CHINESE RULES · 19 × 19
Learn the essentials of liberties, captures, ko, passing, and Chinese area scoring before entering a live room.
PLACE
Black plays first, then players alternate. Place exactly one stone on an empty crossing. A played stone never moves; it remains until captured. Passing uses your turn without placing a stone.
LIBERTIES & CHAINS
Every empty point directly above, below, left, or right is a liberty; diagonals do not count. Same-color stones touching along a line form one chain and share all its liberties.
ATARI & CAPTURE
A chain with one liberty is in atari. Fill that final liberty and remove the entire chain. Captures are removed before checking whether your newly played chain still has a liberty.
LEGAL PLAY
You may not leave your own chain with zero liberties unless the move first captures enemy stones and creates liberty. This arcade uses positional superko: no move may recreate any earlier whole-board position.
FINISH & SCORE
After consecutive passes, agree which surrounded stones are dead and remove them; resume play if there is a dispute. Chinese area scoring counts living stones plus surrounded empty points. White adds 6.5 komi; the higher total wins.
LIFE & DEATH
An eye is a protected empty point inside your group. A surrounded group with two separate real eyes cannot be captured because the opponent cannot fill both without suicide. One eye alone does not guarantee life; false eyes can be cut or captured.
SEKI & DAME
In seki, opposing groups share liberties and neither player can fill first without losing the capturing race, so both remain alive. Dame are empty points surrounded by both colors; they belong to neither player, though filling them can still matter before passing.
FAIR MATCHES
For players of unequal strength, Black may place agreed handicap stones on star points before White's first turn. Komi compensates White for Black moving first. Standard arcade games use no handicap and give White 6.5 points, avoiding a tied score.
BEGINNER TURN CHECK
First confirm the move is legal, then look for chains in atari—yours and your opponent's. Prefer moves that connect, make eyes, surround territory, or reduce enemy area. Resignation ends the match immediately; otherwise pass only after the board is settled.
MULTIPLAYER
Create a table, send its six-character code, and play on synchronized boards. The server validates every turn and result.