Common Go mistakes for beginners

These are the mistakes most beginners make. Rules refer to the version on our Go rules page: territory scoring with pass stones and 7.5 komi.

Rules mistakes

• Moving a stone. Stones never move once placed. They are only removed by capture.
• Playing a suicide move. Your own string must have a liberty after captures. Self-capture is forbidden.
• Retaking a ko at once. Situational superko bars a play that recreates a position you made before. Play elsewhere first, then retake if it is legal.
• Forgetting the pass stone. When a player passes, they give the opponent a prisoner. White must make the final move.
• Ignoring komi. White adds 7.5 to the score. Without it the count is wrong.
• Counting dame. Neutral points bordered by both players’ live groups count for neither side.

Play mistakes

• Self-atari. Playing a stone that leaves your own string with a single liberty.
• Filling your own eye. A group needs two eyes. Filling one can kill it.
• Playing only on the first line. Stones on the edge usually gain little territory.
• Ignoring a weak group. Save or use it before playing elsewhere.
• Chasing every capture. Take a stone only if it improves your position.
• Missing a false eye. An eye with an enemy stone on a diagonal point may not be a real eye.

Ending the game

After two passes in a row, agree dead groups. If you disagree, resume play and settle it by capture. Then count territory, prisoners and pass stones, and add komi for White.