Go Unblocked

Go may be the purest strategy game there is. Two players, one color each, take turns setting stones on a grid, and from those simple acts come fights, invasions, sacrifices and whole regions changing hands. Nothing moves once it is placed. You win by controlling more of the board. This unblocked Go board is part of Christopher Müller’s PaperGames project, offering small, medium and full-size grids, an AI opponent with Easy, Medium and Hard settings, and a crisp black-and-white design that stays readable on a small phone.

The Few Rules You Need

Placing. Black goes first. Each turn you either set a single stone on a vacant crossing point or pass.

Liberties. Stones of the same color that touch along the lines form a group. The empty points next to a group are its liberties. Fill in every one of an enemy group’s liberties and all of its stones come off the board at once. The counter under the board shows captures for both sides.

Forbidden moves. Suicide is banned: a stone that would leave its own group with zero liberties is only legal if it captures first. You may also not recreate a board position that already happened, which stops endless back-and-forth ko captures.

Scoring. Two passes back to back end the game. The count uses area scoring, so you get a point for each of your stones still standing and for each empty point that touches only your color. White then adds 7.5 komi.

The Easy computer barely plans, Medium thinks about captures and how much breathing room each group has, and Hard tests its top candidates by playing out many fast random games from them.

Go controls

To do this	Keyboard	Mouse	Touch
Put down a stone	Tab to the board, arrow keys to pick an intersection, Enter to place	Click an empty intersection	Tap an empty intersection
Skip your move	—	Click "Pass"	Tap "Pass"
Pick the board, your color and the AI level	—	Use the size menu, the black/white buttons and the level menu, then click "New game"	Use the size menu, the black/white buttons and the level menu, then tap "New game"
Undo the last move	—	Click "Undo"	Tap "Undo"
Concede	—	Click "Resign"	Tap "Resign"

Learning Path for New Players

1. Start on 9x9. Games last a few minutes, and you can see the result of every capture right away.
2. Claim corners before edges, and edges before the middle. The board edges do half the fencing for you in a corner, so space there costs the fewest stones.
3. Count liberties before chasing. When your chasers have less breathing room than the stones they chase, they die first.
4. Build two eyes. A group holding two distinct internal holes is permanently safe, because the opponent can never fill both. Make that shape before going on the attack.
5. Never fill your own eye. Doing so can turn a living group into a dead one.
6. Tidy up before you pass. This board scores every stone left standing, dead or not, so capture any doomed enemy stones inside your area first.

Once 9x9 feels comfortable, try 13x13, where the opening matters more, and then the full 19x19 board.

Why Go Rewards Practice

No two games of Go look alike, and every loss teaches you something about shape and timing. The Undo button makes this board good for study, since you can rewind a mistake and try another idea. If you want a connection game with even simpler rules, play Hex. For a smaller five-in-a-row challenge on a similar grid, there is Gomoku.