Grid’s quiet. Black and white are waiting. Drop a stone — if it runs out of air, it leaves.
Black to play.
Go is the board game of black and white stones on a grid — also called Weiqi in Chinese and Baduk in Korean. You place stones on intersections, surround territory, and capture by cutting off liberties. The board above is already live. No Play gate, no signup wall.
You came to play, so the grid is already drawn. No “Play” button to unlock the stones, no email before the first move. Close the tab whenever you like — nothing waits for you in a lobby.
People who typed play go online and meant a board. People who searched weiqi or baduk and wanted the same game under another name. Students with ten quiet minutes. Western chess players curious about territory instead of checkmate. Folks who bounced off a game-portal wall and wanted one desk, one board.
Default is 9×9 — small enough that fights start early. You can widen to 13×13 or 19×19 when you’re ready; size changes start a fresh game. Black places first. Stones sit on intersections, not inside western-style squares. Empty points next to a stone are its liberties; when the last liberty goes, the stone leaves.
A group lives while it still touches at least one empty intersection. Take the last liberty of a white group and those stones come off — that’s capture. Simple ko blocks the immediate recapture: play elsewhere, then come back. How to play walks the loop; Go rules names the edges.
Click an empty intersection to place a black stone. White answers in a Web Worker on this device — a short pause, not a “connecting…” spinner. Hint suggests a point when it can. Undo steps back. Pass skips a turn; two passes in a row end the game and captures decide who led on this board. Sound stays off until you poke it.
Easy plays loose. Medium remembers what a liberty is. Hard makes you count. None of them are a pro on 19×19. Home keeps the board quiet; if you want to choose the difficulty first, the vs-computer page lays the options out more clearly.
Go, Weiqi (围棋), and Baduk are one game family — same stones, same idea. English search often says Go; Chinese search often says Weiqi; Korean search often says Baduk. What is Weiqi, What is Baduk, and What is Go each open the door under a different name.
Not western chess. Not Xiangqi / Chinese chess. Not a matchmaking lobby. Not an APK. Not a Go language tutorial, and not Pokémon Go. Not a portal that parks Weiqi next to fifty unrelated titles so someone can sell ads on the hallway.
Searched the pinyin? Open What is Weiqi. Korean name? What is Baduk. Want the knobs labeled? Vs computer. A friend on the couch? 2 player. Still learning the loop? How to play. Need ko named out loud? Go rules. Wrists still shaky? Play 9×9. Habits before a harder fight? Strategy.