KGS Go Tutorial: Liberties

Go Tutorial Index

  1. Introduction
  2. Basics
  3. Chains
  4. Liberties
  5. Captures
  6. Capture Go
  7. More on Captures
  8. Eyes
  9. Living Groups
  10. Scoring
  11. Game End
  12. Ko
  13. Play Go!
  14. Last Notes

A "liberty" of a chain is an empty space sitting next to it. This is an important idea in go (you'll see why in the next page). For now, you can think of liberties as "breathing spaces" for a chain. For example, a single stone in the middle of the board has four liberties:

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A black stone with four liberties (numbered)

If that stone were on the side of the board, it would have only three liberties:

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A black stone with three liberties (numbered)

If you were to place an opponent's stone next to it, then it would have only two liberties:

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A black stone with two liberties (numbered)

Bigger chains usually have more liberties. Here are some example chains with their liberties numbered:

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Several chains with their liberties numbered

Now you can try out the quiz below. Do as many problems as you like, then move on to the next page of the tutorial.

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Next: Captures

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