Go (Weiqi)

1. The board is empty at the start of the game (unless players agree to place a handicap).
2. Black makes the first move, after which White and Black alternate.
3. A move consists of placing one stone of one’s own color onto an empty intersection on the board.
4. A player may pass their turn at any time.
5. A stone or orthogonally connected group of stones of one color is captured and removed from the board when all the intersections orthogonally adjacent to it are occupied by the enemy. (Capture of the enemy takes precedence over self-capture.)
6. No stone may be played so as to recreate a former board position.
7. Two consecutive passes end the game.
8. A player’s territory consists of all the board intersections he has either occupied or surrounded.
9. The player with more territory wins. White wins ties.

Traditionally, the game is played on a 19x19 grid, but can easily be played on a smaller grid for a shorter game.

In games between equally skilled players, white is typically given 7.5 bonus points to compensate for first-player advantage.

These Rules are copied, with slight modification, from Robert Jasiek’s page here.

Jasiek in turn says the following:

The original version of these rules by James Davies was first published in “The Rules and Elements of Go”, The Ishi Press, 1977. I have added slight modifications for more clarity. The rules use a language that is easy for beginners. The concept is simplicity and logic based on super ko and area counting. The rules were inspired by the Taiwanese 1974 rules and are close to Tromp-Taylor 1996 and New Zealand 1975 rules.