3x3 by 9, 4x4 by 2, 5x5 by 25, and 6x6 by 4.

  • 7x7 is the smallest undecided Go board.
  • 13x13 has handicap (hoshi) points spaced the same as 19x19.
  • 15x15 was popular in China 1000 years ago.
  • 17x17 is used in Tibetan Go and was used in China 500 years ago.

Small boards (and large boards) are easily played on KGS and other servers. KGS will handle all from 2x to 38x.

What are the suggested komi for non standard board sizes (7x, 9x, 11x, 13x, 15x, 17x, and 21x)? (see Komi Go Discussion) --Hu of KGS


What is the contents of the Mini-Go site, I cannot reach it...

Where are the proofs for most of the boards of smaller sizes?! I have seen 0x0 various rulesets, 1x1 various rulesets, 1x2 a few rulesets, 2x2 some rulesets, 3x3. --Robert Jasiek


Jasonred This is actually really useful for me, as it gives ways to gife life other than the old "two eyes" bit, which some amatuers (me), get too used to. We forget there's also damezumari and seki... I always forget seki. Could some people come up with some question and answer problems on how to give a group life through SEKI? Thanks.



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