How to capture stones

Before you begin

Remember the following 3 rules.

• Two players (black and white) take turns placing one stone on the board at a time.
• A stone must be placed on the intersection of the vertical and horizontal lines.
• Once a stone is placed, you can't move it, although under some conditions it may be removed.

Simple, right?

Now you understand half the rules of go. Let's get started!

The goal of Go

The objective of Go is to score more points than your opponent.

One way to make points is by capturing your opponent's stones.

Stones that are completely surrounded are removed from the board and are handed to the opponent as prisoners. Each prisoner is worth one point.

Capturing Stones

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With one more move, the white stone will be completely surrounded and captured.

Stones that can be removed with one more move are said to be in atari.

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The white stone is now surrounded. Therefore...

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...it is removed from the board.

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If it were white's turn, white could "escape" by connecting another stone.