Wei Chi (literally The Surrounding Game) is an ancient game (older than chess, 4000BC or so it is reckoned) from China, where it was invented by one of the Emporers to help his backward son learn. From its origins it spread to other oriental lands such as Japan (where it is called Go) and to Korea (Baduk). Though seemingly a simple game it has great subtleties to it. It quickly caught on in the various emperors' courts. In Japan this was taken to extremes with schools being set up to teach the game, and power going to those who played well. Even in the modern day orient it is far more popular than chess is in the west, and it is played by millions of people all over the world.

How to Play

The game is usually played with two players, though there are varients, who play alternatly, though either may pass whenever. One plays with black lens-shaped pieces , called stones, and one with white. Black plays first by placing one stone on the board. The board is 19 vertical lines x19 horizontal lines giving a grid pattern. The stones are played on the intersections and once placed stay where they are unless they are captured by the opponent. A stone is captured when all the empty intersections around it, called liberties, are filled by opposing stones. Stones of the same colour, placed next to each other form chains, and to capture a chain all the liberties surrounding all the stones in the chain must be filled.

The object of the game is to surround more territory than your opponent, territory being empty intersections where you consider that any opponents piece will die. Players continue to play alternatly until both pass one after the other, or decide there are no further moves to be made. The territory is then counted, and then prisoners captured added and the player with the larger amount wins. Due to the black advantage at going first, white gets an extra five and a half points added to his final territory.

Advanced Rules

There are a few extra rules on top of the above for unusual situations. The first is the Ko rule (literally Eternity). Some positions can just be repeated endlessly, each player taking another prisoner over and over again. Now the Ko rule stops this by not allowing a move which will repeat a board position straight away, i.e. if a piece has just been captured, but the capturing stone could be captured straight away, leaving the board like it was before the first capture, then the second player must play elsewhere before returning to reap his revenge. The second is to do with handicap. If two players are unevenly matched, one being a rank amatuer and another a 7th Dan then the handicap rule can be put into effect. This gives the poorer player a certain number of 'free' stones to play at the beginning of the game. The rules can either give the positions to place these free stones or the player may place them as he wills. This can even up a game even between to wildly different abilities.

Comparison to Chess

In the occident chess is often seen as the ultimate in human thinking, headlines when Deep Blue beat Kasparov showed us that. However, compared to wei chi, chess is not such a large problem, only sixty four squares and a definate starting set up enable the mighty processing power of todays supercomputers to look so far ahead that they can occasionally beat even a Grandmaster. Wei chi has an empty board as a starting position, players can place stones anywhere on the board, on a 19x19 board that gives 361 possable starting positions, and from there the possibilities just expand at a mind boggoling rate. Even the best Go software on the best hardware is hard pressed to beat a competent amatuer.

Learning to Play

Most people do not learn on the full sized board. The 19x19 makes for too long a game when you are just starting out, most people start on a 9x9 board, eventually moving up to a 13x13 before hitting the big time. To play first of all you need a Go set, either buy one or make a simple one. It used to be that you could not get a set for love nor money (well in Aberdeen and north anyway), however it seems that there is now a positive plethora of places you can get sets. As most people start on a smaller board, they also start with simpler game, called Atari Go.

Atari Go is also known as the capturing game. The idea, instead of trying to surround territory the winner is the first to capture one of his opponents pieces (some people say 'atari' when a stone or chain has only one liberty left). This is a simple game, easily taught to children. It quickly emphasises the importance of building chains and joining stones into an effective force. It also teaches, almost as well as chess, the importance of looking forward several moves, and working out alternative stratergies.

After that game has been mastered it is time to introduce the value of territory. This is done by another simple game, the territory game. Here both players are trying to capture the most territory, but are only allowed a single chain of stones. This is a truly simple game, and quickly becomes repetitive. Once the basics are mastered it is time to set out on a full game, though possibly still on the 9x9 or 13x13 board.

At the start of a Go career it is probably better to play many smaller games, than fewer, longer large ones. With the shorter games you get more experience of all areas of the game, especially the end game. The larger board games can take a long time, six hours for a 19x19 board is possible. Though the full game does take a long time it is worth it. Wei chi stirs the blood and emotions more than chess has been able to do in 10 years, even when playing an equal. So go find a board and stones and learn to play this subtlest of games.