Even very strong players play Go on nine-by-nine boards to have quick games, and SmartGo Player will offer a challenge to players at the dan level. You can also change the amount of time the app thinks, from an average of 2.5 to 12 seconds per move. You can use an auto-handicap system, or turn it off and take your chances. As you increase in strength, you unlock the 11-by-11 and 13-by-13 boards. (While Go is generally played on a 19-by-19 board, it is also traditionally played on nine-by-nine, 11-by-11 and 13-by-13 boards with beginners.) SmartGo Player starts you out at its lowest level, and gets stronger as you do.

You start out by playing on a nine-by-nine board.

Once you know how to play, SmartGo Player ($3) is the best app to build your skills. This app contains a tutorial to teach you the rules, and lets you play nine-by-nine games to start. To start learning the rules and the basics of the game, grab Igowin Tutor (free). You can start learning to play by playing games, or you can start by doing problems-situations set up to teach you certain moves, shapes, or ways of playing. SmartGo Player will help you progress quickly on small boards. If you want to play Go, or want to improve your game, there are a number of excellent iOS apps that can help you learn how to play and try to master the game. This is a game that computers can’t yet defeat: the best programs can only defeat professional players with a handicap (Go has a handicap system where the weaker player gets to place from two to nine stones on the board at the start of the game).

It’s easy to learn the rules of Go it’s hard to become really good at the game. Building up territory, where the opposing player cannot get a foothold, each player attempts to enlarge his or her territory, and thwart advances and invasions by the opponent. Each player, black and white, alternates placing stones on a board with a 19-by-19 grid. Unlike chess, which is often an all-or-nothing game of attack and defense, Go is about slowly-evolving strategies to surround the largest territory on the board. I’ve been playing Go, a grid-based strategy game that dates back thousands of years, for more than three decades, and it’s a game I enjoy a great deal.

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