Liberties in Go — How Stones Breathe and Get Captured | PlayGo.gg

Liberties are any straight lines coming off a stone.

What is a liberty?

A liberty is an empty coordinate directly adjacent to a stone along one of the grid lines — up, down, left, or right. Diagonals do not count. A single stone in the middle of the board has four liberties; on the side, three; in the corner, just two.

When stones of the same color sit next to each other, they form a chain and pool their liberties. The group lives as long as it has at least one liberty. Fill the last one, and the entire group is removed from the board as a capture. More on captures in the next section.

The Japanese term is dame (ダメ); strict Japanese usage reserves kokyūten — "breathing point" — for the precise meaning of liberty, but in everyday speech dame covers both. Korean uses hwallo (활로), "escape route."

When does liberty counting matter?

Counting liberties decides every "fight" in Go! If you try too hard to take away liberties of your opponent, they will end up capturing you before you can capture them! As a helpful hint, before placing a stone on the board, ask yourself if any of your stones have 2 liberties or less. If they do, you should probably try to do something to save them!

Example of liberty counting in a game

You can practice counting liberties in the tutorial! Click here to give it a try.

Liberties are one of the most fundamental rules to Go. Make sure you get this concept down before moving on to the next section!