Go trivia

Very, very oldGo is often said to be over 4,000 years old, which makes it one of the oldest board games still played in its original form.

One of the Four ArtsIn ancient China, Go was one of the “Four Arts” of a cultured scholar, alongside calligraphy, painting and playing the guqin, a stringed instrument.

A much bigger boardUnlike chess, Go is played on a 19×19 board, allowing grand strategies and local battles at the same time.

AlphaGoIn 2016, Google’s AlphaGo defeated world champion Lee Sedol four games to one, showing the world how complex Go really is.

Three namesThe game is called weiqi in China, igo in Japan and baduk in Korea.

More positions than atomsThere are more than 10 followed by 170 zeros possible positions on a 19×19 board, far more than the atoms in the observable universe.