CHAPTER XVI.—GO-BAN.
By Herr Meyer.
This game is of Japanese origin, and the name means Go = five, and Ban = board. It has, however, become gradually corrupted into ‘Go-bang,’ and thus it is now generally written.
In Japan it is played on a board of more than three hundred squares, but in Europe on boards of sixty-four squares (as in chess and draughts), or on larger boards. The Japanese have schools for the study and practice of the game, and divide the players into nine classes. A late account says that at present there is no player of the highest (the ninth) class living; but one of the eighth class, named Murase (in German spelling pronounced Moo-răh-sey), is editing a periodical, in which he publishes the theory of the openings, actual games, problems, poems, &c.
This game of Go (or game of five) is in China called Ki (= Kee), and was invented there about 2,000 years B.C. It is therefore older than chess. It was introduced into Japan about 1,100 years ago, and was there brought to higher perfection.
It is played by two persons. In Japan they use more than a hundred men on each side. If played on the chess-board, then generally one plays with twelve white men, the other with twelve black men. The aim of each player is to get five men in a line—i.e., five of his men close together in a straight line, either in row, a file, or a diagonal. In Japan each player tries to form a chain with his men around the others, etc.
The play is carried on thus:—The players decide as to first move; afterwards they begin alternately. The first player, say White, places a man on any of the sixty-four squares, then Black places a man on any of the remaining sixty-three squares: thereupon White puts down his second man on any unoccupied square, and so on until all the twenty-four men are placed. Now the moving begins. The first player moves one of his men to any of the next unoccupied squares, but must not leap over a man, and the second player proceeds in the same manner. So the play continues until one or the other succeeds in getting five men in a line.
Thus the play consists in placing and moving. If a player be not sufficiently attentive he can lose in the first part of the game. The moving may extend from two or three to any number, according to capacity of the players.
The game requires a great deal of watching, for the ‘Go,’ or ‘Five,’ can be made in any of four directions—horizontally, vertically, or on the right and left diagonals. There are eight lines for each of the two straight ways, and seven lines for each of the two diagonal ways; in all thirty lines. Four positions of the ‘five’ are possible in a row or a file, and as many in each of the longest diagonals, whilst the shortest diagonal permits of only one position, so that the number of all positions is 4 × 8 + 4 × 8 + 2 (4 + 3 + 3 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1) = 96.