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Lessons
Your coach
Choose a board and a level and press New game. While you play, press Advice before a move or Feedback after one.
Coach settings
The rules of Go on one page
1. Two players, Black and White, take turns putting one stone on an empty intersection. Black goes first. Stones never move.
2. The empty points next to a stone along the lines are its liberties. Stones next to each other along the lines form a group and share their liberties.
3. When you take a group’s last liberty, you capture it: remove those stones from the board.
4. You may not play where your stone would have no liberties, unless that move captures (no suicide).
5. Ko: you may not take back a single stone straight away if that would repeat the position. Play elsewhere first.
6. You may pass instead of playing. When both players pass one after the other, the game ends. Stones that could not avoid capture are removed as dead.
7. Count your area: your stones on the board plus the empty points only you surround. White adds komi (7.5 points here) for playing second. The bigger total wins.
Ten tips for your first 20 games
- Corners first, then sides, then the centre. Corners need the fewest stones to surround space.
- Check for ataris after every move — your stones and your opponent’s. Turn on “Mark stones in atari” while you learn.
- Do not chase a stone that can escape; chase it towards your own stones or the edge.
- Keep your stones connected, cut your opponent’s apart.
- A group needs two eyes (two separate inside points) to be safe forever.
- Do not save stones that are already lost — if they are caught in a ladder or a net, play elsewhere.
- Answer a contact play (a stone touching yours) — it usually starts a fight.
- Big before small: an open corner or side is worth more than one more stone in a closed area.
- Play the “capture game” first if counting feels hard: whoever captures first wins.
- Review your games. The review shows your three to five biggest mistakes — learning those is the fastest way to improve.
Words Go players use
How Go Forge compares
We looked at popular ways to learn Go before building this. Go Forge combines their best beginner ideas in one free page that needs no account or app.
| Where | What it does well | Go Forge |
|---|---|---|
| AI Sensei, KaTrain | Strong AI (KataGo) review of your games; mistakes ranked by points lost. | Game review with your biggest mistakes and a win-chance graph, plus instant feedback during the game. Our engine is far weaker than KataGo, so its numbers are estimates. |
| BadukPop, Online Go Server (OGS), “Hey Go” | Short interactive lessons and puzzles; many opponents. | Interactive lessons with puzzles on a real board, six computer levels and three board sizes. |
| Ancient Go | Visual hints: stones in atari, ko, snapbacks. | Atari markers and warnings before self-atari or a missed capture. |
| Most apps | Need an account, an install or a subscription. | Free, in the browser, works offline, games download as SGF for any other Go program. |