Editing Rules of Go (section)

==== Board ====
[[Image:Blank Go board.svg|right|thumb|250px|The board, or "goban"]]
'''Rule 2. Go is played on a plane grid of 19 horizontal and 19 vertical lines, called a ''board''.'''

'''Definition: A point on the board where a horizontal line meets a vertical line is called an ''intersection''. Two intersections are said to be ''adjacent'' if they are distinct and connected by a horizontal or vertical line with no other intersections between them.'''

The condition that the intersections be "distinct" is included to ensure that an intersection is not considered to be adjacent to itself.

Intersections are also called ''points''.

There are 361 points on a regular {{nowrap|19 × 19}} board.

For simplicity, the rules will be illustrated mostly using {{nowrap|5 × 5}} boards.

Each of the following diagrams shows two points on a {{nowrap|5 × 5}} board:

{|border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"
|-valign="top"
|
{{Go board 5x5
| ul|  u|  u|  u| ur
|  l|   |   |   |  r
|  l|   |   |   |  r
|  l|  c|  c|   |  r
| dl|  d|  d|  d| dr|24}}
|&nbsp;&nbsp;
|
{{Go board 5x5
| ul|  u|  u|  u| ur
|  l|   |   |   |  r
|  l|   |   |   |  r
| lc|   |   |   |  r
|dlc|  d|  d|  d| dr|24}}
|&nbsp;&nbsp;
|
{{Go board 5x5
| ul|  u|  u|  u| ur
|  l|   |   |   |  r
|  l|   |   |   |  r
| lc|   |  c|   |  r
| dl|  d|  d|  d| dr|24}}
|&nbsp;&nbsp;
|
{{Go board 5x5
| ul|  u|  u|  u| ur
|  l|   |   |  c|  r
|  l|   |  c|   |  r
|  l|   |   |   |  r
| dl|  d|  d|  d| dr|24}}
|-valign="top"
|Adjacent points
|&nbsp;&nbsp;
|Adjacent points
|&nbsp;&nbsp;
|Non-adjacent points
|&nbsp;&nbsp;
|Non-adjacent points
|}

In the first two diagrams, the points are adjacent; in the third and fourth, they are not.

Though {{nowrap|19 × 19}} boards are standard, go can be played on another size board. Particularly common sizes for quick games are {{nowrap|9 × 9}} and {{nowrap|13 × 13}}. (See also "Board size" below.)

Beginners might prefer to play on a {{nowrap|9 × 9}} board to start. The nature of the game remains similar enough to make this worthwhile, yet the games are shorter. For beginners, playing longer games is less important than playing a greater number of games.