Ranks and Rules

Two areas you want to be able to understand and talk about are GO rankings and GO rules. My opinion is that you want to know enough to talk about these, but don't spend too much energy on them. There are complexities with both that cause a lot of discussion about subtleties but the details don't matter so much for the beginner.

RANKING: Ranks in GO are like belts in martial arts. GO is complex enough that one can differentiate between 40 or 50 different levels of skill. A true beginner starts at about 30 kyu. This is often abbreviated to 30k. As they start improving the number decreases. Theoretically, for each kyu you move up, you have improved 1 stone. So, players can have competitive handicap games even though they are at different skill levels. So if you work your way up to 20 kyu and you want to play against a 17 kyu, you would receive 3 stones at the start of the game to make the game even.

(SIDENOTE: A shorthand I have seen that isn't obvious is DDK and SDK. DDK = Double Digit Kyu - the weakest group of GO players - from 30k up to 10k. SDK = Single Digit Kyu - 9k to 1k.)

Players move up through the kyu ranks to 1 kyu, and if they improve 1 more stone in strength they go to 1 dan. You can think of 1 dan as equivalent to "black belt" in a martial art - it shows that the person is a master of GO. Many players originally aspire to reach 1d (or "shodan" in Japanese), just as martial artists wish to receive their black belt. As a dan level player increases in skill their rank now increases in value, so a 4 dan (or 4d) player would give a 3 stone handicap to a 1d player. The dan ranks seem to go up to 9. I have never seen a 10 dan rated player. But there are some different rankings up at the top end. Some ranking systems differentiate amateurs and professionals. The American GO Association (AGA) uses the dan label for amateurs up to 6d or 7d and then continues up to professional at 1p (p = professional) and beyond. (2p, 3p, etc.)

So here is where ranking starts to get unclear. First you have to realize there are lots of different groups that rank players. These different groups rank in a way that is internally consistent, but that may not match exactly with another rating system. The AGA, the European GO Association and the online GO server KGA all use the kyu and dan ranking system, but a 1d on KGA may not be as strong as a 1d somewhere else. Here is a table of ranks compared across some of the well known ranking groups.

So, now you know something about ranks! Does it really matter that an AGA rating of 20k doesn't equal a Japanese 20k? No - the important thing is that once you pick a system to be rated on, and play enough games to be rated, you can find opponents of equal strength in that system. It will also let you play challenging games with people that are not at your kyu level by giving or receiving some handicap stones.

RULES: Unfortunately, there is no single set of "official" rules that all players play by. The differences in the rulesets are small and for the most part shouldn't really change the outcome of the game. On Sensei's Library I found 10 sets of official rules listed: AGA Rules, British Go Association Rules, Chinese Rules, EGF General Tournament Rules, EGF: Simplified Ing Rules, French Rules, Ing Rules, Japanese Rules, Korean Rules, New Zealand Rules.

The most popular rules are Chinese rules and Japanese rules. Many of the other rulesets are just some form or deviation of these rules. Even this has complications - Japan seems to have published the "official" Japanese rules more than once, and each published set of rules is different. So, you can spend time worrying about little details, or just get the basics and start playing. Once you get to the point that you are playing in tournaments, then you probably need to read the fine print.

Basics of Chinese Rules: Points are scored using area counting. (Both the spaces you have surrounded and the stones you have on the board all count as points.) Prisoners that have been taken off the board (both those captured during the game and groups recognized as dead at the end of the game) do not factor in to the points.

Basics of Japanese Rules: Points are scored using territory counting. (Only the empty spaces you have claimed count as points.) Then, subtract the number of prisoners your opponent captured. (We always put the prisoners back onto the board, filling up the spaces that were our points. That does the same thing as subtracting them out. It feels like the POWs are returned after the war and you have to find a place for them to live! :) )

Online GO servers will help score the game once it is complete, computer opponents will do the same. If you are playing over the board, hopefully your opponent can fill you in on what rules they want to follow. It won't take long until you are able to score a game.

Last thought - sometimes Japanese rules and Chinese rules score the game exactly the same, other times it varies by a few stones. If you are super concerned about it, make sure you understand the rules you are playing by. I think the truth is that those first 100 games or so that are really learning games will likely be losses. By the time you are getting to a competitive level of skill, you will have a good feel for the rules. Don't worry about the details until then!