Liberty-chain capture
Choose placements while tracking the empty neighbours of an entire connected group.
Logic & rule checking
- Players
- 2 players
- Time
- 15–25 minutes
- Materials
- 5×5 intersection board, twenty-five large paper counters per colour.
Prepare
Play on 25 intersections labelled A1–E5. Start empty; black and white alternate, black first. A group consists of same-colour stones connected horizontally or vertically. A liberty is an empty intersection immediately beside any stone of that group; diagonal gaps do not count.
Play
Place one stone on an empty point. First remove all adjacent opposing groups that now have no liberties. Record the captured count, then return those counters to their owner’s supply for reuse. Then check your own resulting group: if it has no liberty, the move is illegal and must be undone. A move recreating any earlier whole-board position is also illegal; keep a quick board sketch after captures.
Worked example
With a single white stone at C3 and black at B3,C2,D3, black C4 removes white C3. If white is also at C4 with an empty C5, the white group still has a liberty and is not removed. This checks group connectivity rather than counting only the surrounded stone.
Finish and check
A player may pass. Stop after two consecutive passes, eighty placed stones in total, or when one player has captured five stones. More captures wins; equal counts draw. This capture-count session is our short variant, not standard Go territory scoring.
Adaptation and limits
Use large paper counters and an untimed first round. A partner may point to liberties before a move is committed. Empty-board replay is the default; do not promise a first-player balance or solved strategy. The reference supports liberty and capture rules, not our session scoring.
Purpose, observation and provenance
Within this activity: Choose placements while tracking the empty neighbours of an entire connected group.
Check the whole connected group, not just the newly placed stone.
Our rules, examples and printable diagrams are separately prepared. The earliest inventor of the broader mechanism is not established here.
British Go Association — How to Play — Liberty/capture background; this is our capture-count small-board variant.
Free alternative: Copy the supplied grids, labels and cards onto reused paper. No specialist product is needed. Adults may prepare pieces or act as a scribe.
Printable materials
Preview at 100% scale, with browser headers and footers off. Cut with suitable help. Keep host keys separate. This is a manual tabletop kit, not an online opponent, automatic judge or solver.
Player materials · Liberty-chain capture
Board:5×5 intersections. Capture tally Black ___ White ___ .
Example 1 white C3; black B3 C2 D3; black to play.
Example 2 white C3 C4; black B3 C2 D3; identify remaining liberties.
Player record · keep the host key separate
| Move | Point | Captures | Group liberties |
|---|---|---|---|
| ________ | ________ | ________ | ________ |
| ________ | ________ | ________ | ________ |
| ________ | ________ | ________ | ________ |
| ________ | ________ | ________ | ________ |
| ________ | ________ | ________ | ________ |
| ________ | ________ | ________ | ________ |
| ________ | ________ | ________ | ________ |
| ________ | ________ | ________ | ________ |
Host key · separate from players
Example 1 C4 captures C3. In example 2 C5 is one remaining liberty (B4 and D4 also open).
Run the round
Play on 25 intersections labelled A1–E5. Start empty; black and white alternate, black first. A group consists of same-colour stones connected horizontally or vertically. A liberty is an empty intersection immediately beside any stone of that group; diagonal gaps do not count.
Place one stone on an empty point. First remove all adjacent opposing groups that now have no liberties. Record the captured count, then return those counters to their owner’s supply for reuse. Then check your own resulting group: if it has no liberty, the move is illegal and must be undone. A move recreating any earlier whole-board position is also illegal; keep a quick board sketch after captures.
With a single white stone at C3 and black at B3,C2,D3, black C4 removes white C3. If white is also at C4 with an empty C5, the white group still has a liberty and is not removed. This checks group connectivity rather than counting only the surrounded stone.
A player may pass. Stop after two consecutive passes, eighty placed stones in total, or when one player has captured five stones. More captures wins; equal counts draw. This capture-count session is our short variant, not standard Go territory scoring.
Use large paper counters and an untimed first round. A partner may point to liberties before a move is committed. Empty-board replay is the default; do not promise a first-player balance or solved strategy. The reference supports liberty and capture rules, not our session scoring.
Related activities
Activity library · Bracket and flip: rules and printable materials