Go (board game)

“ When good players commence the game, from the first they have in mind the entire board, and they generally play a stone in each of the four corners and one or two around the edges of the board, sketching out, as it were, the territory which they ultimately hope to obtain. ”

“ The game of Go belongs to the class of games of which our Chess, though very dissimilar, is an example. It is played on a board, and is a game of pure skill, into which the element of chance does not enter; moreover, it is an exceedingly difficult game to learn, and no one can expect to acquire the most superficial knowledge of it without many hours of hard work. It is said in Japan that a player with ordinary aptitude for the game would have to play ten thousand games in order to attain professional rank of the lowest degree. ”

“ Handicaps are given by the stronger player allowing the weaker player to place a certain number of stones on the board before the game begins, and we have seen in the chapter on the Description of the Board that these stones are placed on the nine dotted intersections. If one stone is given, it is usual to place it in the upper right-hand corner. ”

“ In other games such a graduated system of classifying players would be scarcely possible, but among good Go players it is feasible, because the better player almost invariably wins, even if he be but slightly superior. If the difference in skill could not be equalized in some way the game would become tiresome, as the weaker player would almost always be able to foresee his defeat. The stronger player, therefore, allows his adversary to place enough stones on the board as a handicap to make the adversaries approximately equal. ”

“ Next to the corners of the board the sides of the board are easiest to defend, and territory is more easily formed along the sides than in the center, and in an ordinary game the play generally proceeds from the corners and edges to the center. The importance which the Japanese attach to the corners is shown by their saying "Yo sumi torarete go wo utsu na," or, "if the four corners are taken, cease playing." Against a good player it is next to impossible to form territory in the center of the board, unless it is based on one of the sides or corners. ”

“ Nevertheless, I think that in the early part of the game the play is somewhat indefinite for any player of ordinary skill. On the other [x] hand, these considerations are balanced by the greater number of combinations and by the greater number of places on the board where conflicts take place. As a rule it may be said that two average players of about equal strength will find more pleasure in Go than in Chess, for in Chess it is almost certain that the first of two such players who loses a piece will lose the game, and further play is mostly an unsuccessful struggle against certain defeat. ”

“ The combinations in Go suffer in comparison with those of Chess by reason of a certain monotony, because there are no pieces having different movements, and because the stones are not moved again after once being placed on the board. ”

“ The process of connecting the various groups with the edge of the board gives rise to end positions in which there is more or less similarity in all games, and most of the illustrations which are now given are examples of this class. The end positions which occur in the middle of the board may vary so much in every game that it is practically impossible to give typical illustrations of them. ”

“ The Japanese always take the stone between the middle and index fingers, and not between the thumb and index finger as we are likely to do, and they place it on the board smartly and with great skill, so that it gives a cheerful sound, as before stated.
For use in this country the board need not be so thick, and need not, of course, have feet, but if it is attempted to play the game on cardboard, which has a dead sound as the stones are played, it is surprising how much the pleasure of the game is diminished. ”

“ Therefore, when the main game is nearing completion, the players survey the board in order to locate the most advantageous end plays; that is to say, positions where they can gain the greatest number of "Me." In calculating the value of an end position, a player must carefully consider whether on its completion he will retain or lose the "Sente." It is an advantage to retain the "Sente," and it is generally good play to choose an end position where the "Sente" is retained, in preference to an end position where it is lost, even if the latter would gain a few more "Me." ”

“ They attack their opponent at close quarters from the beginning, because they cannot take in the whole field at a glance. Their entire effort is to absorb the last stone that their opponent has played. When two beginners play together the battle moves slowly from a corner out over the board, and one side of the board is entirely filled with stones, while the other is completely empty. ”

“ It is something like perpetual check in Chess, but the Japanese, in place of calling the game a draw, compel the second player to move elsewhere and thus allow the game to continue. In an actual game when a player is prevented from retaking a stone by the rule of "Ko," he always tries to play in some other portion of the board where he threatens a larger group of stones than is involved in the situation where "Ko" occurs, and thus often he can compel his adversary to follow him to this other part of the field, and then return to retake in "Ko." ”

“ This is the principle of the two “Me,” and when a player’s group of stones is hard pressed, and his adversary is trying to surround them, if he can so place the stones that two disconnected complete “Me” are left, they are safe forever. It makes no difference whether the vacant “Me” are on the edges or in the corners of the board, or how far from each other they may be.
Plate 3, Diagram VI, shows a group of stones containing two vacant “Me” on the edge of the board. This group is perfectly safe against attack. A beginner might ask why the white group shown on Plate 3, Diagram V, is not safe. ”

“ Go, on the other hand, is not merely a picture of a single battle like Chess, but of a whole campaign of a modern kind, in which the strategical movements of the masses in the end decide the victory. Battles occur in various parts of the board, and sometimes several are going on at the same time. Strong positions are besieged and captured, and whole armies are cut off from their line of communications and are taken prisoners unless they can fortify themselves in impregnable positions, and a far-reaching strategy alone assures the victory. ”

“ Each of the players (mostly two) contribute an equal number of buttons, say from two to ten, and of equal value or quality. The one having first turn takes the whole of them in his hand, and by an under-throw, or rather a pitch, endeavours to get the whole, or as many as possible, into the hole. If all go clean into the hole, he wins the game, and takes the whole of the buttons started with; but if one or more of the buttons are left outside the hole, the non-player has then the choice of selecting one which he considers difficult to be hit, and requesting the player to hit it with his nicker. ”

“ If, on the other hand, we have a situation as shown in Plate 3, Diagram ii, a black stone may indeed be played on one of the vacant intersections, but when it is so played the white group is not completely surrounded, because there still remains one space yet to be filled, and the black stone itself is dead as soon as it touches the board, and hence it would be impossible to surround this group of white stones unless two stones were played at once. The white stones, therefore, can never be surrounded, and form an impregnable position. ”

“ Two stones which mutually support each other on the margin of the board and form a position cannot be separated by more than two spaces; for instance, R 13–R 16. In that case the adversary cannot cut one off from the other. (Korschelt here inserts continuations similar to what we have shown in a preceding chapter.) Therefore, White’s twentieth and twenty-second moves are merely intended to fill territory that would otherwise fall to Black, and are not intended to form a new group. ”

“ On the deck is set up a short wooden pin, or pole. Each player is given several rings of rope, some large and some small.
Standing a short distance away from the pin, each player tries to toss all his or her rope rings over the little pole. The one who tosses the largest number of rings over the pin wins the game.
Some of the men and women passengers played this game, but just now the rings were not in use, and Bunny and Sue took them. They placed the pin, set in its wooden base, on the deck near a companionway and began to toss the rings. ”

“ In the first-named game, a man is slung, by a rope attached to his feet, to a boom overhead, with his hands resting on the deck and partly supporting his body. In his right hand is a piece of chalk, and his object is to make with it a line on deck which shall reach further than that drawn by any of his competitors. ”

“ Each player takes a corner, and one stands in the middle. On a given signal, usually by calling out the word “Change,” a rush is made from the corners. The aim of the one standing in the middle is to reach a vacant corner. If the game is played in a room, as many chairs, or other seats, are placed as there are players, less one. Each takes a seat, and one is left standing. On the word “Change” being called out, each jumps from the seat and makes for another. The one standing strives to get a seat in the course of the change.—Nairn and Macduff (Rev. W. Gregor) . ”

“ One limitation of the game-board is that it can represent weather conditions only imperfectly—and this is a serious limitation that mayor may not be remedied as time goes on. The theory of the game-board is in fact in advance of the mechanism, and is waiting for some bright inventive genius for the remedy. ”

“ Going to Market is a jumping-rope game played by three or more. Two turn the rope, each taking an end; they walk along, turning as they go. The other players run in at the start and jump forward at each turn of the rope, keeping pace with the rope-turners. As soon as one trips she changes places with the player at the end of the rope. The point of the game is that the entire group shall keep constantly moving forward, each player being obliged to take an end of the rope when she fails.
In the game of
Passing By a long rope is necessary and at least four players, two to turn and two to jump. ”

“ Divide your players into four stations, one group in each of the four corners of the room. Four captains are chosen, who stand in the center, each with a bean bag and facing his corner of players. At a signal each captain throws his bean bag to each player in his group, who in turn throws it back to the captain. As the captain throws to the last player in the group he calls, "Corner Spry!" and runs to the head of the row, the last player taking his place as captain. The group succeeding first in having all of its players in the captain's place wins the game.
Speed competition. ”

“ This ends the games in which children of both sexes join. I must next give those exclusively for boys. I will begin by a very old one.
Ship Sail.
Is a game usually played with marbles; one boy puts his hand into his trousers pocket and takes out as many marbles as he feels inclined; he closes his fingers over them, and holds out his hand with the palm down to the opposite player, saying, "Ship sail, sail fast. How many men on board?" A guess is made by his opponent; if less he has to give as many marbles as will make up the true number ”

“ The carrom is permissible, and furnishes occasion for scientific play, but the great sport of the game lies in the skilful utilization of the pitching and rolling of the ship. The disk takes a bias from the angle of the deck, and some impossible shots may be triumphantly brought off—round the corner, for instance. Even in putting, marine golf may lay just claim to the variety which is the spice of (sporting) life. On a gray day the boards will be half as slow again as when the sun is shining, while with any spray coming aboard it is impossible to tell whether the disk will drag or slide. ”

“ The one who gives it moves up above those that failed. The game should be played rapidly.
A variation on this is "When my ship comes in." This is played with a handkerchief knotted into a ball. Any letter of the alphabet is chosen; say B. One player throws the handkerchief to another, crying out, "When my ship comes in it will be laden with ——." The player who catches the handkerchief must supply a cargo, beginning with B before ten is counted, bees, butterflies, belts, etc. If he fails to do this he gives a forfeit. When one letter is exhausted another is chosen and the game starts over. ”

“ The game proceeds by moving the men round towards home, or by hitting blots and sending them back, until one of the players gets all his men into his inner table or home. As soon as this stage is reached, the player who has accomplished it begins to take his men off the board or to bear them. Thus, suppose he has several men on every point of his table, and throws six, quatre ; he bears one man from his six point, and one from his quatre point. ”