Wei Qi

围棋Wéi qí : 

围棋Wéi qí The World’s Most Challenging Game 1

History of Wéi Qí : 

History of Wéi Qí The origins of this game are disputed amongst scholars. They agree that it is around 3,000 – 4,000 years old. It was originally claimed to predict the future. Around 200 A.D. wéi qí was often used in poetry. Circa 400 A.D. a player named Osan was so great at wéi qí that he was reported to be able to recite every move in the game from memory. Wéi qí eventually diffused to Japan, where it is called Igo. Igo is the national game of Japan and holds much prestige in the culture, more so than the Chinese culture where it originated. 围棋 2

A Few More Things… : 

A Few More Things… 3 围棋 Wéi qí is perfectly easy for beginners to play. However, it takes years to master the strategies. There are many actions you can do in the midst of a heated game. Wéi qí is somewhat like Eastern Chess or Checkers, but it is played differently, of course. Just like everything else, there are rules that players must follow. I don’t expect you to learn them all in one sitting, but as we progress you will find that they are fairly simple and to the point.

One More Thing… : 

One More Thing… 4 Characters and Phrases Pertaining to Wéi Qí! 围棋

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5 围棋 . . . Now to Learn the Game

Slide 6: 

6 Black stones start first. Typically the weaker player gets black. In Wei Qi we play on the intersections of the grid. Turns alternate from black to white. 围棋 These are called stones.

Slide 7: 

7 These are handicaps. 围棋 They are used to make play even between people of different ranks. Let’s forget about them…

Slide 8: 

8 围棋 When a stone is placed, it immediately gets “life”…(Blue circles) “Life” is measured by the amount of unoccupied spots around a piece. So…. When white moved next to black, black lost a “life”. If white surrounded black at each blue spot, the black piece would die!

Slide 9: 

9 How much life does each stone have? 围棋

Slide 10: 

10 Watch this animation to get a better understanding. The white stone is dead and can be removed from the board, however, stones in play are never removed unless killed. This illustrates the concept of “life” around a stone. Keep in mind, this scenario would probably never happen unless you were playing with a baby. 围棋

Slide 11: 

11 围棋 Dă jié is where the players can eat each others stones for eternity. But there are rules for this… Now this will continue on forever… But there is a rule that states if a stone is captured via dă jié, the other side cannot recapture a stone in dă jié in the next turn.

Slide 12: 

One player may resign, or the game will end when both parties agree that there are no more moves. The object is to control more territory. To get the score, you count the amount of living stones you have on the board, and the territory they are surrounding. In Japanese tradition, you can count the amount of territory you have captured and the amount of stones you have “killed”, so be sure to keep your enemies dead stones if you want to do it this way. 12 围棋 Ending the Game…

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game) [Wikipedia Section] http://library.thinkquest.org/28116/ [Official Wéi Qí Website] http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/ http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/Chinese.html http://library.thinkquest.org/28116/net.htm [Online Game Room] http://www.gokgs.com/ [Online Game Room] http://www.freewebs.com/gostuff/weiqi/Chinese-Go-Term.pdf [Chinese Wéi Qí Terms] 13 References for the Future… 围棋

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14 Thanks & Have fun! 围棋 Index of Pages [Click] Main