Lessons in the Fundamentals: The Goban (碁盤)

General characteristics

Go (碁) is played by two players, one taking Black and one taking White. The typical Go board (碁盤 Goban) is 19x19. Unlike Chess, the go stones (碁石 goishi) are played on the intersections, not on the empty squares. Other board sizes are acceptable, and sometimes, smaller boards, such as 13x13 and 9x9 are used to teach the game to beginners, or to play quick games, while 17x17 was an accepted standard far in the past. The most remarkable characteristic is the 9 star points (星 hoshi), a visual aid to orientate the player and mark the spot for the handicap stones.

hoshi (星) point at D4 and D10