Weiqi (Go)
Weiqi or go, is a popular board that originated in game that originated in China. It may have evolved from a method of divination practiced in China more than 3,000 years ago, in which black and white pieces were cast onto a square board marked with various symbols. Weiqi also involves
black and white pieces on a board, but players deliberately place them on intersections of lines while trying to surround more territory than the opponent. It became popular in the Spring and Autumn Period, and prevalent in the Warring States Period.
Weiqi is played with black and white stones (flat, round pieces) on a square wooden board checkered by 19 vertical lines and 19 horizontal lines to form 361 intersections. Each player in turn (black moves first) places a stone on the point of intersection of any two lines, after which that stone cannot be moved. Players
try to conquer territory by completely enclosing vacant points with boundaries made of their own stones. A stone or a group of stones belonging to one player can be captured and removed from the board if it can be completely enclosed by his opponent's stones. Groups of stones are in effect invulnerable if they contain an "eye," which consists of two or more vacant points arranged such that the opposing player cannot place his stone on one of the points without that stone itself being captured. Though the rules and pieces of weiqi are so simple that children can play, the game is considered one of the most intellectually rigorous of games, with billions of possible play sequences. Many experts regard it as the finest example of a pure strategy game.
Ma Rong of the Eastern Han Dynasty writes in his Ode to Weiqi: "The game of weiqi follows the rules of war. The small board is like a battlefield, where the two opponents display their troops. A slowpoke will score no gains, and a weak player will lose the play first. A coward will score no gains, and a greedy player will lose the game first." The poet sums up the strategy and tactics of the game: The player should not be too timid and too conservative, nor should he be imprudent and make rash advance. Quite a few Chinese monarchs, statesmen and generals loved playing weiqi and drew wisdom from the game. The most noted among them were Cao Cao of the Three Kingdoms Period and Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty.
The board, pieces and rules of weiqi have remained the same since ancient times, but there have been numerous manuals and works on the strategy of the game. Weiqi spread to India and Nepal probably in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and later to Japan and Korea, and then to Europe. The game has now reached other parts of the world. |
