Getting Started with Go and Chess

What this topic covers

Go (baduk in Korean), chess and janggi (Korean chess) are all played by two people taking turns, with no dice or other luck, and with every piece visible to both sides. The result depends entirely on the quality of the moves, so knowing the rules precisely and absorbing a few basic principles is where improvement starts. This topic walks through the rules of all three games, focusing on the points beginners most often get wrong, then covers what to do first in the opening and how to keep improving on your own, across seven guides. Rather than asking you to memorise reading tricks or specific sequences, it focuses on why the rules and principles exist.

• Go: territory, capture, ko, illegal moves
• Go openings: corners, sides, centre
• Gomoku and Go: same board, different goal
• Chess: piece movement and special rules
• Chess openings: centre, development, castling
• Janggi: the palace and how pieces move
• Practice: game records and problems

The three games have different goals

These are all thinking games, but the winning conditions are completely different. Go is not about capturing a king; it is about controlling more of the board than your opponent. Capturing stones is simply one way to gain territory. In chess and janggi you win by trapping the opposing king (the general, in janggi) so that it cannot escape. Winning lots of material does not end the game if the king survives, and a side with fewer pieces can still win by delivering mate. Once this difference is clear, it makes sense that each game has its own idea of what a good move looks like.

Basic numbers for boards and pieces

In Go you place stones on the 361 intersections formed by 19 horizontal and 19 vertical lines. Beginners often learn on a smaller 9 by 9 or 13 by 13 board, where games are short and the rules sink in quickly. Chess is played on an 8 by 8 board of 64 squares, with 16 pieces each. Janggi uses the 90 intersections of a board with 9 vertical and 10 horizontal lines, again with 16 pieces each. Another big difference: in Go you add stones to the board one at a time, while in chess and janggi you move pieces that start on the board.

• Go: 19-line board, 9 or 13 lines to learn
• Chess: 64 squares, 16 pieces each
• Janggi: 90 intersections, 16 pieces each

Suggested reading order

If you are not planning to learn all three, start with the rules guide for the game you care about. For Go, read the basic rules guide to understand territory, capture and ko, then move on to opening principles. If you already play gomoku, the guide comparing gomoku and Go is a good first stop: the two share a board but call for almost opposite ways of thinking. For chess, check the special rules such as castling, en passant and promotion in the rules guide, then read the opening principles. Janggi can be started from its single rules guide. The final guide on practice applies to all three games.

Common misconceptions

Beginners tend to share a few misconceptions. In Go it is easy to assume the side that captures more stones wins, but the result is decided by territory, so giving up a few stones to take a bigger area is common. In chess some people think the game ends when the king is actually taken, but it ends the moment the king is in check with no escape, which is checkmate. A position with no legal moves where the king is not in check is not a win but a draw. Many also treat janggi as a version of chess, yet the board, the piece movements and key rules such as the palace are different.

• Go is decided by territory, not by captured stones
• Chess ends at checkmate, not when the king is taken
• No legal moves and no check means a draw in chess
• Janggi differs from chess in board, pieces and rules

Rules vary by region

The core rules of each game are stable, but the details can differ between organisations and countries. In Go, the scoring method (counting territory only, or stones as well) and the size of komi vary between rule sets, and in gomoku the moves forbidden to Black differ from one set of house rules to another. Janggi also has variations, for example in how a position where both generals face each other is handled. When playing with friends, agree on the rules first, and for a tournament always check the organiser's regulations. These guides follow the widely shared common rules.

Why set a time limit

Without a time limit a game can drag on indefinitely, and keeping your opponent waiting is not good manners. In formal play a game clock tracks each side's remaining time, and running out of time usually means losing. When practising at home, setting a rough time per move cuts down on putting off decisions and trains you to commit. Start with generous limits and shorten them as you get comfortable. Keep in mind that playing only very fast games can leave you short of practice in reading moves deeply.

The seven guides

The seven guides below are arranged to lead from rules to principles and then to practice. Each one can also be read on its own.

• Go basic rules: territory, capture, ko, illegal moves
• Go opening principles: corners, then sides, then centre
• Gomoku and Go: same board, different games
• Chess basic rules: movement, checkmate, special rules
• Chess opening principles: what to do in the first ten moves
• Janggi basic rules: the palace and piece movement
• How to improve: game records and problem solving