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Go Openings

The openings players actually use in Go, listed one by one. Each reads on its own, and each comes with the position it leads to: press Try it on the board and you play the next move yourself.

The star point (4-4)

Opening 1

Territory is easiest to make in the corners, next along the sides, hardest in the centre: enclosing the same area takes two lines in a corner and four in the middle. That is why the opening starts in the empty corners.

The most common corner move is the star point, where the fourth line from each edge crosses — the board is even marked there. One stone leans towards the corner while still facing both the side and the centre.

Its weakness is that the corner is not yet settled. Your opponent can invade at the 3-3 point later and take the corner territory outright, though you get an outside wall in exchange. Play a star point when you are happy to trade some certain corner profit for a wider position.

Suits
Anyone learning the opening for the first time, and players who like building on a big scale.
First moves
Play a star point in an empty corner: D4, Q4, D16 or Q16

The 3-3 point

Opening 2

The 3-3 point is where the third lines from the two edges cross, one line inside the star point on each side. That makes the corner territory almost certain, and — unlike a star point — nobody can invade at 3-3 later.

The price is height. A stone this low does not spread towards the side or the centre. If your opponent presses down from outside, you keep the corner but they take the influence facing the middle. Certain profit, thin outside: that is the 3-3.

It used to be dismissed as too low to play first. Today it is an ordinary opening move, and it suits players who like counting and keeping things solid.

Suits
Players who want certain profit, and who dislike having their corners invaded.
First moves
Play the 3-3 point in an empty corner: C3, R3, C17 or R17

The 3-4 point (komoku)

Opening 3

The 3-4 point sits where the third and fourth lines cross. It is a halfway house between the star and the 3-3: closer to the corner, but the side on the fourth line still faces out. Unlike a star point, it has a direction.

Its strength is the follow-up. One more move all but turns the corner into territory, and that move is called an enclosure, a shimari. A star point takes width in one move and leaves the corner open; a 3-4 point spends two moves and makes the corner sure.

Neither is better. Play a 3-4 if you want the corner settled early, a star point if you want to build wide. The next opening puts the enclosure itself on the board.

Suits
Players who value the corner, and who like learning a point together with its follow-up.
First moves
Play a 3-4 point such as C4 or D3, then enclose it

Small knight enclosure (komoku)

Opening 4

An enclosure — shimari — is one more stone played a knight's move from a 3-4 stone to close the corner off. From C4 it is E3. Those two stones make the corner very hard to live in.

There are three enclosures: small knight, one-space and large knight, which from C4 are E3, E4 and F3. The small knight is the solid one and makes the corner territory clearest. The one-space enclosure stands a line higher and works harder towards the outside; the large knight covers more ground but leaves a little more to aim at. When in doubt, use the small knight.

An enclosure costs two moves, but it is usually rated as big as any other opening point. Once the empty corners are gone, the choice is simple: enclose your own 3-4 corner, or approach your opponent's.

Suits
Players who like solid shapes and counting as they go.
First moves
Black C4 (3-4 point), then Black E3 (small knight enclosure)

3-3 invasion: block on the wider side

Opening 5

A corner taken on the star point can be invaded at the 3-3, and the corner territory does go to the invader. That is not a disaster: while White lives in the corner, Black builds a wall on the outside. What matters is which way you block.

The rule is simple — block towards the side where you already have stones. Here Black has another stone along the bottom while White has one up the left, so Black blocks on the lower side at D3. The wall that grows will face the bottom and join hands with the black stone there.

Block the other way, at C4, and White crawls out along the bottom instead, leaving Black's wall pointing straight at a white stone on the left. Same number of moves, completely different value. When the 3-3 is invaded, look at the whole board first and only then decide the direction.

Suits
Anyone who plays star points and freezes when the 3-3 gets invaded.
First moves
White C3 (3-3 invasion), Black D3 (block towards the wider lower side)

After the 3-3: crawl and block

Opening 6

Having blocked from the bottom, White crawls out towards the left at C4. Black answers by extending in front of it at C5. Crawl, block, crawl, block — that is the pattern after a 3-3 invasion.

Keep blocking and White ends up living inside the corner while Black's stones stand in a line on the outside. That line is the wall. It is not territory by itself, but the next move you play along the side is much bigger because of it. You are trading the corner for outside thickness.

The one thing to avoid is getting greedy and playing inside the corner. Once White has invaded at the 3-3, White is almost always alive. Trying to kill the group usually just puts a gap in your own wall, and the whole thing falls apart from there. Just keep blocking and extending.

Suits
Players who know which way to block but lose the thread afterwards.
First moves
White C3, Black D3, White C4, Black C5 — White then lives in the corner

Try it on the board

Pick an opening and the board starts from that position. Start over as often as you like.

Now put it to work

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Last updated 2026-10-17 · Run by Qdan, Inc.